Smashing goals, spinning on poles, Traralgon’s PhysiPole Studios has had an impressive few months, with the Gippsland pole and aerial fitness studio raking in myriad accolades from August through September.
Sale local Allison Murphy dominated the Victorian Pole Championships at Federation Square on Saturday, August 27, with her ‘Black Widow’ routine taking out the amateur championship title.
Allison never anticipated hearing her name reverberate inside the Fed Square walls as the judges announced the Victorian Pole Championships Amateur Champion title.
“I was shocked,” Allison said. “It was very validating; personally, I struggle with confidence and all that, in my skill, and it was just so good to have my hard work paid off.”
“Yeah, I was so happy,” Allison said, laughing.
The Victorian Pole Championships 2022 Amateur Champion was introduced to pole dancing in 2017, while living in Geelong.
As a child, she trained, then competed and coached gymnastics at Maffra Gymnastics Club.
After high school, Allison said goodbye to Gippsland and moved to Geelong, where she continued coaching gymnastics throughout her university degree.
“I finished uni and started practising law,” Allison said.
“When I started practising law, I had to quit coaching gymnastics, and I didn’t have anything to do; it created a bit of a gap.
“Growing up being a gymnast at Maffra, then coaching, I found being out of the sports world really hard.”
Longing to rejoin the sporting world, missing the endorphins, community and camaraderie, Allison quickly agreed when her friend suggested they try pole dancing.
Five years later, Allison would never have thought she would be standing on a stage at Fed Square receiving the Victorian Pole Championships Amateur Championship trophy or preparing for the Australian Pole Championships, slated for Fed Square in December.
For Allison, pole dancing was never about competing or winning state titles; she was drawn to the artistic, emotional, and physically-challenging elements accompanying the sport.
“I’m not the kind of person who can practise mindfulness; my escape is being here (in the studio),” Allison said.
“I pick characters for all my pieces, and I love choosing strong female characters; I love creating the drama, bringing the audience in, really creating the kind of routine where the audience just cannot take their eyes off me because they are so drawn in by the emotion and the intensity.”
Allison said she also loved creating costumes.
“My mum is a really good seamstress, and my goal before mum drops off the perch is for her to teach me everything she knows about sewing, because her sewing brain is truly incredible,” she said.
“So being able to spend time with my mum and mum teaching me how to make my costumes, as much as she sometimes rips my head off, is our little thing.
“It is just such good fun spending time with mum making costumes together.”
Allison is not the only accomplished athlete at Traralgon PhysioPole, where involvement with the studio has bolstered family relationships.
Darren Roylance, aka Hoop Daddy, recently participated in his first aerial competition, PhysioPole Studios’ Ignite Intermediate Aerial Finals, after winning the PhysioPole Studios’ Ignite Intermediate aerial heat in June.
Traralgon PhysiPole Studios’ Hoop Daddy took first place in the PhysioPole Studios’ Ignite Finals at Thornbury Theatre on August 19.
For most, swinging on apparatuses metres above the ground is daunting, but for Darren, an arborist by trade, he lives for the thrill of heights.
“I’ve been climbing trees for 22 years, so doing anything crazy with heights I am in,” he said.
“I was the only male competitor – that was seriously intimidating. They are all so fit, very pretty and very good at what they do and here comes this gnarley grey-haired, pink-haired old fella. It was very intimidating.
“It is the only competition I have competed in; the heat, then the finals, and now I am retiring. I’ve got a 100 per cent success rate; it only goes downhill from here.”
Being a female-dominated sport, it poses the question of how on earth a 58-year-old man finds his way into the world of pole dancing and aerial fitness.
“My daughter owns the studio,” Darren said.
“It started out as daddy-daughter time and got serious.
“Part of the reason I did it (aerial) is that I am not you stereotypical bloke, I don’t care what anyone thinks about me; if I am happy doing something, I’m going to do it.”
Darren said it was also great fun because he got to spend lots of time with his daughter. “That was a big part of the reason I started it,” he said.
“Now, they (Traralgon PhysiPole Studios) are a part of my family; they all call me dad. When I come in, all the girls say, ‘ hi,dad’; it’s good, I like it.”
Hoop Daddy’s daughter and owner of Traralgon PhysiPole Studios, Celestee Roylance, began competing in pole dancing and hoop in 2016, before buying the studio in 2017.
The Studios’ accomplishments don’t end there.
Ten-year-old Ariana Riseley took first place in the PhysioPole Studios’ Ignite Juniors Beginner Aerial Finals.
“I was Princess Poppy from Trolls,” Ariana said.
“I chose her because she is just a very fun character and very excited about everything, and that’s kinda me.
“It was a bit scary at the start; I was very shaky and nervous. Everything was great after I started performing.”
Traralgon’s Emma Dunn was a finalist in the PhysioPole Studios’ Ignite Advanced Pole Finals, and Laura Elise won the PhysioPole Studios’ Ignite Semi Pro Pole Final.
Traralgon PhysiPole Studios also took out the Ignite Franchise Studio of the Year award.
