The New USPDF Ms. Poledance 2010

The fall and winter of 2009 and spring of 2010 have been some very busy months for Pole dancers around the world. In the US competitions heated up surrounding the trials for the title of Ms. Poledance 2010. The USPDF (United States Pole Dance Federation) brought out a hyper competitive field of the best of the best competing through regional trials and culminating in the crowning of the USA's Ms. Poledance and sending her on into the 2^nd annual World Pole Dance Competition. The West Coast Region chose 12 extraordinary finalists from more than 100 entries as did the East Coast Region. Those selected in the Regionals went on to compete in New York City for the title of Ms. Poledance, which was held by Jennyne Butterfly the 2009 USPDF Champion and runner up in the World Ms. Poledance competition.

The competitors definitely brought their A games to the regional competitions and finally to New York City. The West Coast has a number of pole fitness studios and gyms. The West Coast representative for the USPDF is based out of Redlands, CA at Antix Studio, her name is Michula Nunez and she is also an active board member for both the Pole Fitness Assoiation and the USPDF. Antix Studio is also the host of the annual Rock the Pole Competition and exhibition

For the West Coast Regional Competition the Finalists were:

Caterina Gennaro of California , owner of Poleates pole dancing studio in Westlake Village,CA. Before she took up pole dancing she was a model and competitive gymnast, a world-renowned underwater photographer and shark diver. She is also a Discovery Channel TV personality and she is the mother of twins

Zoraya Judd of Utah, she and her husband own a marketing company called Atlas Fitness, which distributes nutritional supplements and she also teaches pole fitness classes.

Nadia Sharif of California is a trained dancer and gymnast, and also a performer at the Millennium in Motion Performing Arts Studio in El Monte, CA.

Mina of California, has a degree in Communications from UCLA, her resume includes work experience in marketing and in journalism. She is a member of the Pole dance performance troupe Vertigirls which performs in showcases all over Los Angeles and which was featured in the LA Times newspaper.

Faith Daniels of California, is a classically trained ballerina with over 18 years of dancing experience. She quit ballet due to a serious injury but she needed an outlet for her energy and artistic expression. She worked for a few years as a personal trainer and then took up pole dancing in 2007. She has now been working at Poleates for over a year as a pole dance instructor.

Natasha of California was trained at S Factor, The Pole Garage, and most recently at Leigh Ann Orsi's Hollywood pole studio Bespun. She is a lover of creative expression and has a legacy of both athletics, and writing from her parents. Her father is a three time U.S. Martial Arts Champion and her mother is a journalist. Natasha is also a published poet.

Elle of California is an all around athlete. She took training on sacred and mystical movements from a Toltec master. Also a practitioner and instructor of yoga, Elle is said to have an other worldly quality to her poledancing.

Lindsay of Arizona is 25 years old and has been pole dancing for 6 years. She has been teaching pole dancing for 4 years. She says that while she has trained many girls for competition she has never competed herself, until now.

Amber Richard of California, a ballet dancer from age 5, trained in the Royal Academy of Dance method. She also holds a BA in Dance from the University of California Irvine. Amber is the owner and an instructor at Poletential Studio.

Estee Zakar of California is a Los Angeles native, who moved to Denver, CO to complete her MA in Social Work. She is now the spokes model and fitness demonstrator for x-Pole USA and is also sponsored by Mighty Grip.

Lisa Wilhoit of California is an instructor at Leigh Ann Orsi's Hollywood BeSpun studio. She has a background in gymnastics, she is a professional actress, and is also a regular practitioner of yoga.

Leigh Ann Orsi of California is the owner of the Hollywood pole studio BeSpun. She has previously been a competitor in springboard diving, circus arts, and kickboxing. She also has a background in entertainment, acrobatics, and martial arts. Her husband Chis Reilly a former pro fighter owns the boys' gym next door to her BeSpun studio.

For the East Coast Region the competitors were:

Gabrielle Valliere of New York was an NFL cheerleader for a number of years and has over 27 years of dancing experience. She has been pole dancing for 5 years and currently instructs at the NY Pole Dancing studio. Beyond pole dancing she is a vegan and is currently pursuing a degree in nursing.

Lauren Goldstein of New York has taught for Xpose Fitness and is currently and instructor for New York Pole Dancing. This is the second time that she has qualified to compete in a USPDF competition.

