YAS Podcast: Danielle G #16 Transcript
Danielle and AM have never met… or haven’t they? This episodes guest is a former stripper and now pole dance studio owner of The Vertitude in Canoga Park, California. After chatting for a bit, these two find out that they most certainly crossed paths at some point and didn’t know it. They reminisce on the old days and talk about the deterioration of the strip club scene in Los Angeles over the last two decades.
*This transcript was auto-generated and may contain minor errors.* Begin transcript after opening credits.
AMD (00:00)
Hey there and welcome to Yes, a stripper podcast. On this podcast, we’ll discuss how classifying each other as people and workers is dangerous to society and marginalized groups of people. We’ll also talk about the climate in and outside of the strip clubs and all of the amazing things that strippers do. And of course we’ll talk about all of the things in between. I’m your queen, AM Davies, and this is Yes, a stripper podcast.
Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of Yes, a Stripper podcast. Today is going to be very exciting because we have a guest today that I have never met before and I have never talked to before. And normally I know all the things. ⁓ So I think that this is going to be a really interesting challenge for me. you know, trying ⁓ to like,
You know, this will be my first podcast where I truly don’t know that much about the guest. I know that she has a studio. I know that she pole dances and that she’s in burlesque shows. But beyond that, I don’t know that much. And so I find it it’s going to be very cool for for you guys to watch me like sort of.
talk and interview in a different style and a different way where it’s like really digging deep trying to get to know somebody and trying to get their perspectives without being offensive because I can be very direct and sometimes kind of offensive and so you know I want to tread lightly but not like walk on eggshells right so you’re going to witness something a little new today
And our guest is also going to have to go through that with me. And we’re just gonna, you know, fucking wing it, man, and find out what’s gonna happen. And I’m gonna tell you something, I’m not even scared. And I think that the main point of this message is, you know, do something challenging as often as you can. And just go for it, even if you don’t know what it is. And if you don’t know the outcome.
just take a chance and go for it and learn as you go, which is something that I do fucking almost literally every day of my life. And so I just hope that that can inspire you and just this topic inspires you to like, if you don’t know something or someone, fuck it, just go for it, man. Just send that text, just make that call and just do that interview, dive in head first and see what comes out the other end. So speaking of that, here we go.
Want to bring on our guest for today, Danielle, what’s up?
Danielle (02:37)
Hey, how are you?
AMD (02:40)
Freaking great, actually.
Danielle (02:44)
I’m good, but I’m also very nervous. I’m excited that this is kind of new for you too, because I don’t really know what to expect.
AMD (02:54)
Yeah, and you know what, even though we’ve never met each other, ⁓ you know, we’re just buds hanging out on the internet together, no big deal. That’s something that we do all the time anyway on Instagram, social media, right, and online dating. It’s like, whatever.
Danielle (03:10)
Absolutely, and it’s the only way to socialize right now anyway, so…
AMD (03:14)
I know, tell me about it. We’re still deep in coronavirus era, you guys, in case you’re listening to this like six months from now. We’re 16th and we are in it. Yeah. I see that you are at The Vertitude, which is the pole dance studio that you own in Canoga Park, California.
Danielle (03:23)
It is beautiful.
I am, I am. ⁓ At the moment I have the whole studio to myself, which is ⁓ rare, but also kind of nice. I’ve always said that this is like the silver lining to this quarantine, is that I never have a chance to just be here and train by myself. And it’s actually kind of nice.
AMD (03:55)
Yeah, incredible. So you purchased you that that wasn’t your business that you created. You bought that business from Sergio Luis Anderson.
Danielle (04:06)
Correct, yeah, about three and a half years ago.
AMD (04:08)
three and a half years ago. What was going on? Because you know, when that happened, we were all like, who is this person? The whole community. Who is this person taking Sergio’s studio? Is she qualified? We don’t know much about her. What’s that time like for you that transition tells us everything?
Danielle (04:28)
It was insane. you know, really to answer that question of like, who is she? Nobody. Am I qualified? I don’t know. ⁓ I most like I had a normal job and I was a pole dancer and I took pole classes all the time. I started ⁓ subbing here towards the end before I knew it was like towards the end. And because I was on the sub list, I got the email that she was
closing doors, basically had been looking for an owner unsuccessfully. A few people had come through, fallen out. And out of pure curiosity, I just asked what she was asking for it. That was it. I just wanted, maybe I’ll now I have a real number in my head for the future if this is something that I want to do. And she, the answer was something I could afford, which was terrifying. ⁓
AMD (05:26)
Sure.
Danielle (05:28)
And I mean, a lot of thought went into actually doing it, but it really was that moment right then and there that I was like, ⁓ well, I guess I’m going to buy a pole studio. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m terrified. I’m just going to fucking do it.
AMD (05:39)
Cute.
so much how this is like so perfect with my opening. I told you I’m really good at what I do and I love it.
Danielle (05:53)
So good.
AMD (05:55)
totally
blended and like, you know, is that sort of your personality to do things like that? Or was this the first time you were confronted with something on this level?
