There’s so much more to teaching pole than just the step-by-step.
Deepen your knowledge with Pole + Dance Teacher Trainings.
Best-in-class instructor training.
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How-tos and cues for teaching fundamental pole skills.
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Safe spotting techniques for you, and your students.
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Prompts and ideas for developing your instructor style.
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Classroom management, including difficult scenarios.
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Sustainable practices for building long, rewarding teaching careers.
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Detailed reference manuals with photos and space for notes.
Pole + Dance Teacher Trainings
All of our teacher trainings are led by two senior Pole + Dance instructors with years (sometimes, decades!) of teaching experience. You’ll get a printed copy of our Teacher Training manual to keep and reference. All of our trainings include demonstrations, hands-on learning, question-and-answer time, spotting practice with partners, and group teaching practice.
We offer these trainings at all of our Pole + Dance studios, as well as outside studios. Read on for more info about hosting a training!
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Pole + Dance’s Active Flexibility Teacher Training is a two-day teacher training that focuses on the two major areas that students who train flexibility seek improvement - splits and backbending.
Day one includes an Active Flexibility class centered around splits, followed by a discussion about the body mechanics, common mistakes, adjustments, and modifications for each of the individual exercises in that class.
Day two focuses on backbending, focusing on upper back and shoulders.
Included in this 2-day, 14 hour training is a 100-page electronic version of our Curriculum Manual.
Cost is $600; payment plans available!
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Pole + Dance’s Pole Foundations Teacher Training covers a detailed breakdown of our Pole Foundations curriculum including how to effectively teach climbing, inversion preparation, spins, body waves, pole sits, and floorwork. We’ll also go in depth on how to plan and lead an effective warm up, discover who you are as an instructor, best practices for teaching, how to build community, and what we expect of our Pole + Dance Studios instructors.
This two day training intensive includes 14 hours of instruction over two days, from 10am-5pm each day.
Cost is $600; payment plans available!
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The P+D Pole L2 teacher training is perfect for teachers looking to advance in their instructor journey, or beg/int dancers who want to deepen their personal practice.
In Pole L2, dancers are getting comfortable being off the ground and upside down. They are exploring various ways to get inverted for skills like leg hangs and butterflies, and working with traveling contact points for aerial combos.
In the training, we’ll cover how to build progressions from the ground up. We’ll discuss how to help students develop proprioception (where body parts are in space), build strength for aerial flows, and progress toward inverting. Trainees will also learn supportive spotting for any skill.
Dancers taking this training for their own personal growth will learn how to find accessible variations for their own body, identify gaps in their skillset, and understand how to build a well-rounded training program.
Cost is $600; payment plans available!
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The P+D Pole L3 teacher training is perfect for teachers looking to advance in their instructor journey, or intermediate dancers who want to deepen their personal practice.
In L3, students will learn a wide variety of skills, including aerial inversions, shoulder mounts, brass monkey, extended butterfly, spinning static pole work, advanced static spins like reverse grab flare, dynamic movements like torso switches and drops, and floor handsprings.
In the training, we’ll cover how to break down these concepts and skills into progressions built from the ground up. This includes new variations of familiar skills that require more strength, active flexibility or proprioception. Teachers will learn how to talk about traveling contact points and dynamic movement, plus supportive spotting for any skill.
Dancers taking this training for their own personal growth will learn how to find accessible variations for their own body, identify gaps in their skillset, and understand how to build a well-rounded training program.
Cost is $600; payment plans available!
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The P+D Heels Teacher Training is different from our other Teacher Trainings, in that it works with two apparatus - a pole, and a pair of heels.
You’ll get to know your main apparatus, the stripper heel. You’ll learn to think of choreography in terms of elements and flourishes, and how to break down any piece of movement into its components so you can easily modify your choreography for any student. We’ll work through how to communicate your choreography to your classes - not just in words - and explore exercises to encourage embodied, expressive movement. You’ll also learn how to create flows for mixed level classes, including how to build progressions for dancers of different levels, and how to safely spot the skills you teach.
Cost is $600; payment plans available!
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In this 90 minute spotting workshop for current pole dance instructors, you'll learn and deepen techniques for safely spotting students in class. You'll learn how to efficiently and confidently use your own body to keep yourself and your students safe as you guide them through skills such as inversions, handstands, butterfly and more. We'll talk about spotting students larger than you, using the pole for leverage, dodging moving limbs, and what to do if a student slips. We'll also cover transitioning a spot safely from one body part to another, and common spotting principles that apply to a wide variety of skills.
