I'm only half joking mom! As you may have already known, I met with S Factor's Sheila Kelley today: the actress, dancer, and pole dancing guru to the celebs (and now me!).
Let's set a little ambiance, shall we?
On the quiet part of Hubbard St., just west of Ogden, a quaint dance studio shares a nondescript building with a few other small businesses. You wouldn't expect what's behind the walls: Ladies learning how to dance on poles.
Enter lobby: 18 20 different stripper shoes (I spotted two more on my way out!) are on display, among bowls of mints, Sheila's book (The S Factor: Strip Workouts for Every Woman), her DVD's, booty shorts, S Factor apparel, blindfolds, and handcuffs. A photo of Sheila in said booty shorts and a midriff top with her daughter Ruby on her hip hangs on the wall among others. The tall front desk hides most of the pleasant receptionist behind it as she calls to confirm students' class schedules. Around the corner I can hear laughter, music, and spontaneous clapping coming from one of the two studios, and, I think to myself, I like this place ... I could hang here. But do I have what it takes to get up on that pole? Unbeknownst to me, I would soon find out.
Sheila Kelley comes out from around the corner and ushers me into a tiny
office. In cropped pinstriped pants, wedge sandals, tank top, and a
light jacket, she offers me blueberries. This woman seems to have a look
and a spirit no older than 16. The antithesis of a businesswoman. And
yet a fabulous one.
She's a classically trained dancer who
studied at NYU's Tisch School for the Arts as a dance major. She left
home at 17 to follow her first love. While there she danced eight hours a
day, until she got hurt a year and a half into her college career. The
doctor told her that was the last of it. No more dancing. Sheila cried
for two weeks straight.
Sheila transferred to the Tisch acting
program and had a knack for it. After school she moved to LA and landed
her first big film cast as (guess what!) a stripper. A self-proclaimed
feminist, Sheila walked into a strip club to do a little role research,
saying "I hate strip clubs, they objectify women!" But as she watched
the women on stage she fell in love with the movement.
Cut to
present day and Sheila has created her own brand of pole dancing with S
factor. And it's working, not just in LA and New York, but in our very
own Midwest Chicago. More here than anywhere else, Sheila says she has
seen the most "loyal and devoted" students. Woohoo Chicago!
Not
only has she earned fans and loyal pole dancing groupies, Sheila's
business is "the hottest new Hollywood thing," according to Chelsea
Handler. She's trained "kazillions" of celebs, some of her favorites
include Lindsay Lohan ("not what the press makes her out to be...she's
such a good person"), Kristin Cavallari ("she was very sweet"), Chelsea
Handler ("hilarious"), and Teri Hatcher ("I just love her spirit").
Sheila
and I had a nice chat about feminism, kinesthesiology, and Western
Pennsylvania, and when I got up to leave, she insisted I take a class
right that moment. In a skirt, I told her I better not, but this woman
found me some pants and insisted. I obliged.
Minutes later I'm
doing the "cat pounce" on the floor of the no-men, no-mirrors studio. An
hour later I'm doing the "firefly" down a pole, my ankles elegantly
wrapped around the stripper's greatest tool, until my feet hit the
ground and I'm standing up again, backside first.
My favorite
part of the class was that it was immediately a safe zone, introduced by
instructors Teresa and Kelly. The lighting was really dim, with four
red-light lamps in the studio corners, and all the class participants
immediately bonded as newbies.
Sheila told me I would love it. I
did. Would I go back? Only if someone teaches me how to go upside down
on that thing. That's impressive.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: Lindsay Lohan, Pole Dancing, S Factor, Sheila Kelley
