Thursday 22-11-2018 - 10:00

Bristol SU has a number of societies which have been accredited with gold status on the Balloon Accreditation Scheme. We caught up with Pole Fitness Society to find out more about their student group.

What do we do?

Fun, fitness, competitions, socials, enviable Instagram photos, amazingly close friendships – Pole Fitness is such a supportive society that gives university students a chance to try something they’ve (most likely) never done before. With professionally taught classes alongside completely free practices, there’s no better way to build up your confidence in performing stunning move combos and rocketing your body image. 

The strength, grip and flexibility people gain comes around incredibly quickly, and you have all your pole friends cheering you on from next to the pole. What faster way is there to become close to someone than arranging their limbs into fancy moves up in the air (or saving them from falling out of moves!) and becoming their personal social media photographer?!

We also run events outside of classes and practices such as socials (everything from film nights and pub quizes to high-level costume club nights), photoshoots, one-off workshops, and charity showcases twice a year where anyone can perform routines of any level. Last year our summer showcase was full of varied routines and special guest performances, and all ticket profits went to Off The Record mental health charity.

Where do we do it?

We work with Spin City on Hotwell Road to get our members 50% discount on classes every Wednesday (so they’re £5 for members). This is where you’re taught all the awesome new moves that will propel you through the Pole Syllabus levels until you’re easily holding positions that you never thought you’d be able to manage. You’re also taught beautiful flowy movements in these classes to link all the tricky ones together smoothly. You can show off your free pair of Pole Fitness Society shorts here as well.

We also hold free practices in the SU in the Dance Studio and Stephenson Room. These are alternating Thursdays/Saturdays so check out our cover photo on Facebook (Bristol University Pole Fitness Society) for an up-to-date schedule. This is your chance to get creative, practising moves you’ve been taught and linking them together. You can prepare for auditions or showcase performances here and hang out with more lovely pole people who are always chatting away or helping each other get into moves. 
Our competitions have taken us all over the country in recent years from Exeter to Nottingham to Newcastle, which have been so fun to explore, and we hope to get more non-competing members involved on these trips this year.

What have we achieved and what are some of the ways we've met the standards of the Gold award?

In the past two years we’ve had 4 regional wins and 2 national wins at competitions, we’ve used our charity showcases to donate to charities such as Julian Trust Night Shelter and Off The Record, and we’ve had so many people tell us how good pole has been for helping them settle in at uni and for improving their confidence. To get the Gold award we held lots of taster swaps/joint socials last year (with societies such as MASS and Krav Maga) and made a plan so the society worked in line with the UN sustainability goals (focussing especially on equality, health, no poverty, climate action, and education).

Anything different we're planning for next year?

Varsity! For the first time we’re having an official Bristol/UWE Varsity in March 2019 alongside Dance and Cheerleading societies and we can’t wait! This is going to give twice as many people the opportunity to compete (alongside the national competition we enter annually) and will hopefully give us a chance to get to know some UWE polers through joint socials and on the day itself. We’ve got brand-new black shorts this year featuring our logo and gorgeous contemporary purple waistbands. We’ve also got some intensive workshops from professional polers lined up for next year (we’ve never had this lady visit Bristol before!) so keep an eye out for more details after Christmas.
 

---

More information

Find out more about Societies and Clubs

Find out more about the Balloon Accreditation Scheme