What is the difference between a typical pole dance class and an Erotic Movement arts class?
EMA (Erotic Movement Arts) is sensual dance class that is both a sacred practice, similar to yoga, and a space for women to play and explore their erotic essence. Just like in yoga or learning meditation, at first, many things may come up. Like how hard it is to hold a posture and just breathe through all the things the mind is telling us about why we can't do this, as well as dealing with all the emotions that can get released during a class. These uncomfortable experiences are ultimately 'the teacher' or 'the medicine' that come from the asanas. They guide us towards knowing ourselves better, and with a trusted teacher- the path to self compassion, presence, and reduced reactivity naturally reveals itself.
This kind of edge work is necessary to meet our unconscious fears and judgements with kindness. However, one area I found missing for me in yoga and meditation was: the permission to meet my body with sensuality, softness and pleasure. Of course I felt better after my practices, but I knew that what was awakening on the yoga mat was my creative life force, and it felt similar to sexual energy. I wanted to know more about this part of myself as it felt like a kind of super power.
When I began pole dancing, I started to figure out how to integrate this life force that was awakened in my body through the intelligence of my erotic energy. As we know, the feminine erotic lives in the shadows of most cultures. Look up 'erotic woman' (or not, to avoid waking up the algorithm monster) and you will be led to porn made by a certain kind of men. But I knew my eroticness had nothing to do with porn, or even sex, that has been defined by a heteronormative lens. But then- where does my eroticness belong? Where does this sacred energy come from, and where is the right place for it to go? Was it goddess Kali? Was it nature? Was it just my body and chakras? It took many years of living these questions alchemically to come up with my method, and it has been a profoundly life changing journey on every level of my life.
The last thing I will say is: having a practice and community that allows me to have my full attention on my sensual vulnerability nourishes my body, my heart, and liberates the complex feelings that come with being in a human body everyday.
I hope you will consider meeting yourself in this space, and the pole, with its reflective surface, serves as a mirror to our eros. To feel a wild and powerful force that has always been with you awakening is a delicious thing. I can't wait to hold that space for you.
