Pole Position Dance Studio, White Plains
West Harrison resident Taylor Starke was a customer of the Pole Position Dance Studio in White Plains long before she decided to take ownership of the business.
Starke said last week the dance studio opened six years ago and she became its owner three years later. “I always wanted to be a dancer” and she watched dancing shows on television, Starke said. But many dance forms need to be mastered by taking classes as a youngster as young as seven, she said. “Pole dancing is a technique that can be mastered by adults.”
Starke started pole dancing after seeing a Groupon for it at Pole Position. Three years later the former owner asked if she was interested in purchasing the business and Starke took her up on the offer.
“It’s an aerial-based dance studio. So it’s mostly pole dancing,” Starke said.
Though pole dancing had been around for years, its popularity took off after the release of the 1996 film “Striptease,” starring Demi Moore, Starke said. Moore portrays a stripper in the film. “People started picking it up and then it because more of a fitness thing,” Starke said.
Though pole dancing can help you become physically fit, Strake stressed her business is not a gym. “It’s more a dance and it’s a great kind of side effect that you get in greater shape and you feel good about yourself,” she said. “Students leave the class really feeling good about themselves because they achieved more than they ever thought they could.”
Pole dancing is a great confidence builder, Starke said. “It seems very difficult” and students feel it will be difficult to master the techniques, she said. But much of the instruction is about mechanics. “As long as your hands are in the right place and your legs are in the right place, you can get a lot done,” she said.
Pole dancing can be done for fun and confidence building and some pole dancers are professionals who perform in shows and events.
Starke also offers classes in aerial dance, which is like a stretching class using a cotton hammock “We have hooks in the ceiling and the hammocks are actually hooked to the top,” she said.
The school also provides chair-dancing lessons. Sometimes a chair can be twirled or ticks can be done off the chairs, Starke said.
Pole Position Dance Studio is located at 110 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains. For more information call 914-882-642, send an e-mail to info@polepositionstudio.com or visit https://polepositionstudio.com/.
