“Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an ‘easy life’. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well” -Teddy Roosevelt
There are select moments in life when we discover a love or passion we’ve never known before. These are some of life’s most enriching moments, and help make the struggles make sense. For me, this occurred when I first began pole dancing. When I first joined a dance studio, pole dancing wasn’t my interest. I was far more interested in taking Zumba classes and staying fit through dance, which I had been doing almost all of my life. I wasn’t quite ready to conquer pole and it didn’t seem like something I would be interested in doing.
That all changed when I finally let myself try it. It was then that I realized this was something I had been missing in my life and it was something I wanted to pursue. It was like the fog had lifted. A perfect storm of my passion for dance, self-love and empowerment came together, and suddenly it clicked.
With passion, no matter what it is, comes power. When you love someone or something, there is a fire within you that cannot be extinguished. I used this passion I found in pole and now use it every day to inspire, empower and motivate the people I surround myself with. Don’t let that voice in your head talk you out of something good. Women-identified folk start to ask and say all these things like: I don’t have upper body strength; Am I going to be the biggest woman in class?; I’ve never danced before, am I going to be lost?; etc. Women think and ask all these questions to what they perceive to be limitations as to why they won’t be good in class. Then they walk into their first class and start looking for confirmation bias. They’re looking around the room if there are people the same age as them, or look similar to them. Or the first time they can’t get a trick or aren’t as smooth as the woman on the pole in front of them. Then, your limitations of those original questions and thoughts start to bubble back up. Affirming, you shouldn’t have tried this. You start to believe that voice. It’s not about what other people are doing or what you can or cannot do. It’s not whether people look like you or not. The fact that you SHOWED UP and paid your money just like everybody else; the fact that you made your desires and pleasures a priority needs to be celebrated. Don’t let that voice get you. When it starts to bubble back up, say this mantra: “I am worthy because I exist. I belong here.” This mantra will kick those limiting words to the curb, and you will start to open your heart and mind into something more.
All types of dance, not only on pole, can be extremely challenging mentally and physically. There will be days where you really don’t feel like going to class because you’re too tired from work, or cloudy skies have left you feeling discouraged and unenergized. Those are the most important days to come into our studio. Here, we can give you an opportunity to reclaim the day and turn it around. Every conversation fostered in our classes, every second of choreography worked on, and every piece of instruction pushes you toward your power.
The days you feel your weakest will be followed by your brightest moments as long as you put the work in. Our staff are highly dedicated to bringing out your voice. You have influence, you have potential, and most importantly, you have power.
I believe that every goal you have can be completed by the qualities you already have inside of you. There are moments in our days and times in our lives that can subdue our power, but not eliminate it. There are times when a superior at work will speak over you, there are times you aren’t given appropriate credit for your accomplishments. At DDF, our goal is to eliminate moments like that. You are valuable, loved and important. By giving us the chance to work with you, we can help YOU bring out that powerful voice that has been in you all along.
XOXO, Tash