AUSTIN (KXAN) - At a North Austin workout gym, teachers and students strive to be sexy. It’s not the typical, shallow, Hollywood definition of the term. It’s something they define themselves inside the sanctum of their “woman cave.”
“We have a great karma here,” said student Susan Ellis. “All of these women encourage each other because we all started in the same place. We were trying to get up the pole."
The Pole
The pole is the pinnacle of the workout regimen at the Inner Diva Studios. Actually, there are a bunch of poles, poles that form the vortex of each woman’s ascent into that rarified atmosphere of strength, confidence, power, attributes that according to the gym philosophy, add up to the “sexy.”
“I love strong women,” said teacher Danyelle Eddy, “and this pole will make you strong inside and out.”
As a pulsating beat escapes a powerful sound system, the women grab their poles and start to sway. A foot finds a spot to grasp. A hand reaches high. In seconds the women are wrapping legs around their poles, turning themselves upside down and inside out, spinning in circles and gracefully returning to the ground.
It looks easy. It is anything but.
The Australian
“I saw Felix Cane,” said teacher Brenna Wilder. “She is a beautiful pole dancer out of Australia. I saw one of her performances and after I saw her dance I was like, 'I have to do this.’ This woman is not human. She defies gravity. She is amazing. She is strong. She is beautiful. I want to be able to do that.”
Pole dancing is only one of the disciplines offered at Inner Diva. In fact, owner Cherie Williams intentionally collected everything from Zumba to exercise ball routines under one roof.
The Camaraderie
And no matter what the workout, camaraderie is in the very air here.
“You set your goal, “said Ellis, “and every time somebody reaches that goal, everybody claps and, you know, you feel good about it.”
The Grandma
Ellis is the self-proclaimed “grandma” of the group. She won’t divulge her exact age but admits to having passed half a century of life on the Earth.
“I've gotten a lot stronger,” she said, “and a lot more confident and I don't think there are any grandpas out there that are going to take me on.”
She laughs heartily and her fellow pole dancers join in. It is that attitude that sets Inner Diva apart.
“Women like that concept,” the gym owner said. “They can come and be relaxed and kind of, you know, get their sexy on.”
The Sexy
But “sexy” here is not the shallow, Hollywood version that sells everything from beer to bikinis. It is, instead, an attraction born of strength and confidence, an attraction that looks good on any woman, classically “beautiful” or not.
The Layoff
In fact, it is the same kind of inner quality that led Williams to open the gym in January of 2011. She had come to Austin four years ago to work for Motorola, but when the company started laying off workers in the wake of the great recession, she lost that job.
“I was kind of debating on did I want to go into a winery or did I want to go into clothing boutiques?” Williams said.
Meanwhile, she was working out at several gyms, trying to take advantage of the various disciplines. As her strength grew, so did her spirit. She reached deep, aimed high, summoned her power and built a business designed to help other women do the same thing.
Nicole Fedrizzi was an early enrollee.
“We did a little routine, you know, trying to be sexy,” Fedrizzi recalled. “I had problems with that. I had to get past that. But I've gotten way past that.
“I'm a lot stronger and I can do more advanced tricks. There's still a couple of things I can't do that some of the other girls can, but I'm in love with it so I just keep coming back and keep doing it.”
At her side, student Stacey Bishop agreed.
“I’ve seen my strength improve and my confidence improve,” Bishop said. “I’m getting my little 'danceresque' on and stuff like that I've never done in my life.”
The Transformation
Teacher Eddy, has heard it all before.
“I've seen girls come in here covered from head to toe in sweat pants and t-shirts,” she said. “And now they're walking around in short shorts and tank tops. They've got their confidence and they're rocking it.
“That all comes from the inside and shines on the outside. And then, not to mention, look at our biceps. We've got some sweet biceps rocking,” she grinned.
The Olympics?
That leads to the question: Is pole dancing a sport? Lots of people say it is. In fact, the push is on to make it part of the competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
But pole dancing, of course, is so far best known for its use in strip clubs and Williams sees nothing wrong with that use.
“We back those ladies,” she said, “because we have women that come in from the night clubs sometimes and take our classes, so they're better at their jobs.”
But most of the students at Inner Diva come from more mainstream professions and they are here not to learn how to reveal the beauty of their naked bodies, but rather to bring out the strength of their inner being.
“I don't think you need to be a size two to be sexy,” said Teacher Sarka Mraz. “If you're strong in your core and your heart, then I think that's sexy.”
With that, she hits a switch on the sound system, summons her students to their poles and leads them higher and deeper at the same time.
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