ARLENE CAFFREY

As a child, I never had any interest or inclination towards dance or sport in any form! I had taken up freestyle fitness yoga classes around the age of 16 as an extracurricular hobby and had been participating in these classes casually for several years, when my instructor announced that she was opening a fitness pole dancing studio. I decided I'd would give it a try, since she had so much faith in this new and exciting form of dance! This was the first ever pole dance studio in the Republic of Ireland. I took up fitness pole dancing at the age of 19 and became hooked after the first lesson! I never had any self-confidence to participate in sports or dance when I was younger so I found that pole dancing was a great medium for me to express myself and develop my affinity with dance and performance, which I never knew I had!

I went on to win many prestigious national pole dancing competitions including Miss Pole Dance Ireland 2007, Miss Pole Fitness NI 2008, Irish Pole Champion 2008, Irish Pole Champion runner-up 2009 and the most recent Irish Pole Champion 2010.