Danielle (06:06)
Um, no, definitely the first time on this level. Sure. I would, I would say that just doing things was new to me, doing things that I wanted to do without being too afraid to just do it was rather new. Um, if we were really want to get into it, it probably came with a bunch of weight loss that happened a few years prior to that. Um, where I just was sick of where I was and I made a decision to change it.
⁓ And being able to do that and seeing what I was capable of when I set my mind to it was then able to translate into doing other things that I wanted to do.
AMD (06:48)
So you had a transformative learning point in your life. Shoot, were you, before the weight loss, you dancing or did the weight, the dancing come after the weight loss?
Danielle (06:53)
Totally.
The, ⁓ well, was a stripper before I was overweight. So early in my 20s, stripper, danced in a club for years and years and years. And when I quit that, ⁓ I just quit any sort of physical activity at all. like eating habits never changed though. And it just got out of hand. And then I gained weight. And then…
And so when I was a stripper, this is all very complicated now that I think about it, I was never a pole dancer. ⁓ So the pole dancing happened after I lost the weight.
AMD (07:44)
Yeah, I’m just I’m letting this all sink in because my head is swirling with questions now.
Danielle (07:50)
I know it’s a lot, you know.
AMD (07:53)
Okay, so where were you stripping when you were stripping
Danielle (07:57)
I started when I lived in Phoenix. I was going to college there and I worked at a place called Christie’s Cabaret, which is still the best club I ever danced in. ⁓ And then when I came to LA, I worked at the Spearmint Rhino downtown for a really long time.
AMD (08:13)
Year
was that.
Danielle (08:16)
2004?
AMD (08:17)
Girl, we danced together 100%. I was stripping in downtown LA in 2004, experiment rhino. Who was your manager?
Danielle (08:21)
What?
Um, I don’t remember who the manager was when I started, but when I left there, it was a guy named Aaron, bald guy. Before that, I want to say I remember a guy named Richard.
AMD (08:46)
yeah, Richard Perrin maybe.
Danielle (08:49)
Yes, I think so. Oh my god.
AMD (08:52)
This is so weird!
Danielle (08:54)
It was so long ago, I’m like trying to remember all the girls now and I’m like, how do I not remember?
AMD (09:00)
My
stage name was Jersey. I won entertainer of the year for the company.
Danielle (09:07)
I, okay, I do remember that name.
AMD (09:10)
Yeah, the only Jersey in the company. Okay, I don’t, and no offense, but Lily is like, no, Jersey is kind of like, you kind of remember that one, because it’s a little different. ⁓ but also I had one and I was very like, I was a corporate, corporate’s baby. was like, a top earner. Not that I’m bragging, I’m just stating facts.
Danielle (09:13)
My name is Lily.
Still impressed, still very impressed.
AMD (09:38)
But my god, what a fucking trip, right? I’m like, I don’t know this, girl.
Danielle (09:45)
That’s insane.
AMD (09:47)
Very cool. Yeah. Tight. Okay. So you were at the Rhino and you weren’t pole dancing, which is really interesting because around that time pole dancing was very like important in the strip club, especially in downtown LA. And not important, I would say big. It was bigger. You know, like people, there was contests and stuff.
in LA around that time. Do you remember Z-Bone? Do you remember that website? So for our viewers who don’t know what Z-Bone is, was, ⁓ how horrid was this thing. It was a forum for customers to go online and rate the ⁓ mileage of the dancers and to also talk shit and like make up stories about the dancers. But what they would also do is have these
Danielle (10:20)
Yeah. yeah.
AMD (10:44)
rigged pole dance competitions inside the club and at the Spirits Rhino Downtown LA.
Danielle (10:50)
⁓
remember all of that. I used to be on Zbone all the time.
AMD (10:57)
Apparently I had crabs. really? According to one source, I had crabs. Yeah.
Danielle (11:04)
I don’t think I was ever ⁓ popular enough. I never danced in enough clubs that I never found anything about myself on there. Yeah. Thanks. I was also.
AMD (11:14)
very low mileage, which I was at the time proud of, but looking back on it, I would have preferred to have been considered high mileage back then.
Danielle (11:24)
I think I feel the same. mean, back then I was like, well, I’m very low mileage. Now I’m like, who cares?
AMD (11:29)
Yeah. ⁓
Totally,
totally. Now that my horphobia has dissipated, I’m like, come on, high mileage.
Danielle (11:43)
That said though, as a girl that was like, I only do lap dances, I would get very angry at the, like, I would come in and I would see the other girls that were on the shift and I’d be like, well, I’m not making any money tonight.
AMD (11:59)
I know exactly what you’re talking about and I also used to get mad and I look back on it now and I’m like, you know, I can’t get mad at myself for being mad at them then because I was just ignorant of that the system was the issue.
Danielle (12:21)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
AMD (12:22)
and not them. Yeah. Yeah. And I look back on those times, not with regret, but just like, oh, you, you cute, you’re, you need help. Yeah. So what like shifted for you? Like what, what happened that all of these things just started changing like a domino effect? Was there a catalyst for this or did you have to go through something?
