Interview with Sam Ames

Sam Ames is the mistress of ceremonies at Taylors Retreat in Dorking and a pole instructor at the Pole Studio. As well as being a great poler she is also a caring a giving person and is organising a Charity Pole Jam & Fundraiser this weekend.  We talk to her to find out more and we hope you will attend and show your support...



1.Tell us more about your Charity Event? What’s it all about? Where will it all take place, who’s taking part and what can we expect to see? 

The Pole Studio & Taylors Retreat CHARITY POLE JAM & FUNDRAISER with special guests Anastasia Skukhtorova is being held on Saturday 26th May 2012, at Taylors Retreat in Rusper, Surrey.

My charity event is a Pole Jam and fundraiser, so its not only for us pole loving people but our friends, family, kids and even the neighbour (should they want to come).

I have arranged performers from across the globe including, Anastasia Skukhtorova, Viva Circus, Chantelle Reed (Freestyle disco dance champion) Charlie Wheller (contortionist breakdancer) X-pole boy Jo Tay and a couple of surprise performers on the day, all of whom are so kindly giving their performance and time for free to help us reach our charity goals.
 
We also have a profesional photographer for pole or group pictures, cake stands and a bar selling warm and cold drinks, two nail and beauty girls, a massues and stalls including X-Pole, R-Pole, Antigravity yoga, Mika Polewear and SpinnyTbags.
The raffle has so far over £5'000.00 worth of prizes all donated to this amazing cause (inlcuding a HOLIDAY TO ST LUCIA all inclusive spa resort accommodation, a Tracey Simmonds 121, an XPOLE, a Bendy Kate 121, an Adam Jay photoshoot and much much more)

Raffle tickets are on Sale NOW so if you cant make my event, please contact me on facebook or email and they can be brought via Paypal - Samantha.Ames@hotmail.co.uk
 
For those who dont know me, I love charity fundraising and its such a massive part of my life after I heartbreakingly lost my dear mum at the age of 18 to Lung and Liver Cancer, so I stand here to say, let’s fight this, let’s do anything and everything we can to help fight Cancer.

The loss of my mother affected me in more ways than I could ever begin to describe, and sometimes simply imagining that every day someone is affected by the same thing, imagining the pain it causes families, brings me close to tears, so I have chosen to live in way that I hope my mother would be proud of me and I hope that my fundraising would be part of that, and that everyone can help me reach my 2012 goals.

This year, alongside this first charity event myself and 2 close friends are also going to do a sponsored sky dive in August to complete our 2012 fundraising (yes a SKY DIVE – are we MAD!!!)

Did I forget to mention I don’t like planes or heights?



2.How and did you first get interested in pole dancing and what made you become an instructor/performer?
I found Pole dancing on a girly holiday in Tenerife just over 3 years ago, and after a long holiday of late nights attempting (being the best word I can use) to swing around and coming out pretty bruised, we all came home and wanted to give the classes a go.

So after a quick google search we found The Pole Studio and booked our first lesson. I fell over, I span the wrong way, I was generally terrible but I never ever looked back. My progression (after the level 1 glitches) came pretty quickly and I started teaching with the help of Ben of Taylors Retreat about 7 months into learning myself.

What struck me about teaching was the smiles - those smiles your students get when they learn a move for the first time, or when you show them something to work towards, or that darn move that’s been taking them ages finally clicks - that smile is beyond priceless.
I get a huge amount of pride from teaching and I genuinely love and adore all of my students.

Some girls want to come for fun, others for a great workout , I love being able to taylor a class to suit each of my students needs and making them go home happy (all-be-it sometimes a little sore).

Pole changed my life, and sometimes I see that same transition in my students, it makes me so so happy.

3.What is it about pole dancing that you enjoy the most?
One of the best things about Pole Dancing, for me, is the way it changed me for the better. The confidence I gained, the friends I gained, the direction in life I have now achieved - everything came from Pole Dancing. This sport has changed my life.

I was never the most popular girl at school, I was never the pretty or thin girl (I lost 4 stone before starting pole dancing) and I never, in a million years thought you would find me in a crop top and hotpants hanging from a pole by just my leg.

After loosing my mum, I joined the Metropolitan police force and I thought that was it, my life was written.

But now, now I’m surrounded by new faces, by happy moments, ecstatic smiles, teams of other schools, performers who I aspire to be like and generally some of the most kind, insane and amazing people I have ever met.



