Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Natalya Nightshade. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Natalya , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

The most innovative thing that I’ve done in my career is staying absolutely authentic to myself and my vision across all my brands, often despite what is popular or exalted in my industry. When most people think of hobbyist pole dance, they think of pole fitness – which is essentially adult gymnastics on a vertical bar with a little bit of dance peppered in. The focus is very much on aerial tricks.

I’ve always been a dancer at heart. My mom is Trinidadian and was a dancer herself, so I’m sure that’s a big reason why. I had no training until the age of 20 when I could afford to start taking adult ballet classes. I enjoyed it, but there’s something about doing an activity that you know you’ll never be that good at because you missed the age cut off. In December 2015, I stumbled into a pole dance class and I never looked back. I was instantly in love with the freedom and expression that I found within it. It was so different than the rigidity of ballet (which after many years of hindsight that looseness has both positives and negatives).

My favorite classes were obviously the dance classes, but most pole studios focus more on aerial tricks. There are many levels of aerial tricks classes to continue to provide a challenge, but the dance classes were very beginner without much technical instruction beyond “step here, hand here”. As I developed as a dancer, I quickly became aware of what I was missing – a challenge. At this point I had been essentially “learning” the same things over and over for years and I couldn’t find a single pole studio that had an advanced dance class, much less one that provided the detailed caliber of instruction that I had loved about ballet.

So after many years of developing my own personal dance practice, traveling across the country to learn from other dancers both on and off the pole, and a few years of teaching myself – I decided to create the thing I always wanted but could never find – a pole dance studio dedicated to dance. From technique to expression, choreography to freestyle, and usually not lacking in dance theory. We like to say we’re “Putting the Dance in Pole Dance”. Even in our more aerial oriented classes, the focus is on dancing through the aerial skills just as you would with your feet on the floor.

Natalya , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Natalya. I am a pole dance performer, instructor, owner of Studio Nightshade, and producer of Nocturnelle Pole Show in Tampa, FL. I got into pole dance as a hobby back in December of 2015 after seeing it as performance art in a show in NYC. When I came back to Tampa I knew instantly that I had to try it.

I opened Studio Nightshade in November of 2022. The thing that sets us apart, as I mentioned previously, is our dedication to putting the dance in pole dance. There are exceedingly few pole dance studios in the country that aren’t primarily aerial/fitness focused, so it was a bit of a risk doing something so vastly different than what is typical in the pole industry.

I think out of anything that I do, I am most proud of the movement intensives I host at my studio. 4-5 times a year I rent a big house, fly down a fellow pole dance instructor, and we curate a 5 day event that includes not only 9-12 hours of dance instruction, but group events, meals, a photoshoot, and some really badass swag bags. They are wildly popular. The last one sold out in less than 2 1/2 hours! Beyond it just being successful from a business stand point, the experiences are so valuable and transformative and I’m so proud to be able to provide that for my community. Growing up as a biracial woman, finding community has always been challenging for me, so naturally I’ve become a highly community oriented adult. Because of that, the instructors stay in the house with the students and it’s the most magical bonding experience every single time. I just genuinely enjoy getting know and spend time with people who share the same love of dance that I do. We just wrapped one up a few days ago and i’m still on a high.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Pole dancing definitely became my career on accident! It started as just a hobby, but I fell really deep in love with it. I’m a very intense person. Some might describe me as a wee bit obsessive, even. I became so passionate about pole that at one point I was taking 13 classes a week, and then would dance at home for hours if I wasn’t at the studio. A friend of mine would come over and we would just laugh and dance for 5, 6 hours straight. You do anything that much and you’re bound to get good at it. Suddenly I started getting a bit of social media attention and performance opportunities coming my way.

I think between my obvious love of and investment in it, my talent for it, and my unique personality and point of view, people started becoming interested in learning from me. So after three years, I started teaching at a local studio here in Tampa, and that’s when it became my side hustle. I was also starting to be invited to teach and perform in other cities around this time. And then Covid happened.

What I thought was surely the end of this unintentional pole dance side-hustle was actually about to propel me into it becoming a full blown, mortgage-paying career. Like many people, Covid forced me to pivot. The studio I was teaching at closed for a bit, and as we were all so desperate for dance and connection, many of us started teaching online via Zoom. (You’d be surprised how many people have poles installed in their homes). I started teaching virtual classes and I was genuinely shocked to realize just how many people were interested in learning from me. I taught online classes, workshops, multi-week series, and had students attend from all across the country. Even internationally – Germany, England, as far away as Malaysia even. I’ve always felt a bit like the misfit or underdog, so it was shocking, flattering, and exciting.

If I hadn’t started teaching virtually, and because of the admittedly unsupportive environments I had been in, I don’t think I would ever have realized the true value of what I had to offer. That experience and confidence led me to opening my own studio post-covid, and now people from all over travel to come dance with me in my space. I never expected to become a professional pole dancer, but here we are, and it’s honestly a dream come true. I can’t imagine being as fulfilled in any other line of work.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This is a loaded question. I like to say I’m as magnetizing as I am polarizing. I could really get into some astrology things here, but I’ll spare you. Ok, I can’t resist – Scorpio Rising, Pluto, First House. If you know, you know. Let’s just say people have… very strong reactions to me. I’m a woman, in a female dominated industry, who is very much a girls girl, but has very masculine energy. I’m very much a “do no harm, but take no shit” kind of person. If my life was a movie, the opening credits would be “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett.

I’m very open on social media. Even before pole dance, I’ve always been the creative girl who likes photographing, writing about, and otherwise documenting my life. To me, social media is like virtual scrapbooking, but better because the art that we make in life can breathe out in the collective ether. What good is a beautiful painting hiding in a basement, you know? Life is art. Art is inspiring. Why hide it?

So really, it’s that – me. My openness and willingness to share what I love and what I don’t, to have thought provoking conversations, to not have all the answers, hell, on occasion even to fight. All of those things contributed to building my reputation within my market- for better or worse.

But I own my reputation, whether good or bad. For me, it’s all good. I’ve built an incredibly successful career by being absolutely nothing but myself and doing only what I want to do. By burning some bridges and building others, I’ve build a business and career where I don’t have to wake up every day and fake it, and I think in the professional world, that it incredibly rare.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.studionightshadetampa.com
• Instagram: @studio.nightshade @nocturnellepoleshow @natalya.nightshade