Lose pounds on pole

Aboul-hosn said she was the first instructor to teach pole dance in Orange County. She taught herself most of the moves using her background in dance and acrobatics, after her students started asking her for something new about seven years ago. Today, she and her instructors at From Mind to Body offer classes across Southern California, and she also has made a few instructional pole dance DVDs. Women from as far away as Mexico and Japan have traveled to Southern California to take her classes, she said.

“Woman of all ages and all sizes take my classes,” Aboul-hosn said, adding that her oldest client was 68. “The classes empower women through dance and make them feel more feminine and elegant. It’s the perfect workout.”

She’s fond of telling the story about how she got a 62-year-old woman to lift herself up and spin upside down on a pole.

“If you can spin, you can go upside down,” she said. “At first she said ‘No way,’ but after she did it, then she said, ‘I know how I’m going to die now.’”

 POLE PARTIES AND PILATES

Pilates instructor Nicole Leto began the Newport Beach-based company Pilates on the Pole a year ago with the goal of combining Pilates and dance in a way to make pole dancing cleaner and healthier for everyone involved.

“I pole dance on ‘Oprah’ and took some classes and thought ‘These women are going to get injured,’” Leto said. “They’re going to fall.”

After coming up with her own pole dance regiment, Leto had her moves evaluated by a professional dancer who used to work with choreographer Martha Graham and a chiropractor.

“I did it to make sure it was safe and women wouldn’t hurt themselves,” Leto said. Response to the pole dancing classes has been good, Leto said. She has even started offering private dance parties, where women can learn a complete dance routine. The classes are popular for bachelorette parties, Leto said.

“It’s mostly younger women who take the classes because its a big fitness trend, but I do have a few older ones.”

Pole dancing provides a good workout when combined with pilates because it improves posture and muscle strength, she said.

“It’s rewarding to see women feel good, get stronger and see their bodies change,” Leto said.

WHERE TO GO

Pilates on the Pole

pilatesonthepole.com(949) 675-5888

From Mind to Body

www.frommindtobody.com(949) 903-1867

Platinum Stages

www.platinumstages.com(866) 85-POLES

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.