(MCT) RALEIGH, N.C.—Sonya Bruton likes her latest exercise routine because it gives her something in common with her 10-year-old: a chance to learn something new.
“You forget what kids have to go through to learn things,” said Bruton, who is a 39-year-old cardio funk and body sculpting teacher. “Some things have to come in stages.”
It might seem odd that the pursuit that lets Bruton connect with her child is a mainstay of men’s clubs worldwide: pole-dancing.
But it is not sex the 3-month-old Aradia Fitness Center in Cary, N.C., is selling.
It is a brand of feminism.
“We provide a place for women to come and feel good about themselves, to develop their self-esteem,” said Terri Kerr, owner of Aradia, a dance studio specializing in sensuous dance centered on a floor-to-ceiling brass pole two inches in diameter.
Kerr works in health care, but as her 50th birthday approached, she was looking for a change in her own health care—something, perhaps, that tapped into a love of dance that dates to childhood. She has tried, and taught, a variety of dance forms—but not this.
“I’d always wanted to pole-dance,” Kerr said. “Just not naked with a bunch of people watching.”
She made the pilgrimage to Aradia’s Toronto headquarters after seeing an “Oprah” episode featuring the studio. Smitten, she took the 10-day instructor certification course, put down her franchise fee and made Cary, N.C.—best known for its minivan-driving soccer moms—the unlikely site of the first pole-dancing studio in the U.S.
Julie Handysides, Kerr’s assistant and instructor-in-training, said since January more than 150 women have taken a turn on one of Aradia’s nine poles.
Who are these women? One might be your next-door neighbor. We cannot say for sure because when we sat in on a beginner session last week, she would not tell us her name.
But first-timer Ellen Dalbo was not shy.
“It’s important for women as they get older to feel sexy,” said Dalbo, 39 and a mother of four.
Aradia offers a beginner teaser course for women who are not sure if pole-dancing is for them. That usually does not turn out to be the case, Handysides said.
Bruton, who has plenty of experience teaching and taking fitness courses, had been watching for this sort of sensual movement course.
“What I like about this class is that it teaches women to stand in their own power, their own strength,” she said.
Given the reputation of pole-dancing—babes in thongs strutting in stilettos—one might expect a bit of primping, prancing or showoff-iness around the poles. Not so.
The studio has no mirrors. The lights are turned low. The music is something you might have heard before but is not so familiar that it is distracting. Class members wear shorts or yoga pants, with a tank top and bare feet. And there are no stilettos in sight.
“It’s a very nonjudgmental place,” Kerr said. “We ask the women not to talk outside the class about others.”
But not everyone is convinced the workout is empowering.
Sherry Shapiro, women’s studies director at Meredith College and the author of “Dance, Power, and Difference: Critical and Feminist Perspectives on Dance Education” is onboard with the notion of dance empowering women. She is just not sure something long associated with the objectification of a woman’s body is the way to go.
“With dance, especially modern dance, women have been allowed to take up space and be strong,” she said. “There are different kinds of things women can do; Why this particular kind of movement?”
Aradia is, of course, free from ogling eyes. Men are not allowed in the studio. And the low lights and lack of mirrors ensure there is no audience at all—the dancers do not become self-conscious by seeing their own images.
“You can let yourself be freer (in the dark),” Dalbo said. “You’re not looking at everyone’s faces. All day long, you’re concerned with how you look, how people see you. In the evening, you can let yourself be free.”
© 2007 The News & Observer
