Pole dancing offers excuse for exercise, feeling sexy

By day, Tammi Hanack is a speech therapist in elementary schools. By night, she teaches pole… By day, Tammi Hanack is a speech therapist in elementary schools. By night, she teaches pole dancing at Fitness With A Twist.

The bubbly redhead looks like a fitness instructor one might find in any ordinary gym. She refers to the women in her classes as “my girls,” and her dancer’s finesse comes from years spent as a ballroom dancer. However, as she kicks her legs up to hang upside down from the pole and worms her way to the floor to demonstrate a move in her pole inversion class, it’s clear she is not a typical fitness instructor, and this is not a typical fitness class.

“I want my girls to see is that we are just your every-day women who are just having a great time and working out together doing something that’s just a little bit unexpected, a little eccentric, but it’s just so much fun that we can’t stop doing it,” Hanack said.

Hanack began as a ballroom dancer and decided to try classes with friends on a whim. After showing off her talents in a student showcase, the owner, Vanessa Connell, asked her to teach.

“The minute I started flying around the pole, I was completely hooked. I couldn’t believe how physically challenging it was,” Hanack said.

Connell opened the gym, just off East Carson Street on 21st Street, after she watched an episode of Oprah about pole dancing classesand realized there were no local studios in Pittsburgh. After the episode aired, she sought out a fitness instructor as her first teacher, and by using videos and other training, they learned the dance technique together. Connell opened her studio in 2006.

That ambition is part of what keeps Fitness With A Twist fresh. As new trends and dance forms come into the mainstream, the studio makes an effort to add it into their workout repertoire. In addition to the pole class, the studio offers chair classes, bellydancing and among other events, such as a rejunivation celebration for women.

“Anything that’s different or new or cutting-edge or exciting, we can incorporate that,” Connell said.

Most of the studio’s students fall into the age range of 20 to 35, but the instructors have taught pole dancing to mothers and grandmothers. Some women come from as far as Ohio and Virginia to take classes.

“I think we have a really interesting range of women. I’ve seen a little bit of everything.” Hanack said.

Hanack and Connell both stress that the ladies in their classes are typical gals who enjoy the atypical, strenuous workout. Hanack shares that even trained dancers have felt the aching muscles that come with moving your body and holding it up in difficult moves. Beyond spins and turns of a regular class, Fitness With A Twist also has inversion classes, where you learn to go upside down on the pole and perform moves.

“What I find, I think, most exciting and progressive, is the strength training that’s involved within it. I’ve seen girls make really good gains in muscular strength and endurance by doing pole dancing,” Hanack said.

But women don’t just come because of the physical challenge of dancing. In learning the skill they become more confident, whether through the accomplishment of using their bodies or through the fun flirtation of the workout, Connell said.

“[Other exercise classes] are not teaching women to adore their bodies; they’re just working them, where we’re doing both. We’re saying ‘Ladies, you go it, now let’s learn how to use it,’” Connell said.

Fitness With A Twist tries to cater to everyone, including college students. The studio offers a college drop-in class, where college students can take just a single class, instead of a six-week set, at a discounted price.

Fitness With A Twist also offers a girls’ night out, where, for a flat rate, people can bring up to 20 guests to the studio for some fun. Guests can bring their own food and beverages, and the instructors are present to help teach any moves they’d like to learn — but it’s more laidback than a class. Connell suggests that it’s a particularly entertaining alternative to the usual bachelorette party options.

“Every week there is a group of people who come in who are memorable. You always have one who’s reserved, and then you find out she comes out of her shell and they’re all laughing and cheering. You have the mother out there saying ‘I could do that!’ or ‘I always knew that was in you!’” Connell said.

Fitness With A Twist is just what the name suggests, a stellar workout with something special thrown in. Whenever Hanack gets negative reactions from people who find out she instructs pole dancing classes, she’s sure to dare them to try it.

“Come to a class, see what it’s all about. I think people would be amazed at what their own body can do if they would just give it a try,” Hanack said.