Miglena Lafchieva is a teacher at Soul Flight studio which is located in an interesting and hip neighbourhood – Kreuzeberg. The studio is spacious. I learned about Miglena through her pole dance blog The Pole Dancer and since I liked her tutorials I decided to take the Pole Motion class. She is super-friendly and open, so we met again a few days later just to talk about pole dance and our goals. The whole class was in English (I don’t speak German), everyone had their own pole, and we learned a short choreography that included a few spins and a bit of floorwork. Usually more lyrical, the choreography (or one part of it that was taught that day) was sassy and sexy, but without heels, which was refreshing.

Alisa Saric is the owner and teacher at Drehmoment Pole.Aerial.Dance. At this studio, I decided to try something I usually don’t do at home (because I don’t have the opportunity at home) and booked Off Duty Stripper class. (Alisa was kind enough to let me use her shoes.) The studio is welcoming and from the moment you enter it, you can feel that it is made to be an oasis. After a warm-up that consisted of all the sexy moves you can think off – legwork, body waves, leg waves, ankle conditioning, etc. we proceeded with an exotic choreography. Alisa later explained that she likes Doris Arnold’s and Elizabeth Carmine Black’s style. What was pretty impressive is Alisa’s ability to teach in three languages simultaneously – she explained everything in German, English and Bosnian/Serbian. Although I struggled a bit with the choreography due to being an exotic pole dance newbie and coming to the class when the last part of choreography was done, the way Alisa teaches and runs the studio left a strong impression on me. Her perfectionism, hard-work, and attitude can really make you feel empowered and inspired.

Bad Kitty: Are there any particularly good spots for street poling in Berlin? Either for a workout or just an Instagram worthy pic? Is street poling legally allowed in Berlin?

Miglena: Officially, there are a few street workout parks for callisthenics.They’re listed here:
You’ll find a lot of horizontal bars there but you probably won’t find any regular poles. At least there wasn’t a pole in the park that I went to.

I wish there was a public pole in Berlin like the one in Bondi beach that I’ve seen on photos. That would definitely attract a lot of pole dancers. And some tourists for sure as well.

I don’t think street poling is officially allowed in Germany, but I don’t think it’s forbidden neither.

You can take a cool pole picture in the public transport called S-Bahn, which I also don’t think is allowed. So, it would be at your own risk. Otherwise it all depends on your creativity to find a pole on the street or on public playgrounds.

This doesn’t mean that Berlin is not good for outdoor photo shoots though. On the contrary! I had a cool outdoor acrobatic and flexibility photoshooting in front of big graffiti walls, abandoned places, train rails. East Berlin is full of cool and rough places. It’s definitely worth going out with a camera to look for them.

Alisa: Yes, there are indeed plenty! One of the most popular insta pole pic spots is certainly in front of the Brandenburg Gate, where you will find several street sign posts. (S+U Brandenburger Tor) Most of our local trains (S-Bahn) have poles in the centre between the doors, and leave plenty of space, whereas the subways (U-Bahn) are a lot more narrow, but open other possibilities of casual pole/acro action, so I’m sure you will have at least one opportunity where you will see a kid dancing around the S-Bahn pole, and you’ll definitely want to strike a pose yourself. Just don’t let the conductors catch you – nobody ever explicitly said that street poling is illegal, but you’ll probably be asked to come down from most poles and posts, especially in public transport.

BK: Tell me more about the studio where you teach. How would you describe the style that is taught in your studio? What kind of classes do you offer, and which ones do you teach?

Miglena: The studio where I teach is called Soul Flight and is located at Moritzplatz in Berlin. I’m very happy that I found it 3.5 years ago. Back then I was a beginner and took my first classes in another pole dance studio. What convinced me personally as a student to move to SF was the fact that even in the pole technique classes we’d always learn combos and not just single tricks. By the end of the class we could perform a whole routine with lots of new moves and transitions. Personally, I strongly believe that the more you learn combos, the easier it will be to come up with your own ideas for routines later.

Also as a teacher I feel like SF is the right place for me. The studio puts a lot of emphasis on the dancing part of pole and to me, pole dance is all about dancing. We have Pole Flow classes in different styles – from lyrical to sexy and exotic. We teach a choreography for 8 weeks and the students can perform what they learned in a small show at the end.

In my Pole Motion class I teach a choreography and apart from learning new moves we focus on flow, transitions, quality of movement and expression. Between the warmup and the choreography we usually do short and playful exercises for freestyling or for creating a short low-pole combo.

Alisa: I teach at Drehmoment Pole.Aerial.Dance, which is located in Tempelhof in the South of the city. Drehmoment means momentum, or turning point, and letting people find their own momentum is exactly what we do. To us, pole is a form of dance that opens countless possibilities to make it your own, and that’s why we put an emphasis on solid basics both in general movement and in pole, and encourage our students to become creative with what they already have from the very start. We take pride in the freestyle culture in our studio, since to us, the biggest reward is to see our students blossom as individuals. We are humans first, then dancers, and then pole dancers, and we find that our holistic approach leads to pretty remarkable results.

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