4.What are your 3 favourite pole moves and why? (It can be your current 3 or all time favourite 3.
1) The Pole Dancing move I love at the moment is the 'Jade' splits, I was always in awe of this move and first saw it when Sally Ann Giles had her birthday party at Taylors 2 years ago.
I told Sally Ann then that I wanted to achieve that move (having just learnt to invert I was being a little bold) but by gosh am I working hard on it now! For me (and my jolly green giant long legs) its quite a powerful but beautiful move.
 
2) A move I love and think I always will was the simple, gemini (some schools call this the outside leg hang) because it took me months to nail, I hated the pain on my knee and I hated the pole sitting on my stomach but I was so amazed when I finally nailed it, and its now one of my most comfortable moves. Its the first real trick I learnt, and taught so it hold some special memories for me :)
 
3) Now for my last move, which I should call my nemesis... the shouldermount. My gosh me and this move have had some fun - it runs away and hides in the closet for a few months and then saunters back like it never went away, its been an uphill struggle but this move has so much potential - from a simple shoulder lift, to shoulder hops or walk downs - its forever growing and I love that about this move.
 
 5.What are the main fitness benefits of pole dancing and how has pole dancing improved your fitness, strength or body shape?
For me, needing to tone up was what I wanted most from pole fitness, and it gave me that within weeks.
My arms (and their once happy bingo wings) grew stronger, my stomach actually has some signs of growing abs, my bum (although its still big) has toned up and my general health has improved 100%
Knowing that I want to nail a move on the pole makes me generally more aware of my health, I feel better so I eat better.
All of these thing grew into me feeling confident in my own skin, and I couldn’t ask for better than that.


 
6.What’s your favourite move for strength training on the pole?
I have always wanted that beach body flat stomach, so my conditioning move for strength is to deadlift into a V-Invert and lower down as slowly as possible - doing this from a mid-air invert is much harder as you cant touch the floor on the way back down ;)
This works wonders on my stomach and I really feel the burn after 10, I try to do 3 sets of 10 each time I do pole training.

7.What pole performers do you admire or inspire you?
I have been lucky to meet so many wonderful people in the Pole world, when I started Pole dancing I only knew one or two but I have learnt about so many inspirational Pole artists through either their pure hard work and determination to their amazing background stories.
Im still meeting and learning about these people everyday
 
I was beyond star stuck when I met, trained with and went for dinner with the amazing Zoraya Judd, something special about Zoraya is not only the woman’s pure strength, her hour upon hour or hard work, training and dedication to everything Pole, but also her amazing family - her beautiful sons and wonderful husband Nic... Zoraya reminds me in many ways of my mother, having lost her way before I started to Pole, when I met Zoraya I saw a twinkle in her eye, the way she laughs and the fond way she speaks of her love of family and pole has all the characteristics of my dear mum, so (without sounding like a loony fan) I adore everything about her.



8.If someone has never tried pole dancing before how would you advise them they to get started?
My best advise to girls is to grab a friend who you love to bits and drag her for a taster class at your local studio, I’ve met so many wonderful and friendly Pole Schools who will make you feel confident and at ease, and if your with you friend you can not only back each other up but also laugh at each other when you try to do a spin and end up sitting on the floor (trust me girls, it happens to the best of us) get out there and have fun at first, then take it from there :)

9.What’s next for you in the coming year?
Aside from the charity event and launching myself out of a plane in 2012, I have been overwhelmed so far as I have franchised the studio I learnt with and now manage The Pole Studio in Dorking, this is set in Taylors Retreat which is one of my favourite places ever.
I love everything about our studio and getting to meet the wonderful people who come for lessons or to jam each week.
My aims for 2012 is to see Taylors and The Pole Studio Dorking grow from strength to strength, run more classes, run more Jams with anyone who would like to come down, run more masterclass with those amazing people we all aspire to be like, and my final little aim is to enter my first ever Pole competition this year (neeeeervous!) wish me luck guys and girls

10.What are your hopes for the pole dancing scene/industry in the UK for 2012?
I would love to see Pole to continue to grow as it has over the last few years, its becoming more socially acceptable and the stigma attached has been slowly nudged out of peoples minds with the help of shows like Britian’s got Talent and 2012s Got To Dance, so I would love to see this continue, to see Pole on the TV, in the newspaper, in your local magazines,
Pole 2012. Smashing peoples perceptions.

We hope you will show your support as Cancer seems to strike so many people and destroy families. We at Pole Motion have also been effected with family members battling against the disease and myself having recently recovered from skin cancer, so we are more than happy to be involved and help raise money for this worthy cause.