Volare Variety -- A burlesque show in San Francisco!

A couple of years ago, I noticed a local pole dancer on my social media feeds.  She seemed like a cool chick and she was on a crusade to create a pole venue that could be used for lessons and shows.  I now consider Kate a good friend and one of my favorite polers in the world.  Her routines are always extremely dynamic and interesting to watch. 

Kate has now created a burlesque/variety show and it will be unveiled in San Francisco this January 4, 2014:  "Taking Burlesque to new heights, Volare Variety is San Francisco's brand new variety showcase. Drag Queens, Pole Artists, Boylesque & More! Prepare to be amazed with visions of extreme physical talent and neo-Burlesque set to the sound of classic tunes.
For more information, please visit: www.volarevariety.com."

While I will not be performing at this event, I will be there as an usher and to support Kate in her latest adventure!  Many of my friends are performing in this show.  I am so excited, I could almost pee my pants!  I'll control myself though.  I don't want to make a mess here at the day job. 

Please like the Facebook page HERE.  

The Facebook event page is HERE.

And you can buy your tickets HERE.   

Stage Werx is a very intimate theater, so don't wait until the last minute to get your tickets.  This show will be a sell-out.  Hope to see you there!  In the meantime, enjoy some photos from our awesome photoshoot (with only some of the cast, as a freezing early Sunday morning in San Francisco was not the bees knees for everyone) at a secret location in San Francisco.  Shout out to Jo-Jo Jones Photography! 

A Poletastic Nadia Sharif Weekend

Last weekend was one of those unexpected, fun adventure weekends.  I knew Nadia Sharif would be in town but couldn't sign up for any workshops.  Wonky foot is having a bad life right about now (surgery in two weeks!!).  I did, however, hope to at least see her since she is the biggest lover of my boobies (it's good she doesn't mind them...they are face height for her). 

On Saturday, my good friend Kate from Pole Etak had hooked up some of us Twirly Girls with the opportunity to have bit parts on a reality TV show.  If you've ever filmed a reality TV show, it isn't all that real.  But we got to sit around for the afternoon and chat and have fun with our friends while we were waiting for our turn.  The show is called Let It Ride, which will be on the National Geographic channel.  You can read an article about it HERE. 

That evening, Kate, Rita and I met up with awesome pole ninja, Nadia Sharif to have dinner.  On our way, we stopped for a photo adventure on Grizzly Peak.  It is really beautiful up in the hills between Moraga and Berkeley.  And it often feels like I am rushing from one thing to the next without really enjoying what I'm doing.  So it was nice to take a few minutes to be silly and take in the beautiful views.

On Sunday, Nadia had a workshop at Sedusa in Campbell, California, which is about an hour away.  She asked if I could drive her and I am always down for an adventure with Nadia!  I asked if Kate could join us.  She did and we had a great time.  The studio was really beautiful.  There were ten poles in the main room -- three up on a stage.  There was also an 11th pole inside a cage on the side of the room, which I claimed as my home.  It was awesome.  I loved the cage.

My foot really limits me physically right now but I did do the warm-ups for each workshop.  Oh man was I sore on Monday!  I made me realize how much strength and flexibility I've lost since my foot really started hurting in April and I started limiting my exercise.  I have made a new commitment to at least get some yoga in four or five times a week (which I did last night at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco -- Yoga on the Labyrinth -- check it out!). 

After the workshops, we stopped for dinner before delivering Nadia to the airport.  Kate was participating in a yogangster yoga pose photo challenge.  So, in front of the strip mall restaurant, we stopped to take photos of Kate attempting a crow pose variation with her leg extended behind her (I couldn't even dream of doing it).  A drunk dude from some nowhere bar (no really, I think it was called Nowhere Bar & Grill) came out and was staring and talking shit. So we left and Kate didn't get her official yogangster pose.  He felt like Nadia and I weren't being supportive enough of Kate.  bahahahahaahahahahahaha!  He drunkenly stumbled to his motorcycle where his wife informed him that he'd ruined our day.  HA! 

We left San Jose and sadly dropped Nadia off at the airport.  Kate and I continued our adventure into San Francisco where I dropped her off at her apartment in the Tenderloin district.  The Tenderloin in San Francisco is such an interesting place.  Mostly little white girls like Kate should not be hanging out in that area.  The night before, there had been two shootings within blocks of Kate's apartment.  We tried to find the body chalk outline but apparently the police don't use those anymore.  I dropped Kate off and started my own adventure across the Bay Bridge to get home (WTF is up with that much traffic on a Sunday?!). 

