I started in August 2007. There were 2 forums I knew of, I was asked to leave one when I became pregnant and the other was pretty unfriendly towards me, as I was a fast learner and they didn't seem to care for that. Everything I said was shut down, challenged, made fun of or disregarded by the main members. Back then I also had to create a new YT channel after I became pregnant as other dancers began flagging my videos and harassing me. It was a small group of petty women, thankfully there are far more people participating in pole now and although you still see bitch fights over what pole should be, in general, new pole dancers are welcomed by others!
When I started learning in 07 I printed off photos from a website (I wish I could remember the name) and taught myself from those. Then I discovered YT and found Tara Karina, Jamilla, Candy Cane (spelling may be wrong) and some others who I don't recall their name. There were not tutorials for pole on YT that I knew of, (other than a few from Candy Cane that were off a DVD) so I just watched and figured it out for myself. I started SV soon after finding YT and I could already do a handspring and cartwheel mount... at the time it was impressive. lol
From the beginning of Studioveena in 2009 I've taken the stance that pole is 3 things. Art, sport and exotic. Sometime a mix! https://www.studioveena.com/forums/view/304
About a year in to starting SV the most advanced trick I knew of was a shoulder mount flip to drop split https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/b6e2adc0-c3b2-11df-bc90-001b21721e0c and all spins were still considered "beginner" even reverse grab...not by me tho!!!!!
Unlike most other polers back in the day, I came from a personal training back ground and not an exotic dancer background. My focus as a teacher has been on injury prevention and strength building, but not necessarily only trick pole, I need the dance in pole. My personal focus was usually on the artistic and often sexy side. In fact, my FIRST ever YT upload, 9 years ago, the first comment I ever had was that they liked my moves but my dancing and music was too raunchy for pole. This was at the beginning of the "pole is for fitness movement". So I deleted it and uploaded later with a new song...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tGj__eBZIE&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2tGj__eBZIE&has_verified=1 I still wish I had just left the original video post, but at the time I wanted to be accepted in this group of pole dancers. I've since learned not to change who I am for others.
There were not certifications for pole when I started. To my knowledge I was the first to teach that strength building moves should be taught first before moves like spins. I was also the first to create a method using my theory of teaching moves like pole hold and pole sits first to build strength. I believe I was the first (online anyway) to suggest we do off pole conditioning and strength work for shoulders and such, to prevent injury and prepare for static spins. As far as I know I was the first to interview pole dancers both famous and beloved SV members! https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/9579b164-b87d-11df-856f-001b214581be. SV was the first website with more than just a forum and chat. We were the first to offer members a place to upload videos instead of just link them. We were the first to have a fully mobile website. We are still the only online studio that has all lessons placed in progressive order and includes related lessons below.
Now that pole is well known and mostly accepted, gymnasts, dancers, and contortionists have taken it to elite levels. It's amazing and inspiring, but makes it hard for instructors to explain why some things are best left to elite pros because of how quick things have changed. That's part of why I wrote the Veena method! Pole shouldn't wreck your body it should strength it and challenge your mind and soul by helping women and men tap into the sexy side from time to time too!
Pole is still very fragmented, there are still tons of names for the same move and leaders in the industry often ignore each other instead of working together.
We are making pole more complex by assuming everyone needs to learn everything. Instead we need to keep sending out the message that there are pole fundamentals, and these are the important moves. From those you move on to variations and elite levels. We also need to continue to tell students that there's no level you need to reach in order to enjoy the benefits of pole.
