My sisters love to ski. Their husbands love to ski. My nieces and nephew love to ski. Me? I'm lukewarm about it, at best. My husband enjoys snowboarding, but not enough right now to do it more than a couple of times per year. And because we're not very enthusiastic about the sport, our 5-year-old son has the same response. Despite this, we still look forward to our annual family ski trip to Park City, UT. It's a 4 or 5 day vacation where the cousins get to know each other again and play, and the adults eat (quite well I might add as my sister is an astonishing cook) and drink, and drink, and drink. This year, I decided beforehand that I was only going to ski (ie. fall down a lot) only once, and use the rest of my time to take classes at Studio Soiree in Salt Lake City.
Several days before the trip, I checked out the Studio Soiree website to see what their schedule looked like. I had seen some Soiree girls at Jamilla Deville’s workshop in Vegas three years back and was astonished by their strength and dedication, so I knew that Studio Soiree wasn’t one of those places that only taught girls to pose against the pole.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that they offer a class in Park City at Park City Yoga, but unfortunately it was not during the days of our ski trip. Salt Lake City is about 35 minutes or so from Park City and I was so excited about taking a pole class from a new teacher that the distance wasn’t an issue. I was determined to make use of my limited time there so I chose three classes: Intermediate Pole Dance Fitness, Open Soiree, and Intermediate Fundamentals. I was particularly looking forward to the last two classes as they were taught by Lizz, the founder of Studio Soiree. I had heard many wonderful things about her. Their online web scheduler wouldn’t allow me, as a new student of the studio, to register for an intermediate level class, so I ended up calling Studio Soiree and speaking with a very nice person who overrode the system and made the reservations.
The day the three families arrived at the rental house in Park City, Bean jumped off the upper level of the bunk bed and hurt his foot. Dr Sister’s diagnosis was most likely some soft tissue damage with a tiny possibility of a hairline fracture. Lawyer Sister stood on hand in case we needed legal advice (just joking!). Bean’s ski trip was over. And so was my eagerly awaited sojourn to Studio Soiree. The kids were supposed to attend ski school from 9am to 3:30pm while the grown ups had the whole day to ski or ride. Since Bean couldn’t ski, someone had to stay with him at home.
Bean’s situation had not improved by the morning so I went about frantically trying to cancel my class reservations. On the Studio Soiree website, they recommend sending an email rather than calling, so to cover my bases, I called as well as emailed. I explained to them what had happened, apologized profusely and asked that someone please call me back so I could give them my credit card over the phone to pay for those three late-cancels. About an hour later, Lizz called me. She was sympathetic; she kindly asked about my son; she told me that she appreciated the fact that I made several attempts to cancel; she absolutely REFUSED to accept my credit card information; and then asked if I would be interested in attending class the following day. So basically, not only did I inadvertently screw them over, they actually invited me to come into their studio. Was this a Utah thing? I mean, I did read somewhere that Utahans were overall the happiest people in the nation…
Despite planning on getting to SLC with over an hour to spare, I ended up walking 8 blocks in the wrong direction and ran into the studio at 12 noon on the dot. I breathlessly asked if I could take care of my payment at the end of class because I was already late. The sweet woman at the desk (who turned out to be Lizz) reassured me that I wasn’t late and that, of course I could. I walked into the packed pole room and proceeded to get my butt kicked by the amazing Lorinda.
Lorinda is a woman who commands the space around her. It’s not only her beauty or her strength or her sense of humor (all of which are quite formidable), but it’s the fact that somehow, you can tell that she actually cares about you. She made me, the new girl, feel right at home. I remember one time she laughed at me laughing at myself, which of course, made me laugh even more. Her class was extremely challenging and there were plenty of elements that I’m still trying to work through.
After class, I thanked Lorinda for the amazing class and when she asked me where I came from, I told her about DollHouse Pole Studio. She and Lizz comp-ed my class, gave me their email addresses and sincerely urged me to contact them if ever I had any questions about the business of running a studio. Lizz is the one of the founders of The Pole Fitness Association and one of her missions is to unite and empower studio owners. She is smart and savvy and truly understands the joys and the rigors of being involved in the pole community.
I have never felt more welcome at any pole studio than I did at Studio Soiree. Lizz and Lorinda taught me that it’s possible to be graceful and compassionate yet still run a successful business. Their students are fiercely loyal and devoted to the art of pole. It seems that they’ve created a sense of friendship and sisterhood that has given the studio a unique personality. I can only hope that DollHouse will blossom in a similar way. I have the hopeful feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