Danielle (12:33)
Yeah
It’s kind of hard to say. I know I quit stripping because I just got really burnt out. And part of it was management changing, girls changing, customers changing and being that girl that, you know, low mileage girl wanting to be in an environment where nobody was trying to grope you or trying to lick you when you bent over in front of them and feeling like you’re constantly
physically defending yourself at a point, I just got, I just burnt out. But it was a job that I really, really loved. So I think quitting that job bummed me out. And at the same time, around the same time, I also got married. ⁓ But he, I mean, he was always super supportive of me dancing. I didn’t quit because I got married, but quitting and then being married and just kind of going through that
I don’t have to be hot. I can be lazy. I’m kind of bummed about my job. I think that’s what kind of started the unhealthy not caring about my weight and my health, actually, but actually do am caring about it. Just not doing anything about it.
AMD (14:10)
Right, I think that when you’re regularly at a job, you have to be physical. And so it just seems easier to keep that physical aspect alive in your body when you’re not dancing, like wanting to work out more because that’s like the momentum of moving your body is there. And then yeah, you take away the dancing.
It’s it’s hard. Yeah. I feel you. You lose that momentum. Yeah.
Danielle (14:42)
Absolutely.
AMD (14:44)
I know exactly what you mean about loving the job, but being so physically assaulted for so much that you just, it just outweighs the love that you have for the job. And I think during the era that you and I were dancing, it was like, what do we do? How do I modify this job to suit my own boundaries? And the answer at the time was you don’t.
Danielle (15:15)
Yeah.
AMD (15:16)
You just leave and figure something else out. ⁓
Danielle (15:20)
Yeah, you try to find a different club. I
did that. I went to a few different ones and I was like, it’s all the same. And I’ve been back since. Much, I mean, obviously much older, much more mature, much more, I guess, confident with my boundaries. And I’ve had a much better time. I was just very young and just not able to.
deal with what was happening, the changes that were happening.
AMD (15:51)
Right. Yeah, yeah. And now I feel like, well, ⁓ fuck you, fuck everyone. I am gonna make it the way I want it to be and I’m gonna write to legislators and lawmakers.
Danielle (16:08)
Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s an awesome job to have as an adult.
AMD (16:12)
Yeah,
you’re right because it’s open to people as children. You know, we start, I started when I was 21 and I look, you know, I had 21 years old. was still a child in so many ways.
Danielle (16:27)
That’s I started too, same.
AMD (16:29)
my
God, I just had an epiphany. Something just hit me. What? Yeah, because it’s so much easier to be taken advantage of the younger you are and then they want to age you out when you hit your 30s. But when you’re hitting your 30s, you’re like, bitch, I’ve got this whole thing figured out. Yeah. my God. It’s really hitting me right now. Like how much control over the bodies of younger women.
Danielle (16:48)
Absolutely.
AMD (16:59)
that there is and a lot of it has to do with our age and we’re not woken up to realize how much we’re being taken advantage of and how broken the system is. don’t you know. yeah.
Danielle (17:11)
Sure, for sure.
AMD (17:13)
Yeah, yeah, we were just talking to Lulu by the way, um, the producer of bootleg bombshells, which you’re also a performer in. am. Yeah, and we were talking about stripping back in the day with her as well. So this is kind of perfect that your episode is, um, closely following hers. Um, yeah, but, um, and it’s, I’m, it’s so intriguing to know that you strip during the same time as me, cause I was looking at your profile on Instagram and I’m like,
So she’s not a stripper, but she acts like one at the like bombshells. it’s really, it’s nice to know because whatever a stripper or not, if you’re a stripper ally or you’re dancing stripper-esque, you still belong on this show. But it’s nice to know that it just digs a little deeper. And now I’m even more curious about like what that was like for you stepping into this role of
Danielle (17:46)
You
AMD (18:10)
being a regular bootleg bombshell dancer and how that translated to your past.
Danielle (18:16)
Mm-hmm. It was kind of interesting because I had been so removed from stripping for many, many years, and I had been pole dancing. And I think when I first started pole dancing, it was very tricks-based. It wasn’t exotic-based. it was in me, and I knew how I could dance, but I really held it back for a very, very long time.
⁓ And then it started to come out a little bit more when I got the studio and I kind of grew into my own dancer and I was like, well, however I want to dance is just fine. But getting back on stage with bootleg bombshells, it was like all of that that was in there, just, it was just right back. Like I was able to just turn it on like I used to. I used to walk into the club and like that different persona would just be there. And it happened just like that with bombshells.
AMD (19:10)
Yeah, I have like chills like running down my arm right now. Yay! I know exactly what you’re talking about. And I don’t think that unless you’ve experienced it that people really understand. It’s like riding a bicycle, but with like the energy of storm from X-Men inside. Right?
Danielle (19:33)
Yo, yeah, absolutely. We’re just in there just waiting. Yeah.
AMD (19:38)
Yeah, what do you think that is? is that just, is that, do you think that’s in every woman and every, like, femme identifying where it’s just like, we have this deep, erotic, sensual creature inside of us just trying to claw it out?
