Chris Randall Photos
Jessica Lynn.
Jessica Lynn — founder, owner and instructor at Polefly Aerial Fitness — has a travel pole that has made its way over the past six years through a variety of New Haven locations, from a talent show at the Yale Forestry School to a burlesque show at Elm City Social and many places in between. Currently, however, it resides at Lynn’s house as she and her staff seek out ways to share the same talent and training typically available at Polefly’s Wooster Street studio with their beloved community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Part of Polefly’s answer: video.
“It’s harder to do it at the house, but it makes people feel good to see it,” Lynn said about filming videos at home to share with her clients. “It keeps up motivation when people see things are active and still being produced. It makes them say, ‘this can still happen even when we’re locked down.’”
Before the government-ordered shutdown of nonessential businesses, Lynn had been at the studio to film. She also shared supplies with friends and family, often going to the store for others and dropping off stuff at their door. She made sure she brought her pole and equipment home after getting that fated call.
Polefly — which officially opened its doors at the beginning of 2014 — closed “the day gyms and restaurants closed: Monday the 16th at 8 p.m.,” said Lynn. “They called us in the morning. We had nine hours’ notice.”
Lynn’s first responses were both reflexive and reflective of her relationships with not just the Polefly community, but the community at large.
“When it first happened I reached out to restaurants in New Haven,” said Lynn, who had bartended and been a manager at the Owl Shop on College Street on and off for eight years. “I talked with owners and staff and shared loan and grant info with everyone, including employees and musicians that played at the Owl. There’s been a lot of interaction with other businesses.”
“We’re all kind of trying to help each other with resources as they come through,” she added. “We’re all in the same boat right now…. Some of the first people I contacted were my Owl Shop coworkers, even though we haven’t worked together in seven years. We’re still a community. I had to hit up everybody and make sure they were good.”
As far as her own business was concerned, Lynn and her instructors got to work to make something new but familiar. She created a Patreon that was “up and running within 24 hours of the studio closing,” she said, noting that there are over 50 videos already posted. “All the instructors are submitting and are still active. They started making videos before I even had it up, while I was trying to get everything organized.”
They also added content — including a couple of “family fun” challenges — to their existing YouTube channel as well. Live lessons and training may also be in their future.
“I didn’t do anything live yet,” said Lynn. “I didn’t want to commit to a schedule while there was so much uncertainty, but I may do it later. I didn’t want to take on too much.”
“I’ve been working at my own pace and I filmed a lot ahead of time. I was also looking for loans and grants,” she added.
Polefly received an Arts Council grant this past Thursday, which she said “covers a week of payroll for her staff, to help hold them over until the forgivable payment program kicks in. That was supposed to launch Friday but the banks weren’t ready. A lot of people laid off staff, but it’s an incentive to keep them on.
I had already planned to keep staff on.”
Lynn has also made a more personal effort to stay connected with her students. “I’ve reached out to people and asked, ‘what videos are you doing?’ Most hadn’t done any yet. People want to, but some are not ready to accept this yet. I think in the past week people are coming around, even if they may not have been. It’s just starting to hit people that we have to create a new schedule, a new norm.”
The aerial arts have been part of Lynn’s own norm since 2011. “I went to a pole class with a friend,” said Lynn. “I had never heard of pole dancing for fitness,” noting that she was “very sore the next day. It was a very humbling experience.”
“I became hooked and kept going even after my friends stopped. Before you know it I bought a pole for the house and was fully committed,” she added.
Lynn got certified and started teaching in 2012. In 2013 she started to look for a place to teach and practice in New Haven. “People at the Owl were very interested by it when I talked about it,” she said. She also noticed they were looking for something more local. “People from New Haven want everything to be in New Haven and to stay in New Haven,” she added with a laugh. “That’s why I chose the Wooster Street area.”
Lynn was inspired by her city and community and grateful for their support and interest. She was eager to offer them her expertise.
“I was fortunate that I had a community at the Owl Shop, and working with different restaurants gave me some credit when I opened it,” Lynn said. “People knew me as a manager at the Owl Shop. They could have given me a hard time.”
But they did not — which is quite a different scenario than what she has seen elsewhere.
“Pole studios get ridiculed or a town doesn’t want them,” Lynn said. “New Haven has always been really accepting of Polefly. When I first started taking pole and I was working at the Owl Shop, I had a few comments from people asking what other bar I was working at, hinting it was at a strip club. I thought it was odd. Why didn’t they just ask? I had been posting my progress pictures on Instagram and someone must have found it. When I first started really doing it for exercise” — that was in 2011 — “I was doing that for me, for my progress. Maybe I was naïve, but people have a lot of judgment. I never let it stop me. I was doing it for myself, and once I got out of my head I never felt ashamed and that made others comfortable as well.”
The comfort and support of others is paramount to Lynn and Polefly, and has been from day one. “There is never judgment,” she said. “I went about it as professionally as I could, and people respected the work ethic. We are across the board judgment free. If you come to our studio, you hear it over and over. We have a lot of students who come here short term from Yale and we get feedback from them. When they go to different areas they don’t get the same openness.”
Lynn also spoke of accessibility, which she thinks the city encourages in the broader sense. “I’m also not into the girls’ only aspects of pole. That’s narrow minded. The aerial arts are for everyone, whether you dance at a club or with Cirque de Soleil. It doesn’t matter your age, gender, background: it is accessible for everyone. My goal is to make it accessible for everyone. The New Haven arts in general are accessible for everyone.”
Lynn has also offered her support to those who are not a part of the local community. This past February’s Super Bowl half time show featured Jennifer Lopez performing a pole routine to a variety of criticisms, some of which Lynn saw on social media and responded to the next day.
“There were these people who praised me and shared my posts, and then in one instance can flip it and shame people they don’t know,” Lynn said. “It upsets me. If I posted the same routine as J. Lo did, they would praise me. It’s so easy to make fun of celebrities because there are no repercussions, and I don’t agree with that. That’s not nice.”
For now, Lynn’s immediate concerns include helping out her family and friends, supporting her employees and students, and continuing to keep Polefly viable.
“My goal is to keep our instructors paid and keep everything functioning as much as we can,” she said. And the traveling pole that now resides at her house is being used to create content to keep people practicing at home.
“I’m making classes like I do normally. I talk and make comments like they” — the students — “are there. I don’t edit. It’s like you are in class. People like that, that you’re going it through it with them.”
For more information about Polefly’s programs please visit their website or Patreon page