Kyra Johannesen of New York started dancing professionally 11 years ago. She began pole dancing in 2006 and was asked to develop the dance program for Crunch Gym. She has also taught in Europe and is currently touring and competing.

Erica Shergold of Virginia has been pole dancing for 5 years. She is deeply entrenched in the Performing arts with a background in Social and Ballroom dancing, she studied Flamenco dancing, and has recently added Aerial Hoop and Silks to the list of dance training and apparatus on which she has trained and teaches others. She works at the family owned Charlottesville Shergold Studio where she teaches Pole, Burlesque, Social, and Ballroom dance styles.

Tara Leigh Moore of Virginia is an instructor for Divafit studio. Her background is in musical theater, though at her "day job" she works as a speech language pathologist. Tara is the smallest of the performers invited to the USPDF Regionals. She is 4'11" and weighs 90 pounds.

Jessalynn Medairy of Maryland has traveled the world pole dancing and says that there is nothing in the world that she would rather do. She performed in both the 2008 and 2009 Pole Unity Show in England. Jessalynn is an International Pole Dance Instructor and Performer and was ranked among the Top 12 US Pole Dancers in Winter 2009 at the first annual USPDF Ms. Poledance competition. She is also a favored model for Pole2Pole Magazine.

Allison Cox of Florida was a Junior Olympic Gymnast. After she moved to Orlando she began teaching herself from videos and in under a year she become an instructor.

Takeila Fox of North Carolina has been pole dancing for just over 2 years. She is self taught and now teaches private lessons.

Eksupar Tongsri of New York is a former youth tennis and lacrosse player. She graduated from the University of Virginia and she is currently a practicing optometrist. She also holds a degree in Fashion Design from Parsons college and hopes to one day open a fashion boutique.

Karol Helms of North Carolina has become somewhat famous on the social networking YouTube community for the amazing videos of her pole dancing and pole stunts. She took gymnastics and a child and continued throughout high school as a member of her High School dance team. She has been a professional pole artist for 7 years. She holds the title Miss Poleapalooza Charlotte for 2 consecutive years and she loves teaching pole art.

Katheryn Bouchillion of Florida was a USGF gymnastics coach and 10 years ago she discovered pole dancing and fell in love with it. In 2007 she founded the 1^st Certiried Pole studio in Nashville/ Katheryn then won the 2007 Nashville Pole Queen Competition. She instructs and choreographs both pole art and trapeze.

Rhonda Chamberlain of Pennsylvania has been pole dancing for four years. She has a background in dance and is self taught. Rhonda was first an instructor for The Dirty Bunny,, but in 2009 she opened her own studio called PoleKatz.

The twelve finalists were:

Bynlyn Loomis- NY

Aoraya Judd-UT

Alethea Austin- CA

Karol Helms- NC

Jessalynn Medairy- MD

Lauren Goldstein- NY

Amber Richard- CA (Winner of West Coast Regional Final)

Estee Zakar- CA

Gabrielle Valliere- NY

Sarah Cretul- FL

Leigh Ann Orsi- CA

Both the amateur and pro finalists had to perform two programs before the judges. The first was a 60-90 second compulsory round where each performer was required to perform a set of elements which included: 20 seconds of continuous floor work, two spins, one upright static pose, one inversion, one inner thigh hold, one split, and a few more for good measure. The contestants wear shorts and sports bras for the compulsory round of the competition. The artistic round of the competition has no required elements, in fact finalists are not even required to participate in this round. However the artistic round is the round where performers can let their style and their passion show for the judges while performing their own choreography in costumes of their choice.

All of the finalists in the competition were fierce competitors and any one of them had a realistic chance at winning the title. All of the finalists are extraordinary dancers and they are also great promoters and advocates for pole dancing as a competitive sport. Videos of all of these ladies either performing or competing can be found on YouTube.com. Video of the USPDF Championship can be found on the USPDF website. The winner of the 2010 Ms. Poledance competition was Ms. Alethea Austin the 2009 Runner up and "Miss Sexy". Alethea qualified to compete in the Ms. Poledance World Competition and in the MPD Australia Competition in October of 2010. Ms. Austin was also the online winner of the Poledance Superstars competition in the fall of 2009. Alethea Austin is truly a consummate pole dancing professional and a great representative for the US in the Ms. Poledance World Competition.

References
2010, March 22 Passage, Diane, U.S. Pole Dance Federation Championship 2010, Huffington Post Newspaper digital edition, retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-passage/us-pole-dance-federation_b_507223.html

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