Danielle (19:59)
I do think so, just based on how I feel. And society is so against it and we spend so much time trying to suppress it and like bury it down that if you’re given the opportunity where you know it’s safe, it’s gotta just want to bust out, right?
AMD (20:19)
Yeah. Yeah.
Danielle (20:23)
I’m sure a lot of people have it and have just never been given the opportunity to let it out.
AMD (20:29)
Yeah, how do we make that happen for every woman on the planet? I feel like Sheila Kelly right now when she walked into a strip club at the time and was like, this must happen for everybody. Yeah, oh shit.
Danielle (20:49)
I how we do it is like what you do and how I try to be is just kind of unapologetic about it. And anybody that tries to tell you that there’s anything wrong with it, just don’t even give them the time of day.
AMD (21:04)
100%. Yeah, just keep doing you. Yeah. So how many Bootleg Bombshell shows have you done? Because I know there’s 375 I just found out total.
Danielle (21:17)
my god, I have no idea. Okay, I’ve been in, sorry, last month it will be a year, or it would have been a year that I was a regular. So we do probably 50 shows a year. So maybe I’ve done 70.
AMD (21:29)
Okay.
Okay, see you.
Nice. Yeah, it’s a lot. Yeah. Okay. And do you, I mean, obviously there’s a huge difference between bootleg bombshells and working in a new strip club in downtown Los Angeles. What have you found has been like maybe like the biggest challenge I would say from, you know,
Living the way we once did and then seeing it in this format now, like do you have any thoughts or feelings about? You know and not to say this bad about anybody but about the idea of taking the culture out of the strip clubs Making it more accessible mainstream. Like does that run up against anything or is that just all kosher?
Danielle (22:29)
No, I have a lot of ⁓ conflicting opinions about a lot of this stuff. been a stripper, having been or am a pole dancer, those two like to butt heads all the time too. And because I’m both, I see both opinions. ⁓ thinking about it in like bombshells, I love the idea that that like…
stripper style and energy and everything can be seen mainstream and I appreciate that but then there’s also the people who like the show and appreciate the show but still look down on strippers that I go yeah but you can’t no fuck you so I like I like and hate both aspects of it equally it’s really hard place to be
AMD (23:26)
Yeah, it’s like, because I would hear that working at Jumbo’s clown room all the time, like, I just love what you do here. And it’s like so much better than like, what I’ve seen at the strip club. And you’re just so much talented, so much more talented than it’s like, we’re just like them. It’s the same just in a different setting that you’re more comfortable with. And so why do you have to disparage the other people in the process?
Danielle (23:45)
The same.
AMD (23:54)
Because it doesn’t suit your comfortability levels or because it doesn’t suit your taste. Exactly. I really enjoy this. You don’t have to say, I enjoy this so much better than that other shit that I just don’t like because I don’t like them because of this, this, this, and the thing.
Danielle (24:11)
Yeah, yeah, or I’ll get the compliment, like, my god, that was really talent, that was really good, you’re really talented, without it being trashy. Like… ⁓ thank you.
AMD (24:24)
I hate it. So annoying. Trashy by who’s standards though. That’s the real question. Who’s standards, what standards are you going by and where did you gather that data that this is trashy and this is not? And at what point is there like that line of distinction and like who, where’s the consensus?
Danielle (24:47)
Mm-hmm. I find, and my theory is that people just parrot back things that they hear. Ideas that they’ve been given without really thinking about it, they just repeat it back. It’s the same people that see a poll and think that now it’s sexy. It doesn’t matter if you are doing gymnastics tricks, they’re like, my god. Just because there’s a poll there.
AMD (25:12)
You are so sexy.
It’s just a long metal tube that stands vertically in the middle of a room. You could do the same sexual and sensual type of movement without the pole, which obviously you did, right? As a stripper. In the strip club with poles in it and you’re like, nah, fuck that. I’m just gonna roll around on the floor and touch myself, probably.
Danielle (25:30)
Yeah.
Can’t even climb, can’t do it.
AMD (25:40)
That goes to my thing where I’m like some strippers pole dance, not all strippers pole dance and not all pole dancers strip. Right? And so it’s funny that you lived both worlds. You were a stripper that didn’t pole dance and then you became a pole dancer that stripped.
Danielle (25:56)
Yep, yep, it’s really weird. And of course I get like the dumb questions when people find out I’m a pole dancer. They go, or are you a stripper? And I’m like, well, yes. Yes. No. I know.
AMD (26:10)
But.
Why? Why do you have to that label on me and put me inside of that box? Is it really helping me sleep at 3 a.m.? Are you waking up and asking yourself, ⁓ my god, I really need to know, is Danielle actually a stripper or not?
Danielle (26:25)
It’s very important.
So stupid.
AMD (26:31)
Yeah, ⁓ my goodness, yeah, I, you know, whatever, people are gonna do what they’re gonna do and think what they’re gonna think for, till the end of time. And yeah, and so here’s what I’m curious about. My earring is stuck, it’s hurting me here. ⁓
I kind of want to go back to the transition from when you quit stripping to when you did pole dancing because ⁓ your body changed. And the reason I would like to talk about that if you don’t mind is because I, through my teachings, try to teach women to love their body no matter what phase of life their body is in.
