In this week’s episode, our returning guest Squeak Machine of Awakenings Pole Dance Fitness NOLA, shares about her impressive 20+ year career stripping, becoming a pole instructor, opening her own space in NOLA, and how she and her team managed to stay afloat with their business amidst the COVID 19 Pandemic.
Squeak Machine or Jillian is the owner and founder of Awakenings NOLA. She started pole dancing in 2003 and she was self-taught for several years. She just celebrated her 20th anniversary in the stripping industry as a pole dancer last April.
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Pole Dancing Journey
- Squeak Machine started pole dancing in 2003 and she was entirely self-taught for several years.
- At age 18, Squeak Machine worked as a stripper to support her education which went on for years during and after college, and celebrated her 20th anniversary last April 2020.
- Having gained skills through her stripping, Jill started teaching pole dancing in a studio.
- In 2007, Jill started to take interest in Pole dance fitness when frequent back pain issues started making her concerned for her overall health. She reached out to studios in her area to learn more about proper pole dance fitness and improve her technique before finding her home in Awakenings Studio in Philadelphia.
How Awakening Studios Started
- She reached out to studios in her area to learn more about proper pole dance fitness and improve her technique before finding her home in Awakenings Studio in Philadelphia. Heather, the owner of Awakening Studios in Philadelphia trained and mentored Squeak Machine in pole dancing and became of the instructors of the studio.
- She decided to open up her studio in New Orleans. She was surprised to find out that there were no pole studios are in the area.
- With the help of the people she connected with through social media, they were able to transform the space into a beautiful pole dancing studio. Eventually, these people would become her instructors.
- Initially, she marketed her business with the help of social media and started from there. But with the market of New Orleans – the flyers, word of mouth are much more effective in the area than social media. So she leveraged both mediums to promote her business.
- Awakenings Studio supports the local stripping community and has helped a lot of women to have a space for them to train pole dancing safely and learn proper train techniques like body condition, muscle, and body warm-up.
Creating a Space for Strippers
- By supporting the local stripping community, Awakenings has helped many people in giving them a place to practice their craft safely. They also encourage open communication with their customers and build rapport by letting them know that.
- They offer special prices and discounts for the dancers to make them feel more comfortable and welcome. It is their way of encouraging the dancers to try pole dancing and enjoy it in a non-work way.
Running the Business amidst COVID 19 Pandemic
- They ran online classes for free but people could donate in any amount. She also gave the members free access to online content of her Patreon tutorials.
- Her instructors and students initiated fund raising activities like virtual performances in their homes or in the studio.
- Following COVID 19 protocols, they only have group privates and they do not accept walk-in customers. People need to be booked for reservations like as a private lesson or as small group private classes.
- To avoid crowds, they removed their waiting areas, the beanbag chairs and seats.
- For sanitary protocols, they have towels and spray bottles at every pole spot. They also make sure to sanitize and clean surfaces and handles.
- They also require their students even instructors to wear mars which is hard but little stations with fans of the side are provided for students in the class.
Quotes:
“You know, I think I’m going to move to new Orleans. And I’m thinking about opening up a studio and I really want to still be a part of the Awakenings family because I wouldn’t even be here. I would never have been an instructor, I would never have managed a studio. None of that stuff. Had she not pulled me aside one night.”
“It’s one of those things where people are always like, “Well, why do strippers need a discount? Aren’t they making a lot of money?” And I’m like, it’s not about that. It’s about the fact that, you know, I get it, like after dancing on a pole for six hours in my heels all night, the last thing I want to do the next day on my day off is go on a fucking pole. I don’t want to go to the studio and learn more pole, but, you know, we want them to feel like. It’s a nice, like pass time they enjoy coming here. It might be stress release. It gives them a chance to enjoy pole non-work way. So it’s our way of encouraging them to try it. Just see if they can find something beneficial out, like from it.”
“And I would rather lose money and give a discount to somebody who is maybe working a part time job and going to college and has nothing to, they’re working on, like, they’ve got like $30 a week that they can spare. And I’m just like, okay, let me figure out if we can work with this, because that student is also the student who is coming in here, they’re posting on Instagram, they’re befriending other students. They’re like forging relationships with other students. And so a person like that is so valuable to me, money can’t even, there’s no price you can put on that.”
To connect with Awakenings Pole Dance Fitness NOLA:
Instagram | Facebook | Website
To connect with Squeak Machine of Awakenings Pole Dance Fitness NOLA:
Instagram | Facebook
Want to hear more? Check out Episode #20 with Niyah Marie and Episode #21 with Colleen Jolly.