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Heels clack and hips pop in Schine Underground. Excited chatter and nervous laughter fill the room as attendees warm up, as pop music plays from the speakers.

This isn’t your typical dance class. It’s a heels class, part of skill building for Exotic Elegance’s future pole dancing performances.

“Our club is really to make friends and bond over learning how to dance,” Josephine Jean, Syracuse University senior and the club’s fiscal agent, said. “We try to push our bodies to the limit, building friendship and finding comfort in each other.”

Exotic Elegance is SU’s first and only pole dancing club. Founded in the spring of 2023 by now-SU senior Sabrina Brown and four friends, the club hosts regular, beginner-friendly heels classes and pole dancing meetings. Originating as a passing comment between the friend group, the club is now a registered student organization.

“There’s not a lot of on campus group-based communities that really involve different types of working out,” Brown, the club’s president, said. “We wanted to have fun with it, be able to work out and just meet new people.”

The club isn’t limited to women. Everyone is welcome at Exotic Elegance, and they reject the idea that you need to be a specific type of person to take a class with them, Jean said.

In reality, it attracts anyone who wants a community and a chance to better themselves physically and mentally. Many people misconstrue pole dancing as exclusive, delegating it to one type of person or body type, Jean said.

Pole dancing takes strength, core and muscle, Brown said. Before starting Exotic Elegance, she never knew that she could reach that point with her body, nevertheless help others reach that too.

“A lot of the girls that we have talked to about this would say they don’t feel like they have the right shape — girl, don’t. There is nothing about shape here,”” Brown said.

Exotic Elegance’s executive board pose together outside Schine Student Center. The club uses the space to host beginner-friendly heels classes. Alexander Zhiltsov | Staff Photographer

Brown credits SU’s chapter of Girl Gains as one of their earliest supporters. Members of the RSO were among the first attendees at Exotic Elegance’s meetings.

But not everyone was so welcoming. Despite the fitness-focused approach and motivational mindset, the club has faced negative associations from outsiders, Brown said. Many people, including friends of the club founders, dismissed the idea as sexual and inappropriate, deeming it an invalid way to work out, Jean said.

“Whenever I mention that I have to do something for my club, they ask what club,” Secretary Rochelle Victoriano said. “And then when I mention Exotic Elegance, they say, ‘Why would you do that?’”

This stigma didn’t discourage Exotic Elegance’s executive board . In fact, Jean said they used the negative responses as their fuel to register the organization and build the club. For them, pole dancing isn’t promiscuous or wrong — it’s empowering. It’s a way for attendees to live fully in their bodies and find strength in new ways, Victoriano said.

Exotic Elegance Vice President Ellie Petros was looking for a way to stay active on campus when she stumbled upon the club. She’s been hooked ever since. Pole dancing workouts have kept her in touch with her passion for gymnastics and aerial silks and the creative nature of the sport has allowed her to express herself artistically.

“The club has made me feel more confident as a woman. With all the backlash that we received, us being able to still join together and have so much fun makes you feel like there’s really no judgment in the club,” Petros said. “You can mess up as much as you need to, and everyone’s proud of each other.”

Vice President Ellie Petros found Exotic Elegance while looking for a way to stay active on campus. The club has boosted her self confidence and helped her express herself. Alexander Zhiltsov | Staff Photographer

You don’t need any heels, pole or dance experience to join the club, Jean said. Petros is the only one with this kind of dance experience. Like their executive board, most attendees are beginners.

“I remember our first class,” Jean said. “I was falling all over the place. I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m not gonna be able to do anything.’ But, in the end, I was able to do things I couldn’t do before.”

During classes, attendees embrace awkwardness and emphasize acceptance, creating an environment where people are excited to exercise, Brown said. As the music gets louder, so do the cheers.

Exotic Elegance typically holds their heels and floor classes in Schine Student Center. Brown said the club is currently working to get pole space on campus. Until then, Manlius-based Deviant Dance Tribe provides them with space and poles to practice, taking buses from campus. Exotic Elegance hosts classes there for free and Deviant offers a student discount for members who want to attend other classes at the studio.

They haven’t had any pole performances yet; it’s a goal for them as they grow membership, Brown said. They’re hosting their first pole dancing class of the semester on Oct. 17.

Victoriano said Exotic Elegance has helped her feel at home in her body, and “access her full potential.” Anyone can find a safe place within this club, she said.

“The dances sometimes may be so sensual and other times may be deemed negatively sexually, but it just makes you feel happier about being in your skin no matter what you look like, no matter who you are,” Victoriano said. “It just makes you feel better about being you.”

Published on October 6, 2025 at 9:41 pm