And so did you, because as a stripper, we build a lot of confidence through the work that we do. Did that confidence and like positive self-talk lead into the times where you felt like your body changed or did that alter or did it come back? Like what was your self-talk like during that process of change for you?
Danielle (27:43)
Sure, when I was overweight, I definitely had no confidence. And I think if you’d asked me at the time, I would say that I was depressed because I was overweight. But I think I was overweight because I was depressed. It was the other way around. ⁓ And I might get emotional just letting you know.
AMD (28:06)
Okay, I cry sometimes too.
Danielle (28:08)
Okay, so what happened is the switch that kind of flipped when I decided to get healthy, and I don’t like to say lose weight, obviously I lost weight, but it was really just to get healthy and to be happier, was I was about to turn 30 and I was like, well man, I’m old, I’m fat, I’m unhappy. I know these things aren’t true, 30 is not old, but at the time when you’re 29 turning 30, you’re like, fuck.
So I just thought to myself, you know what? I can’t do anything about turning 30, but I can do something about the other thing. So quit your bitching about it and do it. And that was all I needed. It was just the fear of being old that I was like, I can’t be old and fat. So I changed everything. I changed my diet. I started exercising. ⁓ And as I started losing weight, I would feel better about myself. So I was still kind of attached.
AMD (28:53)
So.
Danielle (29:07)
to feeling good about myself when I’m only thin and beautiful and stuff like that. I would say that that changed once I started pole dancing because I had to view my body by what it could do, not by what it looked like. And that’s when I really started to get that confidence back and realize because the other change happened too. I started, I lost all kinds of weight, I looked good.
And then I started getting like, muscly arms that everybody tells you is not feminine, is not attractive. And then I started feeling bad about that. Then I was like, wait, wait, wait.
AMD (29:50)
I can’t.
Danielle (29:50)
I don’t handle
it. So I was like, I don’t care. My arms look like this because I can do all this cool stuff. And that’s when the confidence came back. And that’s what makes me emotional because I get to help other people find that. And it’s an amazing change in your brain.
AMD (30:13)
It is, it is. I often have thought about, and I’ve gotten really stoned one day and made a voice memo about what the fuck is it about pole dancing that makes you love yourself and love anyone else who does it like immediately? Like you’re fucked. Is it? I think I might, I
Danielle (30:37)
It’s magic.
AMD (30:41)
You know, when I get really stoned, I get more smart than I already am. I think what I’ve theorized is that it creates the movement in your hips because we’re taught things like body rolls and figure eights where we’re moving our hips and that that’s sort of the natural inherent way of like what our bodies are built to do because we’re built to procreate.
and through the undulation of your hips and moving your body a certain way without doing it for the purpose of procreation, but doing it for the purpose of feeling good, that it releases some sort of endorphins into the body that only normally get released during sex, but it’s more powerful because you know it’s for you. That’s my theory.
Danielle (31:37)
Yeah, I was actually gonna say that. I think that’s exactly right. But I think a big part of it is allowing yourself to be sexy for you and not for somebody else. Exactly. And so you only have to make yourself happy. There’s nobody else feeding back their opinion on how you’re moving.
AMD (31:58)
Exactly. Yeah. And even if you’re like clumsily figuring it out as you’re doing it, it’s still like, like what you said, like when we’re in class and stuff, no one’s like judging you for messing up. Everyone’s in the same boat. Yeah. And you can move how you want. And I really like what you said to you. And I’ve heard this before. Michelle Shimmy has also said this in my presence that you start to like and love your body for what it can do for you instead of what it looks like.
Danielle (32:27)
Absolutely.
AMD (32:28)
Yeah, because we’re so hammered with maybe it’s Maybelline, cover girl, I’m beautiful today, panty and profe, naked hair like shiny. Like, what the fuck, we’re taught so much to care about our appearance.
Danielle (32:53)
Yeah, and it’s so much that you’re never going to get there. Unless you’re like a supermodel. You know, whatever.
AMD (33:02)
Yeah, yeah. And what you look like doesn’t really matter. It’s how you love yourself and how you love others and how you, you know what I mean? And it’s just, but the other messages are so loud and so constant. And so how do you apply your depth of perspective to your students that come in that are new pole students that are, you know, hungry for that.
Danielle (33:32)
man, I do feel like a therapist sometimes. Because I get everybody that’s like, I can’t do this, I’m too old, I’m too fat, I’m too this, I’m too that. And ⁓ I don’t really lead with the fact that I used to be overweight and upset and I found all this. Every once in a while, if it’s the right person that needs to hear it, I’ll tell them. But I think, like we were talking about before, you lead by example.
I’m just unapologetic in how I want to dance and I make it very apparent to them. I don’t tell them that they can move however they want. I show them that whatever you’re doing is right.
AMD (34:20)
Yeah, yeah, and if you had students of yours come to you and ⁓ basically confess that pole dancing has changed their life.
