Wendy Traskos (Judge & Workshop Instructor)
Wendy has been pole dancing for 16 years. Her style is marked by her extreme athleticism, sensuality and her passion for dance as a form of self expression. What drew her to pole dancing was her awe of pole dancer's artistic yet powerful presence. Completely self-taught, she was hooked at first spin; discovering it was a great form of expression in addition to being a great resistance training workout. Wendy believed that by combining her extensive background as a personal trainer, her years as a fitness and gymnastics competitor plus her years of pole dancing; that she could create an environment for other women to experience pole dancing as a workout and an art form. Since 2005 she has opened three locations of NY Pole Dancing where she created a systematic, progressive approach to teaching that reflects her understanding of the need to create a foundation of strength, technique, proper bio-mechanics and muscle memory before advancing to more complicated skills. Her success as a studio owner has created such a buzz in the industry that she was brought in as the pole dance expert for Germany's version of America's Next Top Model hosted by Heidi Klum. She was also recruited by Tony Award winning Jerry Mitchell as a pole dancing consultant for Peep Show, currently running in Las Vegas. And, she's been a guest on the Montell William's radio show as a pole dance expert.
Celebrity Guests
Aerial Amy (Judge & Workshop Instructor)
Amy hung up her ballet shoes at the tender age of 4, after seeing her cousin come home in bloody pointe shoes. After that, it was a long dance drought until a few years after graduating from NYU, when she found pole dancing classes and quickly fell in love. She found pole dancing as a means of staying in shape and re-connecting to her sensual side and has found that it has given her enormous physical strength and conditioning– besides being ridiculously fun and continually challenging!
Amy’s goal is to build a healthy self confidence from within by helping her students gain strength, sass, and skills on the pole. She truly believes that all women are beautiful, that all hips are inherently sexy no matter what size, shape, or color– and that anyone can pole dance.
Currently she lives and works in Manhattan.
Karol Helms (Online Judge)
Dirdy Birdy (Online Judge)
Dirdy Birdy fell in love with pole in 2008 and has since garnered a small following thanks to her presence on youtube and facebook. She is known for her smooth dance style on spinning pole, passionate dances and most of all, her forever video bombing cats.
When she's not spinning and climbing, she runs her online clothing business dedicated to pole, yoga and swimwear. When she's not doing either, she's most probably playing with her fur babies.
Alethea Austin (Online Judge)
Alethea Austin is recognized worldwide as one of the top Pole Dance instructors and elite competing performers. Distinguished by her slow controlled flow, flexible lines, and isolated body waves, Alethea holds titles as 2012 US Pole Dance Federation, (USPDF) Second Place, US Pole Dance Federation Champion 2010, USPDF Miss Sexy 2009, and IPDFA 2 nd Place Pole
Fit 2009. Alethea is featured performer at major national and international pole dance events. Alethea has given pole dance workshops her Sexy Flexy style at over 150 studios in 12 different countries, including US and Canada
Fawnia Dietrich (Online Judge)
The World’s First Pole Dancing Instructor
Fawnia was born in 1975, in the small town of Kamloops, BC Canada. In 1983 she made the move by camper trailer to the beautiful city of Victoria, BC. Her interests growing up included running, art (drawing), theater, and dancing. Growing up she always loved dance however she never took formal training. In Oct, 1994 at the age of 19 Fawnia began her training and career as an exotic dancer. Learning as she went, live in front of the world Fawnia fell in love with the pole. Seeing the women on stage performing
the most amazing pole moves inspired her to learn and create as much as she possibly could. Where was the school? Fawnia asked the club staff where she could find the Exotic Dance School to learn pole tricks. Their reply to her was "There is no school, you just learn while you are on stage." Fawnia couldn't believe there wasn't a place that taught pole tricks, dance, walking, and crawling; everything that makes someone a great exotic dancer. Just two months after she learned my first move, "The Fire Man", Fawnia purchased a brass pole from a metal store, and started teaching. The date was Dec, 1994. While the rest of the world was going about their business, Fawnia opened the world's first Exotic Dance School and produced the instructional DVD: Pole Work, volume 1. The first of its kind, making her a pioneer of what's now the world’s hottest fitness craze, pole dancing for fitness! Today Fawnia lives in Las Vegas, and continues to teach at her two studio’s, passing on what she remembers being one of the most exhilarating moments of her life; learning how to dance with a vertical dance pole. She has judged countless pole competitions including ‘World Pole Dance Championships’, ‘Miss Pole Fitness Switzerland,’ ‘National Aerial Pole Art,’ is an ongoing judge for the Vertical Pole Challenge reality television show. Fawnia is also a judge for the World Pole Sports Championships (WPSC) by International Pole Dance Fitness Association (IPDFA.) Fawnia created the Pole Dance Instructor Certification (PDIC) which is a complete training program and guide for running a safe, informative and successful pole dancing school. Fawnia wrote the forward for The complete Idiots Guide to Exotic and Pole dancing Illustrated (Paperback) and was voted The United Pole Artists Pro-Poler of the year 2011. Fawnia is on the advisory board for the Pole Fitness Association (PFA), and is an Elite Athlete for the International Pole Sports Federation (IPSF) supporting their Olympic efforts. Fawnia’s most recent projects are writing a book on living a healthy lifestyle and hosting Pole Expo in Las
Vegas every September.
Kelly Yvonne (Judge & Workshop Instructor)
Kelly Yvonne is one of the leading choreographers in the pole dance and fitness industry. To date, she has choreographed numerous award-winning routines for professional pole athletes, including Natasha Wang, Laura Martin, Nadia Shariff, Jennifer Kim, Karri Telford and many more! Since 2010, Kelly Yvonne’s pole dance choreography has been featured in competitions around the world, including the United States Pole Dance Federation (USPDF), California Pole Dance Championship (CPDC), International Pole Championship (IPC) and the American Pole Fitness Association (APFA). In 2012 she was named “Choreographer of the Year” by the International Pole Dance Fitness Association for Natasha Wang’s 2011 USPDF Championship routine inspired by the film “Black Swan”.
The Benson Twins
Kanita & Denita Benson known as The Benson Twins Started Pole dance and fitness in 2008. It was a curiosity after watching video of Vakiesha Wimberly (Skittles), Jenyne Butterfly, Leigh AnnOrsi, and Felix Cane. After a Pole show at their Birthday Party they started to receive Special request for Pole Shows in Detroit surrounded area, nationwide and now International. Working their regular jobs and teaching private classes during the week; in addition to, the weekends out of town bookings, time management definitely plays a huge part in their everyday lives. Pole dancing has taught The Benson Twins that intense cardio and muscle building workout in the art of Pole dance helps build women confidences within themselves. Their amazed at what use to be negative in the eye of some has quickly became more socially accepted. The Benson Twins are Definitely Excited and Honored to showcase and be a part of a wonderful experience at the Studio Venus Pole Festival.