Friday, July 30 |
| Jennifer Lee |
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| From left: Dawn, instructor Rachael Vint, Jennifer and Sherry |
A pole and a workshop?
There's an edge to this one
By Jennifer Lee
MemphisMojo.com
I arrive to Rachael Vint’s “Strip to Fit” class to find a hurried Vint busily setting up the dance studio of the old Cordova Community Center located at 1017 Sanga Road.
Vint, a Memphis native, has been teaching dance with a sexy edge for the past 14 months. Not only is she a certified yoga instructor who teaches cardio striptease; she also orchestrates a “pole workshop” in her Cordova home.
“The pole workshops are an available option because so many people want to learn how to work around or swing around the pole,” says Vint.
Not to worry, Vint refuses to train women who are seeking employment in that industry. She made that decision when a friend and former entertainer nearly lost her life in the business.
“She is the reason why I will not teach women interested in a career in [dancing]. There is not a career to be had there,” says Vint
Vint, wife and mother of three daughters, ages three, six, and nine grew up attending Vacation Bible School around the corner from the 100-year-old building we’re in.
As students file into the studio, Vint proves her mother-like, multi-tasking abilities. She’s having an interview with me, manning the sign-in sheet, collecting fees, cueing the music and joking with the women already rolling out their yoga mats as if they were lifelong girlfriends.
My classmates are friendly and welcoming. I ask Shirley, who works in the banking industry, what I’m in store for with this inhibition-relinquishing style of dance.
“It’s tasteful. You pick it up quick because it’s not hard.”
It’s about that time that I notice a plaque sitting on Vint’s table that reads, “Dance as if no one is watching you.”
I’ll have to keep that in mind.
We are summoned for a warm-up. A former ballerina, Vint calls for “legs to the side” as she stretches into a perfect split. I begin to feel the sexiness commence as she guides our arms through a body caressing stretch.
Then the pulsating song “Don’t cha” by the Pussycat Dolls kicks in. Six students begin mimicking Vint’s “sexy walk” and mesmerizing hip circles. Tonight’s class is a continuation of the routine entitled “Fever.” With moves like “peek-a-boo,” “flirt,” and “cat pounce” I slowly start to feel my body temperature rise, and the plaque’s advice seems to be helping.
If you think there’s a narrow demographic that attends the strip-to-fit classes, think again. Tonight’s class ranges in age from 22, myself, to 61; the age of an adorable grandmother named Peggy, who works in a hospital.
I never would have guessed that behind those gold, wire-framed glasses lay the same feminine desires of women half her age; the desire to feel sexy and “express yourself as a woman,” says Peggy who has been attending Vint’s cardio striptease classes for a month.
For Peggy, a former belly dancer, Vint’s class is more than expressionism; it’s therapeutic.
“I had my hip replaced three years ago this month,” says Peggy.
Who will she be showing her new moves to?
“If I ever get up enough nerve - my poor li’l ol’ husband.”
Not everyone is able to get on the inside of this scintillating class, however. The racy class is only taught to women of at least 18 years of age.
Sorry guys, if you want to see a routine in action you’ll have to send your wife or girlfriend, and, if you’re lucky, a performance is in your future.
Not everyone is a fan of Vint’s erotic-inspired lessons. Her classes have been ridiculed by members of the community and even raised the eyebrows of certain Cordova Community Center board members.
Vint’s response, “I’m not going to spend my life worrying about the nay-Sayers. I could, and it would probably destroy me, but I just choose not to.”
Despite opposition, Vint has a firm rule. No nudity, men, or children, permitted in the class.
How does Vint feel about her daughters in conjunction with her career?
“I am not the kind of mother, or person, who’s going to try and hide who I am from my children.
“Do they know I teach a dance class? Yes. Do they understand what type of dance I teach? Probably not. Will they ever? I’m quite sure.”
Vint’s next class is starting to convene as she answers a few last minute questions for my classmates.
I guess the naysayers would just have to experience it for themselves because if laughter is the best medicine for your heart, then this class is in good shape.
“We laugh a lot in here. I’m having a great time doing it,” says Peggy.
For additional information visit www.StripToFit.net.
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