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SEARCHMisha Parks, salon owner. In her other life: pole dancer.
"I love to show women how to loosen up and explore the pole or the chair."
The owner of My Sassy Nail Spa in Washington, D.C., Misha Parham [left] says she’s a dancer at heart. In the past, she’s done belly dancing and tap (along with gymnastics and cheerleading), but in recent years she’s gravitated toward a style of dance that requires a pole or chair. Pole dancing, she explains, is a combination of sexy dancing and gymnastics using a vertical pole that you grip, climb, or swing on. “It allows you to be free,” she says. Parham has performed publicly — with clothes on — at nightclubs, private parties, and tradeshows.
She also loves teaching others. “Pole dancing was once reserved for the privacy of gentlemen’s clubs,” she says. “Today, it’s used by everyday women looking to spice things up in the bedroom.” She teaches at a local belly dancing school and offers private lessons in homes. Students range in age — but must at least 18 — and come in all sizes and shapes as well, she notes. “What makes learning to pole dance enticing to women is that it is a sexy workout. It makes them feel sensual and provocative as well as alluring and beautiful.”
Her spa also hosts bachelorette parties with pole dancing classes as the centerpiece. “I enjoy making up routines and teaching women how to be sexy and feel sassy!” she says. “I love to show women how to loosen up and explore the pole or the chair and unleash their inner diva.”
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