When University of Miami alumna Susan Hilferty saw a segment about pole dancing on Oprah, she immediately called her friend to visit featured dancer Sheila Kelley’s studio in California.
Hilferty, who came to UM on a dance scholarship in 1985 and was on the first Sunsations Dance Team, was interested in this new form of dance.
“It was just like ballet,” she said. “But now the bars were vertical not horizontal.”
From the first time she walked into Kelley’s studio, she felt a change within. Her engagement had recently been called off and she saw this hobby as something she could do for herself.
“As girls we are socialized on this promise of marriage and if we don’t get married we feel like we failed,” she said.
For the next two years, she went to five different studios for weeks at a time trying to get a complete knowledge of this form of dancing.
She opened Miami’s first pole exercising studio, Pole Fitness Miami, in 2006 while simultaneously working at Taro Pharmaceuticals.
“I did use the degree I earned at UM,” she said.
A year ago she left her pharmaceutical job and decided to turn her attention solely to her studio. The Coral Gables location is located minutes away from the university on 4018 Aurora St.
Pole Fitness Miami
According to Hilferty, attorneys, accountants and teachers are the top three professions of Pole Fitness Miami’s clients. However, the law field is by far the most popular of all her clients’ professions.
“My clients are everyday, nine-to-five women,” she said. “We have attorneys spinning upside down.”
Hilferty does not allow men in her studio. She has been approached by several gay men, but she said the demand is not high enough.
“I don’t want to change the energy of this studio by letting men in,” Hilferty said. “I go to a [coed] gym and I feel like I have to put on lip stick. I can’t relax.”
This man-free space has an aura that allows women to explore their sexuality.
“I want women to be whatever erotic creature they want to be,” she said. “Women of all shapes, sizes, and ages can do this…the lighting here is so dim everyone looks good.”
Fitness
Hilferty says clients have successfully lost up to 20 pounds at her studio.
Karla Perusquia, a 2009 UM graduate and instructor at the studio, can testify to the workout pole dancing entails.
“You definitely use everything you normally don’t use when you are pole dancing,” she said. “Abs, arms, it requires a lot of strength.”
Perusquia said she only pole dances three days a week to stay in shape.
The physical change is not the only appeal of pole dancing to Perusquia; she considers the emotional transformation a positive effect as well.
“Women change from the first class as they continue. They become more open, secure, and feel more comfortable with themselves,” she said.
Pole Dance Miami also offers classes that are not centered around pole dancing. These sessions include group dancing, lap dancing and a dance fitness class.
“This is a full-service dance studio,” Hilferty said.
A full Class schedule is available at http://www.polefitnessstudio.net/classdescriptions.html.