Danielle (34:31)
All the time. All the time. have people that have relationship issues, self-esteem issues, everything. And they go, you know, until I came here and started dancing, I was miserable. And this just is my safe place. And I get to come here on a bad day and everything’s okay again. All the time.
AMD (34:51)
Yeah, yeah, I’ve met so many students who are like, I started pole dancing and then I broke up with my boyfriend. Yeah. They realize what their power is inside, you know, and it just transforms people. It’s so I just and it’s one of it’s the one of the main reasons I love the pole dance community. But at the same time, I get very
frustrated with the pole dance community for continuing to use our culture, how they deem fit inside their own box of comfortability again, while disparaging the rest. And so do you have students that come in and are uneducated about the history of pole dancing and how we got here and how do you handle it?
Danielle (35:38)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. ⁓ As a studio owner, have to be very kind of understanding of everybody. I personally will have a reaction when somebody says something like that, like, you know, I don’t want to be like a stripper. I don’t want to go to the exotic class. don’t want to, you know, they’re obviously trying to separate themselves from any sort of stripper past. as personally, I have a problem and want to kind of bark back at them, but I can’t. I have to be understanding of
their experiences. And, you know, I mostly just tell everybody, well, don’t do anything that you’re not comfortable doing. Just do whatever. And every once in while, I’ll just add in, I’ll be like, but after you’re here for a little while, you know, you’re probably gonna wanna. I just let them know, I don’t tell them, I just let them know like, this is the journey you’re gonna go on. And that’s okay. But I also just don’t really
entertain any stupid comments. I don’t feel the need to change their mind, but I also just don’t give them the time of day. I like to just brush things off like I didn’t even notice because it doesn’t give it any weight at that point. know, lot of people will come in, for example, and be like, do you have strippers that come here and take classes? And I go, well, I don’t know what anybody does for a living.
AMD (37:14)
Mm.
Danielle (37:14)
I just flatten it out. like, I don’t know if people are nurses. I don’t ask them what they do for a living.
AMD (37:20)
Yeah, because why is that an issue compared to any other profession that people have that walk through the door? Because they’re a stripper, how are they going to affect your class experience because somebody who strips for their job, like what is that, why is there any weight to that?
Danielle (37:29)
Exactly.
Nope, and there’s not. And I feel like if I answer any more than that, I’m giving it weight.
AMD (37:46)
Exactly. Well, that’s an excellent way to, I don’t know, it’s very diplomatic of you because that would be like, yeah, what’s your fucking problem?
Danielle (37:59)
Yeah.
Yeah, I go home and I bitch to my husband about it.
AMD (38:05)
Sure,
Wow. I’m like mind blown by this conversation because, you know, we started off like, don’t know what’s gonna happen. Wow, incredible. Mackenzie, how long have we been talking? I’ve not been keeping track of time. You have 38 minutes, 36 seconds. Okay, 38 minutes. Okay, we’re gonna talk a little bit more about one more thing and then we’re gonna move into our
Danielle (38:17)
No
AMD (38:35)
Other segments, I guess, like, so okay, I’m trying to gather my thoughts and we’re gonna like, we’re gonna cut these things out. But I really want to like try this all together in a nice little package. ⁓
The bombshells thing. I might go back to that. ⁓ do you perform anywhere else? Do you do any other type of like burlesque or stripper-esque performances besides bootleg bombshells? Like are you involved in other shows or clubs?
Danielle (39:11)
Yeah, I sometimes perform with Wicked Woman. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them.
AMD (39:16)
They
do that at El Cid on Hollywood, right? Yeah.
Danielle (39:20)
Yeah, and their show is super unique in the fact that they play an entire movie and then acts will come on in character or in theme at specific parts in the movie. So you’re watching the entire movie with pole aerial acts kind of put into it. It’s really fun.
AMD (39:40)
interesting and how do you get paid for that? Is that tips only like like bombshells or?
Danielle (39:45)
No, we get paid as a performer. There’s very rarely even tips in that show.
AMD (39:51)
wow, okay interesting. ⁓ And I’m guessing that you probably haven’t worked in a strip club since you quit, right? In her.
Danielle (40:01)
No, I have a few times. It kind of stopped once I bought the studio. I was just too busy, which is great. But I was working at a place for a while. It was just a bikini bar in the valley, Club 7557. I think it was.
AMD (40:10)
Yeah.
I
know what place you’re talking about. And maybe it was all that because it changed names like every year. Yeah.
Danielle (40:28)
Yeah, it was super divey. ⁓
But what I liked about it was, ⁓ it was really easy for me because they didn’t allow anyone to touch you. Like the lap dance area was all very open. There was a security guard just posted there that would like shine his flashlight on somebody if they tried to touch you. And that’s where I was at where I was like, I don’t want to physically defend myself. I don’t want to be broke.