Attending this workshop will help pole dance instructors feel more capable of safely guiding students into the air and teach them the basic Pole + Dance spotting methodology. Attendees will learn spotting theory and get hands-on practice using these techniques with each other during the workshop.
Available by request!
2025 Training Schedule
Pole Foundations
Iris Sparrow + Kat
Portland, OR
July 12-13
Join Us
Heels
Amy + Joshua
Grand Rapids, MI
July 12-13
Join Us
Active Flex
Amy
Grand Rapids, MI
July 19-20
Join Us
Pole L2
Os + Angel
Oakland, CA
August 2-3
Join Us
Pole L2
Amy + Matt
Portland, OR
August 2-3
Join Us
Pole L3
Iris + Amy
Portland, OR
October 11-12
Join Us
Pole L3
Amy + Allison
Oakland, CA
October 18-19
Join Us
Pole Foundations
Karina + Allison
Oakland, CA
November 2-3
Join Us
Heels
Iris + Amy
Beaverton, OR
November 8-9
Join Us
Host a Teacher Training
Bring our comprehensive, in-depth Teacher Trainings to your own studio!
Bring a mixed group of instructors up to the same skill level.
Train students you're developing into future teachers.
Deepen your staff's knowledge of teaching technique, spotting, and classroom management.
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All our Teacher Trainings are led by two Master Trainers, who have years of experience working with our methods and curriculum. We'll send our Master Trainers out to your studio for the training weekend. We cover their airfare, housing, and expenses. You handle bookings through your standard booking system, and your staff gets 25% off the cost of the training. (You are also welcome to offer additional subsidies to your staff, where your studio covers part or all of their payment!)
After our minimum of 8 trainees is met, you'll get a free spot for a staff member of your choice. All trainees will get both a printed and digital copy of the Training Manuals, and a certificate of completion at the end of the weekend!
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You'll need resistance bands, two blocks, and a foam roller for each trainee in any Active Flex training. To host a Heels Teacher Training, you must have a smooth, hard floor - vinyl or wood (not marley, foam, or mats).
For all pole trainings, you'll need at least five poles, 10ft or taller. This provides space for our minimum of 8 students plus Master Trainers, with two person per pole.
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You'll handle booking and marketing the Teacher Training to your community. Once you have a booking link, we'll also list the Teacher Training on our own website and social media.
Prior to the Training, you'll need to send out an informative email to the attendees (we'll provide a draft you can work from) about what to expect.
Finally, the entire room where the session will take place should be reserved just for the training (please no private lessons happening on a corner pole, etc).
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We require a minimum of 8 bookings by one month from the date of the training. If the minimum booking is not met, we will cancel the training with no penalty or fee to you.
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There are no tests to attend a training session. Each Teacher Training has its own prerequisites (see the section above for more info). We leave it up to the host studio to determine which students and staff meet the training prerequisites. Our Master Trainers are able to work with mixed levels among the trainees, within reason, and adjust the Training content to accommodate.
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All of our Teacher Trainings are priced at $600 per person for a 14hr session over two days. The exception is our Pole L3 session, which is $400 per person for 8 hours over two days.
All of your staff members receive 25% off the cost of the training. After our minimum of 8 bookings is met, you receive one free spot for a staff member of your choice.
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Yes, our trainings are NASM certified and attendees can receive continuing ed credits!
We’re here to answer your questions!
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Absolutely! Our teacher trainings are designed for future instructors, dedicated students, and current teachers. You can take a training simply to deepen your personal practice and learn to be a better student! For experienced instructors, we’ve designed our trainings to broaden your experience and skillset.
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Click the booking link on any training session to see a detailed description of what we expect trainees to know going into any session. These prerequisites are designed to ensure you’re at a similar level as fellow trainees and will have a good experience. However, they are simply guidance - get in touch if you’re not sure that you’re ready and want to talk about it with us!
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Yes! We’re happy to set you up with a payment plan for any session.
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Currently we only offer in-person sessions. Our trainings are highly hands-on experiences, and for much of the class, a recorded or streamed training wouldn’t make sense - like for spotting practice!
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Completing our Pole Foundations Teacher Training earns you 1.2 CEUs with NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine)! We’re working on getting our higher level trainings certified a well, so check back soon!
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No, but taking these trainings is our first requirement for inexperienced instructors, or those unfamiliar with our curriculum and standards. After taking the trainings, you qualify to begin our shadowing process. You’ll observe classes and teach portions of them with a current instructor, go over our curriculum with a staff member, and then complete your own audition. If you pass, you may be hired as a P+D instructor.
