Jennifer Pearce practices freestyle dance tricks. She has been pole dancing with Nia Burks for nearly a decade.
On a Saturday afternoon, the reception room of the pole dancing studio Butter & Filth is lined with women. Outfits are varying combinations of dancewear, bodysuits, boy shorts, leg warmers and sports bras. They’re all waiting for the Baby Stripper dance class, an introduction to exotic dance.
A door opens, and a group of women exits a glowing studio and ambles into the reception area. Their cheeks red and dotted with sweat, they’re just leaving a more advanced class with master instructor Heather Williams. The volume immediately rises as the two groups collide. Women are gassing one another up with compliments, saying hi and asking questions.
“Everyone in every class is encouraging and welcoming,” says Sara Boyles, a student who started coming to Butter & Filth after she saw a friend post about it on Instagram from a bachelorette party. “I like variety in workouts, and pole seemed like something fun and new to try out.”
Nia Burks (center) works with Julia Lukas.
Like some, she came for the workout, which is touted as a way to increase strength, flexibility and balance. There are a few other perks to pole, says studio owner Nia Burks: “Our client base is looking for many things — fitness, for a sober social activity or to cultivate a greater sense of self.”
The first Butter & Filth opened off Hull Street in 2018. Very quickly, classes filled. Within nine months, Burks and her then-co-owner, Williams, moved to a new location at 4840 Waller Road in Unit 310. Burks, who had been an instructor in exotic dance and was a touring performer, is also an accomplished artist. She has earned two master's and one bachelor's degree in fine art fields of study. “My art is primarily video, with elements of performance,” she says. “It’s rooted in the innate human need to be seen and heard, and vulnerability. Butter & Filth is a real-life manifestation of my research in belonging and trust.” She estimates that less than 10% of her customers are actual strippers.
“They have families and careers,” she says of her students. “They’re seeking confidence and something outside of the box to find it.”
From learning how to dance through a whole song to spinning around the pole with one hand, the initial classes can be challenging.
Karen Torres says she was surprised by how hard pole dancing actually was. “It involves coordination of all your body.”
Burks says she and other instructors make sure that students walk out feeling as if they were “already enough” before coming to class. “We are not here to train you to do anything,” she says. “We are here to untrain you. Females and those who are female-identifying are already trained enough; my goal is to untrain.”
In any given strip club, each dancer has a unique style. There’s no reason someone should perform the same as someone else in class, either, Burks says. In the working world of pole dancing, being different and embracing that distinction is what makes a person successful.
“Each time I walk in,” Torres says, “it is a burst of confidence and very reinforcing experience — seeing ladies in all shapes, colors and ages comfortable showing their body and at the same time willing to try something new and step out [of] their comfort zone.”
