Meet our October 2023 Teacher Feature: pole instructor Stella My Bella and aerial instructor Elena Delgado! If you haven’t taken class with them yet, we hope you get to know them a little better; and if you’ve already taken their classes, maybe you’ll learn something new!
Best of all, enjoy classes with Stella and Elena for $25 throughout the month of October!
Take class with Stella: Use code BPSTELLA
Take class with Elena: Use code BPELENA
**PLEASE NOTE: instructor discount codes are only valid for classes with Stella and Elena. Using the codes for any other instructor will result in early cancellation or a $45 single class purchase. No exceptions.
MEET STELLA MY BELLA
Which apparatus do you teach?
My apparatus of choice is the pole! The floor (she’s a floor whore) and heels are a close second. I consider heels their own apparatus that deserve their own attention to learn and master. I teach pole dance, Floorwork and Low Flow Heels.
What is your training and background in pole dance?
My training in pole dance began in 2007 when I purchased a pole for my apartment and began playing with simple spins and wearing heels to feel sexy, like the strippers I admired so greatly. I began training more seriously in 2009 when I craved to learn more tricks. I started with Kyra at Crunch and became so inspired by her teaching. She broke the hard stuff down well and gave me structure to accomplish the most impossible- seeming pole tricks. She told me about her studio Body & Pole and I began training there the same year. I’ve been training pole pretty consistently ever since. I started teaching in 2011 and became a Body & Pole work-study, then instructor in 2013. Since 2011 my training expanded to include contortion, hammock, weight training and floor-work. I incorporate a lot of functional training, building mobility and body awareness, breath work and joint health into my daily training in addition to my pole work.
How did you transition from student to teacher?
I knew I wanted to be a pole teacher when I witnessed how well Kyra commanded the room at Crunch Fitness and was able to provide such a transformative experience. I wanted to do that and provide that for people through pole dance. I started by putting ads on Craigslist for pole lessons at the old House of Yes. Sometimes people came and I’d try to teach them some pole stuff! I then saw an ad on Facebook that a studio on Long Island was hiring and I reached out and got the job! I was so nervous and so excited! I got one class per week at the Fit Factory and began building a little following.
Are there any teachers that impacted your pole journey, and if so, what gift did they give you?
Yes! Many teachers have deeply impacted my journey in pole dance.
Kyra Johannesen, one of my first teachers, really showed me how to command a class and move students to do incredible things in a one hour session. Her drive is incredible so it makes sense that she owns the biggest pole studio in New York City.
Marlo Fisken has always been my pole Muse. She taught me a lot of hard ass pole shit but she taught me some incredibly engaging warm ups and how crucial they can be to pole training. She has more recently reinvigorated my approach to teaching and coaching movement with her coaching certification program, Invert Ready. The training really transformed the way I train my body and how to coach students to learn hard shit, aka throw your ass over your head, through sustainable and fun ways.
Jeni Janover introduced me to the amazing world of floor-work through Liquid Motion. Her teachings connected me to some of the the deepest parts of myself through learning sensual and intentional floor dance. Jeni also taught me how to bring the sex and own it. For that I’m forever grateful.
Butch Fabulous taught me about being a showman. He showed me how to hold space like a hot bitch! It started with simple things like role play and dress up. I’ve never grew so much inwardly until I learned through him what true presence was. I learned about connecting to the room and my audience. I also became a better observer and listener. With Butch I was able to play with my style and what I liked to put on and feel cyute in! I was a beautiful dancer before I met him but because of him and can let go, have fun and shake my booty!
My greatest teachers are my students. They show me where my communication and lessons need work. I have learned the many ways movement and lessons can go, so I can become more clear about what I am asking my students to do and what I want them to get out of it. I have become a better teacher from the experience of teaching.
What makes your classes unique?
My pacing is slow, the content is detailed and clear, and I encourage my students to show up and dance as they are. I also try to incorporate elements of fun, dance and expression that provides space for the students individuality to shine.I create a container and guide students with feelings that may come up during certain moments in class. Learning movement and expressing yourself can be incredibly vulnerable and I try to create a safe space for learning to happen naturally. I encourage breaks and play.
