Since 2020
About PoleCoven
PoleCoven is a pole and movement studio in Victoria, BC, where technical training, embodied exploration, and personal expression belong together. We honour pole’s lineages and welcome all bodies, backgrounds, and reasons for moving. Come to build strength, develop artistry, and become more capable without becoming less yourself.
HOW WE STARTED
Built for performers
PoleCoven hosted its first classes in March 2020. In 2021, we hosted our first student showcase, and the program has grown since then. PoleCoven has grown its drop-in technique and performance training programs over the past 6 years, and holds regular shows at Dance Victoria in Saanich and Artemis Whiskey Bar located in Market Square.
Since our initial pop-ups out of Studio 4 Athletics downtown, we expanded by collaborating with community partners like Luminesque Dance, Pandora’s Box Cabaret, and others. In 2024, we produced our first show, Thrive, and now focus on creating student performance opportunities.
Where this comes from
Pole Dance History
This art form emerged from strip clubs, and the moves we adore in floorwork, heels, and pole are from the sex workers who built the movement vocabulary the whole industry now trains on. We teach it as their art form, credited, rather than as a workout that happens to involve a pole.
Who teaches
Instructors
Our instructors are working performers: the material they teach is the material they take on stage. Your goals and your pace set the class; their job is to get you there safely.
Mayari
Owner
Sylvia
Instructor
Maowi
Instructor
Luna
Instructor
Sloane
Instructor
Mel
Programs
Britt
Operations
Maybe you?
We're glad to hear from instructors who teach the way we do: technique first, credit where it's due, and a room where everybody belongs.
Teach with usHow we run now
Back to where we started
This Fall 2026, we've shifted back to our original model, but at a larger scale of venues. You can find us on Sundays at Studio 4 Athletics, Thursdays with our friends at PoleTrix, Wednesdays at Pandora's Box Cabaret, with more announced as the season goes on.