Thanks again to all my poletastic friends for a lovely weekend!!  I can't wait for the next one!

Twirl for a Cause: AIDS Walk San Francisco Fundraiser

On Saturday, July 6, 2013, local pole dancers came together to help us raise money for my good friend, Jimmy Gale, and AIDS Walk San Francisco.  We received a ton of awesome raffle prizes from friends, local businesses and some online pole companies.  Club 1220 graciously hosted the event and Twirly Girls Pole Fitness was a co-presenter.

I want to thank Dew Point Pole for sending a box FULL of goodies to raffle.  I also want to thank our friends Lety, Rita and Mary, who donated items and baskets.  Liquidpulp Photography donated three beautiful prints.  Vanessa Howell donated a Bedroom Kandi goodie bag.  Grace from Twirly Girls donated an hour class for ten people.  Diana from Twirly Girls donated adorable Harry Potter jewelry.  There was also a gift certificate from Everything Under the Rainbow.  The Starlight Room donated tickets to Sunday's A Drag for auction.  Plus, there were many, many other prizes that I haven't listed.  Thank you thank you thank you to those who donated!

We had many dancers from around the Bay Area, including recent transplant, Amy from Boston Pole Fitness, Kate and Sasha from Pole Etak, and the amazing Jill Anne.  From Twirly Girls, we had Sean Michael (who is also a coach at Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland), Diana, Kim, Patrick, Robert, Alyssa, Grace, Jimmy and Yolanda (aka Team Greazeh!).  I want to thank the dancers who donated their tips to the fundraiser.  Thank you to Diana and Kim for arriving early and setting up Diana's pole.  Thank you to Diana for letting us borrow that pole!  Thank you to Bel for allowing us to use her stage pole and for trusting us to honor the Twirly Girl name at an event when she had to work at the studio.  Thank you to Patrick for helping me set up the pole and to AJ and Robert for helping me take it down (it was a little difficult to do anything but stand upright in that corset).  Thank you to Robert and Rita for taking photos.  Thank you to 1220 for allowing us to use their bar for our fundraisers.  Thank you to DJ Mikey for not only running the music but for always donating his own money to tip the dancers and join in on the auctions!  I especially want to thank Farrah from Twirly Girls, our tireless pole cleaner and doctor-in-training. 

I really cannot thank everyone enough for coming out to dance, to donate raffle items and to watch the show.  You helped raise about $1,200 towards Jimmy's $10,000 fundraising goal.  If you couldn't make the show but would still like to donate, please click THIS link. 

And one more thank you to anyone I may have inadvertently forgotten.  My brain...it's getting old and it doesn't remember everything anymore.  :-)  I have never met a more giving group of people.  If you missed the event and you'd like to watch a playlist of the videos, please click THIS link. 

Pole Etak's Quest For A Pole Venue in San Francisco!

You are known as Pole Étak on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook...  Do you have an actual studio location?

 

I call myself "Pole Étak" for a couple reasons, the main one being a type of branding that's in line with my other creative endeavors: Étak Productions which is my film making business and Club Étak which is the name of this upcoming venue (It's pronounced "Attack" and is "Kate" backwards, in case anyone didn't catch that). The other reason the name "Pole Étak" exists is to connect my students that I have privately at my in-home studio and my students from the Crunch gyms in the Bay Area. I don't have a "proper" studio yet, but the intended day use of Club Étak will be to act as my new legit studio (the awkward moment of inviting strangers into my apartment is nearing an end).

 

 

You are trying to get a pole-friendly performance venue in the San Francisco area (I live near SF and am 100% supporting you).  Here is the Kick Starter link, but also tell us in your own words about the venture and what you hope to accomplish.

Please watch the video and DONATE here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/219102719/club-etak-a-performance-venue-and-dance-studio

 

I've been trying to condense the multitude of beautiful reasons why San Francisco should house a pole performance venue, and I think I've narrowed it down to this: The stigma we as pole dancers encounter every day is at times tolerable, but also at times tiring and endless. How are we to show the public our incredible art form when all we have are the bright neon lights of Broadway's topless venues jading their opinions, and the exclusivity of private pole studios unintentionally shying away the average interested patron? If we have a dedicated venue where we can expose the public to pole dancing as we know it, then we will certainly empower our path to a more objectively valued and respectable community, rather than just subjective.