How do you motivate students when you walk into a class with low energy?
Dancing, some bouncing around and games! Booty shaking helps too!
How do you motivate yourself?
Same as above! Bounce and play! Sometimes a fun prompt or prop.
What’s your favorite playlist to jam to?
I’ve been currently moving to this jungle inspired playlist I created:
What is the best advice you can give to someone starting out in pole dance?
Listen (to your body), take your time, breathe and notice when you are hard on yourself.
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in class?
During a hammock class I was teaching an invert and I queefed in front of everyone!!! 🤭 I mentioned it and said it may happen to pussy havers. Everyone had a good laugh and so did I! I learned a lot about engaging my pelvic floor that day.
What future projects are you working on?
I’m working on a new Pole Act called Who’s your Daddy: A gender-bending act including a drag king beginning, whose pimp-like persona transforms into the empowered and sexual goddess we all long to be: the hot bitch in all of us! Would love to bring this to a competition or venues around town.
See Stella’s schedule here
Follow Stella on Instagram @stellamybella
MEET ELENA DELGADO
Which apparatus do you teach?
I teach Hoop and Silks and I love both, and I do other apparatuses like rope, hammock, and dance trap, but being in the silks feels like home to me.
What is your training and background in aerial dance?
I was an artist and a theater kid, and one day I decided to take a silks class with a friend, and then became obsessed. Aerial arts offered me a way to integrate all my passions into one: performance, art, object and textile design, and movement.
How did you transition from student to teacher?
I subbed a class for a friend and very quickly I realized I was very passionate about helping people discover what their bodies are able to accomplish. Growing up I had felt very alienated from my body, I think our society makes it very hard to have a body, and aerial arts gave me the gift of being able to focus on what my body could DO, not what it looked like. And I desperately wanted to give that gift to others.
Are there any teachers that impacted your aerial journey, and if so, what gift did they give you?
My first real coach was Jordann Baker, and she never held me back. She always let me try the harder skills, even if she knew I probably wouldn’t be able to do them, and her strength and calm helped give me the space to be able to try and fail, and then try again.
What makes your classes unique?
I make my classes challenging and fun! I always try to give people material that they can really chew on, and always be encouraging and remind my students that failure is part of the process! It’s how we grow.
How do you motivate students when you walk into a class with low energy?
Lol I don’t! I always dig deep and bring the energy up, especially when I’m feeling depleted, that’s when I bring it up to an 11.
How do you motivate yourself?
I don’t! I’m a people person, basically I can only motivate for others hahahah, it’s why I teach! (I’m working on it, shout out to my therapist).
What’s your favorite playlist to jam to?
Lately I’m into slutty Brazilian and Latin RnB. Im obsessed with this artist La Dame Blanche, and I just made a new act to one of her songs.
What is the best advice you can give to someone starting out in aerial dance?
Fall in love with the process, not the destination.
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in class (as a student or a teacher)?
Okay, no one tells you, but, after you give birth… the queefing (oh lordt the queefing). For about a 2 year period afterwards, every class was a gamble HAHAHAHAHA.
What future projects are you working on?
I saw a thing on Tik Tok, (so chances are that it was fake haha) but it described a science experiment where they injected trees with adrenaline so that they didn’t hibernate in the winter and all the trees died. And then they connected it to the human expectation that we should always be blooming, always be in constant production, constant spring. I’m not in that phase of life right now.
I’m making space for future projects by allowing myself to be in a bit of a creative hibernation at the moment. But I’ve also got some things happening, I’m performing in and producing variety shows, including the incredible Let Them Eat Cake variety show with Brenna Bradbury. I’m emceeing a lot more as my clown character Temper Tantrum, which I LOVE. I love yelling into microphones. I’m thinking of developing a podcast with a friend about the intersections of aerial arts, fitness, and capitalism. And in a few years I hope to self-produce another full aerial dance production, but that time is not now.
