Certification?

Kobajo84 started this discussion · 9/29/2009

I am still inquiring about studios in my area. For those of you taking classes at studios, I was wondering if any of your studios provide students with a certification of completion of classes? I am getting frustrated with having to continually change studios once one closes their doors and start all over again. This will be my 3'rd studio attempt in my area. I still haven't heard back from the studio I emailed on Friday. I haven't been able to inquire about the "testing" out that everyone had suggested. (Thank you all for your feedback in Friday chat!!) So things are still up in the air. I suppose I could just save my money and try to develop routines on my own- although I have never favored myself to be quite THAT creative. I was really looking to make a connection with other area polers- to meet people at the studio that I could connect with and pole jam with. 🤔 I supposed I will keep you all updated on my pending response from the studio..... 😕 to be continued.

4 replies

p1nkpr1ncess · 9/29/2009
Hey, The Pole Studio that I do my classes at does provide certification for the completion of each level but we are now nearing level 4 and haven't had one yet! Apparently this is down to the reception girl lol. I will make sure I get them though! It must be a pain having the start over each time you join a new studio! Hope you get it sorted hun and something comes from the emails 🙂 -x-
miss fern · 6/7/2010
Instead of chasing up certificates, I would ring around studios and explain you want to enrol, but have X months previous experience as don't really want to start right at the beginning, and what do they think they can for you in that regard? I should think you'll get a mixture of A) Studios that will happily set aside time to meet your privately and run through some 'tests' to see where your levels of strength, flexibility, technique and experience. And from this they will recommend which class to enrol in B) Studios that will invite you to a 'taster' class or 'casual' class and give the teacher special instructions to watch you and determine whether she thinks you need to be moved up into the next level etc C) Studios that will insist you must do it their way and their way only, and that you must start at Level 1, no questions asked. Although I can understand the temptation (from the studio's perspective) to go with C, I personally believe any studio worth your while should be happy to "assess" your skill level and place you in the right level, accordingly. Bear in mind that just because XYZ Studio says your are "Level 3 Pole Graduate" it doesn't actually mean ANYTHING since there are no official "Levels" (unlike say in Piano, where Grade 1, Grade 2 etc is universal). So your next studio may disagree with how the previous studio has "graded" you, because perhaps they feel the techniques you have been taught are not safe, for example. So in that sense I am all for studios/instructors placing you at lower levels that you might want, or insisting you do their 'intro' classes or something to make sure you have the same foundation as the rest of their students, that you know the way the classes are run, how THEY like to do it safely etc. But if they downright refuse to accelerate your "level" (even after you demonstrate your ability) I don't think that's kosher tbh. That says to me that they just want more of your money 😉
Mary Ellyn · 6/7/2010
As a studio owner I feel Georgia is right on track with her explanation. For myself it woulnd't matter if you had a certification from another studio as not all studios teach with the same principals of safety and body mechanics that I do. Unless knew that studio VERY well I'd never accept any referral from another without a personal evaluation. I always offer a private lesson as part of a personal evaulation to determine what level a student should be places at if they wish to start at another level. To me it's ridiculous that a studio wants to start a student at a lower level to "make more money" as a good studio will keep students on an ongoing basis even at the most advanced levels. There is never an end to what you can learn in pole dancing so I have students who have been with me for several years who are still learning new things every class!
Charley · 6/7/2010
I teach mixed level classes for this reason. I get a number of different people with various backgrounds that I end up with people who can do different things. I have two classes I teach Pole tricks - I work individually with students and we set goals together and I teah Sexy 101 - this is a choreographed class workin with what you already know and putting things together and dancing. I have people coming all the time that say they are advanced then I notice they can't do many more basic/intermediate moves. So, for us teaching mixed level allows people to stay in classes together and it allows people like yourself to join in with us.