 

Oh, and it's just going to be incredibly kick-ass...

Do you already have a venue/location in mind?

 

There's a couple spaces I'm eyeing - but the main goal is to find a space near to BART/CalTrain so it will be easily accessible by all of the Bay Area. My students aren't just here in the City, so I know they would appreciate easy access (and of course those hailing from the East Bay would like that too!)

Which other local pole celebrities or studio owners have teamed up with you for this project?

 

Besides you my dear Lori?! Unfortunately no one has committed to teaming up with me at the moment. I've had interest from a few studios in the East Bay, but no interest (yet) from the ones currently operating in San Francisco and the South Bay. I'm hoping that my feature in this blog may persuade them that this is a legitimate venture and that I want to team up with literally everyone I can. I love networking and I LOVE pole dancing so I hope this one space can eventually bring us all together.

 

 What is your pole dancing background?  (What brought you to pole and how long have you been poling?)

 

I was a receptionist for Crunch Fitness for many years and really was not the epitome of health for the longest time (University habits got the best of me and stuck). So when they installed the poles upstairs at the Chestnut St. location 2 years ago, I almost was dared to go up and try. I was quite grumpy about it and thought everyone was pretty skanky, but then I had the "moment." I think it was when I did the pretzel spin pretty quickly and nobody else got it, and my instructor complimented me up the wazzoo. I had never been complimented like that, let alone for something athletic (which I never was). The mere dose of instant confidence in my body as a temple (which I previously thought of as a temple's dumpster) encouraged me to practice like crazy. Soon I started subbing classes for Crunch, and last year became a certified X-Pert Pole Instructor (HIGHLY recommend that, by the way). Now I am the regular instructor for Crunch Chestnut & San Mateo and nothing makes me feel more joy than finding girls like me who are starting from scratch and complimenting them just like my first instructor did for me. All about positive reinforcement, in my book. 

Have you participated in any competitions?

 

I have not. Eventually one day I'd like to, but I'm very realistic about my body and my current limits. One has to be in that competitive mind-set in order to push their bodies to greatness, and right now my mind is more set along the lines of playing host to those people who really are interested in going the step above what they thought they could do.

It feels like the pro/competition pole dancers are all going the route of contortion and extreme tricks.  Do you feel like something is lost from pole dancing when it is all tricks and no dance?

 

I think about this a ton actually...but in a way I don't feel comfortable criticizing the way someone wants to perform, whether to impress or to inspire. What I can say is what I feel myself - and I do know that when I'm focused on trying to mimic the Pole Stars' Extreme Tricks I become instantly miserable as a human being. It's frustrating, and I lose that confidence I once gained. The beauty of incorporating "dance" with the pole is that you can have an amazing outlet for all sorts of emotions. It doesn't matter if I dance well or if my split isn't flat or if my "lines are gorgeous" or anything like that - what matters is what is portrayed to the audience and what is felt in myself as a performer. I go at my own pace, and would prefer it if everyone did as well. It's nice to have different tiers and sectors and genres of pole dancing, though, so there is always something to aspire to. To each, her own.

 

 Tell us something that people would be surprised to hear about you?

 

People tend to be surprised by the multitude of things I participate in. I'm really all over the place and it confuses the average friend of mine. I have a habit of learning as many things in this life that I can, but never mastering them. Examples: I can read and write Arabic, speak French, write and produce short films, paint with India Ink, play guitar and piano and sing, and do triathlons and running races - but I've never mastered any of these subjects. I call myself the Jane of All Trades, Master of Some. I find it makes the life way more enriched, and it really tends to confuse and surprise anyone that meets me.

Besides this awesome project, what else does 2012 hold for you?

2012 is really revolving around this project, but the second biggest thing I'm looking forward to is participating in the Olympic Distance London Triathlon in September. I still don't understand how I'm going to ship my bike over to England, let alone myself...

I really understand the need for venues that are pole-friendly and hope that everyone will support Kate in her quest (or maybe you can start one for your area!).  Please join Pole Étak on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter.