Meet our July 2024 Teacher Feature: Pole instructor Marianne Dabir! If you haven’t taken her class yet, we hope you get to know her a little better through our “Upside Down Challenge” and if you’ve already taken her classes, maybe you’ll learn something new! Best of all, enjoy classes with Marianne for $25 throughout the month of July!
**PLEASE NOTE: terms and conditions apply. Please visit the front desk to purchase your $25 classes with Marianne.
MEET MARIANNE DABIR
- How did you find Body & Pole? I found Body & Pole kind of on accident. I was a hardcore gym rat for many years before I started pole dancing and one day I showed up to my little independent gym and it turns out the owner hadn’t paid back taxes in quite a few years so the whole place was shut down and I was like, “Oh, crap! Today’s my arms and back day, what am I going to do?” And I looked at MindBody and there was an Intro to Pole class available just a few streets away. So I stumbled into Body & Pole and the rest is history!
- What is one of your favorite moves to teach? Oooo, for my level three students, I love an elbow grip Ayesha. There’s a lot of variations, like the split, do a little bit of my thang. It’s a really nice intro to this two points of contact, upside down kind of situation, getting used to using your elbow. And it’s very handy for more advanced pole technique.
- What is your movement background? Movement background-wise, I don’t have a ton of formal training. I was a tiny baby ballerina, but I quit at about seventh grade. But most of my influence actually was from weight training and getting efficient with heavy movements. And I also watched a lot of music videos as a kid and tried to do the choreography, so I probably learned a lot from Shakira!
- Do you have a catchphrase or something you find yourself saying a lot in class or to your students? In class, I’m constantly saying squeeze your butt, use your obliques, tuck a pelvis under. I just need a soundboard that says those things!
- What advice, if any, do you have for people just starting out in their pole or aerial journey? Take your time. And I know that sounds cliche but it’s so true. I wish I’d really slowed down in the beginning. I kind of rushed so hard to get to know specific tricks, or things that I saw my peers doing in class, and if I had been taking my time, I think I would have found my movement style and saved myself a lot of angst. So yeah, there’s nothing as valuable as figuring out your own identity, how you like to move, how you like to express your movement, and that’s so much more valuable than any tricks or any technique that anyone could possibly teach you. So don’t underestimate and don’t shortchange yourself that opportunity.
Follow Marianne on Instagram @carbzz__. View Marianne’s class schedule here!