I just want to go in, I want to make some money, and I want to leave, and I don’t want to deal with any bullshit. And that was a good place for it. Dances were cheap, people would buy a lot of them, I wouldn’t have to, I could just be like, you know, I’d like you to touch me, but that guy over there, he won’t let you. ⁓ That was maybe right before I bought the studio, so like four years ago. ⁓
AMD (41:09)
Right.
years
ago. Yeah, ⁓ the landscape is gnarly in Los Angeles. ⁓ It sounds like in Arizona things are a little bit more strict. I’ve never danced in Arizona. And you know, before we finish, like what? Like I’m okay with
⁓ full service sex work and the whole spectrum of sex work and I’m even okay with working in the same building where that’s going on. But what I’m not okay with is a clear understanding of what boundaries are and what’s and like who’s doing what and like asking like asking for consent from the worker.
Do you have any? How do you feel about that?
Danielle (42:14)
I feel like I agree with you. I, this point, you it used to be different when I was a little baby stripper, but at this point, I have absolutely no problem with a person doing what they feel comfortable doing. I, you know, I think I’m even okay with doing more than lap dances now. I just, at that time was like, I really just don’t wanna deal with it right now. I just wanna make some easy money and leave.
But I think, yeah, I was always pretty confused about the rules in the clubs. And I think that was the problem that I had where they told you that this wasn’t allowed and this wasn’t allowed, but it was definite.
AMD (42:54)
All was
Danielle (42:57)
⁓
I just want it to be clear. just want to know if I’m going to work into a club or work at a club, I want to know what everyone else is allowed to do. I don’t I feel really naive sometimes walking in and be like, we’re all going to just do lap dances. And I’m like, no, we’re not we’re doing more. So I’m you know, it’s it’s it’s up to the person the sex worker they get to decide what they want to do.
And that’s not up to me to judge or care about at all. Consent, obviously, like you said, like people should not just be groping you without asking.
AMD (43:31)
Right, right.
Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard other sex workers and because obviously there’s like sex worker on sex worker shame ⁓ Which I don’t blame them for I blame the years and years of programming that has been Plugged into us from the minute we’re born But I’ve heard them say things like I don’t want to be in the same room as that type of person or that because I don’t want other people thinking that I’m that way and
You know, the fact of the matter is, and this was what I experienced, that in the strip club where full service sex work was happening, everyone did assume that I was also providing that service.
Danielle (44:22)
Mm-hmm.
AMD (44:24)
So there’s obviously, it’s not the sex worker’s fault that the abuser, perpetrator is treating you the same as the next person. It’s like the system’s fault. It’s how we’ve been trained. Do you see where I’m going with this?
Danielle (44:46)
Yeah, absolutely.
AMD (44:47)
X-Saw!
Danielle (44:50)
I think the only fix is just more transparency. Because I feel the same way where, you know, on those days back in the day when I was mad to be on a shift with certain girls, because I know that I wasn’t going to make any money, like you can’t blame the girl. She’s just hustling. She’s just making the money. She’s doing what she’s willing to do. You can’t blame the guy. Like they’ve just been told that these things are allowed. So why would they not?
AMD (44:51)
The only
Danielle (45:20)
think that you were also offering that service. Like you can’t, there’s no one problem.
AMD (45:29)
Yeah. Well, I think there actually is one problem. And the fact of that is that full service sex work has been criminalized. And I think that’s why there’s such a lack of talking about they’re like, ⁓ this is illegal. You’re not allowed to do it. But then they’re like, know, like blinding themselves because ⁓ and then because it’s illegal, there’s no conversation around what boundaries are and what’s OK and what’s not.
⁓ And then hence we have this just what do you call it a shit show of assault and misunderstanding
Danielle (46:08)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Just legalize it and just make it transparent, and I think it’d be easy.
AMD (46:16)
Yeah, easier. Humans are so fucking complicated. Yeah. my gosh. Amazing. I’m so glad that we have this history together, especially in, in let’s, let’s crazy. know, but let’s circle back. Do you remember it in downtown LA, Spirit Rhino when, Suge Knight used to come in? Do you remember that? Yeah, he used to come in and we were like,
Danielle (46:17)
You see your
you
No!
AMD (46:45)
we would like stay away from him. was like, and those types of, like those types of crews and like basketball stars and rappers, like that was like hey day, like 2003, 2004, it’s fair, right? They used to do, okay, do you remember this? When they would raffle off Lakers tickets, dancing. So whoever bought the most lap dances in a row won like four, like really good seats to Lakers games.
Danielle (47:05)
yeah. I remember that.
Yup.
AMD (47:14)
And then you always wanted to be the girl that kept the guy down for 20 dances.
Danielle (47:19)
Yep. I was never that girl and I knew it. I knew I was like girl next door. Tiny boobs like
AMD (47:26)
⁓ god, ⁓ I was the girl doing like bumps of cocaine while lap dancing. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. like ripping them off. I was so bad. I would like overcharge, inflate how many dances. I had a whole system for how I would confuse them. I was such an angel. I’m not an angel.
Danielle (47:47)
⁓ my god!
AMD (47:54)
I was fucking the manager getting felt up by the balancer and the janitor flossing.
Danielle (48:00)
Oh my god. my
god. You just reminded me that I like one of the DJs was like trying to grope me in the dressing room one time. So if you remember, if you went into the dressing room and the stairs were immediately on the right, there was like that little landing with the mirror there. Yeah, I used to like set my shit there. And that was like my little spot that I would like put my drinks, put my like lipstick or whatever. I remember him coming back there.
and like coming up behind me and like grabbing my ass and telling me that we should like go to his car or something. It was, it was like, I was like really freaked out by it. And then the next time I saw him, he apologized to me and he was like, Oh, you know, I have a girlfriend. I don’t know what I was doing. And I was like,
AMD (48:50)
God, talk about more confusion and already ⁓ using workspace and now you have to deal with it from your fucking co-workers. We’re supposed to be taking care of you. What a shit.
Danielle (49:02)
is so confusing.
AMD (49:04)
Meanwhile, I was instigating all of those things.
Danielle (49:08)
I was so young and naive.
AMD (49:13)
So young but I was like I could do whatever the fuck I want Wild West. Yeah Yikes. my god. Thank you for bringing up those memories Amazing amazing interview Want to be fabulous just like these strippers pay attention it’s stripper tips
Danielle (49:35)
Okay, so my stripper tip is something that I learned in the club that I think applies to almost everything that we’ve been talking about. it’s ⁓ knowing that you, let’s see, let’s start over. ⁓ I think something that I learned in the club that helped me be more successful and just happier overall is that you can’t allow other people’s opinions of you to decide how you feel about yourself. Because in the club,
AMD (50:01)
Mm.
Danielle (50:05)
Guys will, to your face, tell you what’s wrong with you, according to them. Right? You’re the most beautiful woman in the world to one guy and the most hideous to another. And you need to let that go. ⁓
AMD (50:21)
Yeah, you’re so right. Wow. Yeah, and that could even happen ⁓ in like everyday life. One of my least favorite things is when strange men that I don’t know ⁓ demand that I smile. Yes. ⁓ And it’s very, it’s same because the man is looking at you and they want to know what you look like when you smile because that will make them feel good and it’ll give them some satisfaction in that moment.
And when men tell me to smile, I just completely ignore them. don’t even. It’s the same thing. ⁓
Danielle (50:59)
You don’t owe them anything.
AMD (51:01)
No you don’t. Amazing. Thank you. Get ready for our rapid fire question round. It’s time for four for one. Okay, here you go. First question. Have you ever gotten so wet that you thought you randomly were getting your period and then checked your panties right there on the spot to investigate?
Danielle (51:23)
I do that all the time. Mostly in the car.
AMD (51:27)
⁓ good. Alright, who’s your stripper hero?
Danielle (51:35)
my God, super hero. Can I say you? Damn it. Okay, I’m gonna say Jordan Kenzley.
AMD (51:38)
No!
Right. Good one. Yeah, she’s pretty killer. If you could control how your vagina tastes, what flavor would you choose?
Danielle (51:55)
I feel like it’s pretty disturbing. I’m gonna go with watermelon.
AMD (52:03)
That’s really good. That’s a great choice. Yeah, I love it. ⁓
Danielle (52:06)
that candy flavor so.
I’m the one tasting it though.
AMD (52:12)
No, you’re not tasting it.
That’s too complicated. What’s sexiest thing someone has ever said to you?
Danielle (52:25)
my God, this is the hardest one.
The sexiest thing anyone’s ever said to me.
AMD (52:32)
Yeah.
Danielle (52:40)
I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer this. So is it the thing?
AMD (52:45)
can’t ask how to enter a question. It could be anything.
Danielle (52:48)
Okay.
It’s, it’s, this is weird. So the thing, one of the things ⁓ that turned me on the most that a guy said to me, it was pretty casual and we were about to have sex and he said, is this what you’re here for?
AMD (53:06)
my god! ⁓
Danielle (53:08)
And I don’t know why, but that really worked for me because I’m like, yeah, this is all I’m here for.
AMD (53:12)
god, that reminds me of Russell Crowe in the Gladiator. Are you not entertained? It’s not what you came for.
Danielle (53:24)
Just like that.
AMD (53:26)
Amazing!
Good job, I’m clapping. Good job. Yeah, yeah. Actors, I love it. Okay, Danielle, tell our audience how they can learn more about you and follow you and become your fan.
Danielle (53:38)
my gosh, please do. So on Instagram, I am Danielle G. Poll. ⁓ And most importantly, the vertitude hashtag or at the vertitude. You can come to my studio and take all of my classes. ⁓ I teach all the intro classes. So I get all of the babies and I get to make sure that their beginning poll experience is a good one. And that’s really important to me. So
AMD (54:05)
Yes. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time and just jumping into this pool with me.
Danielle (54:13)
Absolutely. Thank you. I can’t believe we had like the same stripper pass.
AMD (54:19)
I know it’s so great. just love it. I love my stripper history and to be able to share that with people like you. So thank you and thank you to everyone for tuning in. Yes, the stripper podcast comes out every Wednesday. So we’ll see you next week. Make sure you listen. Bye.