YAS Podcast: Nova Caine #18 Transcript
Nova Caine and AM met online through a dispute in a comment thread on Instagram. The topic? Pole dancers getting shadow banned. Nova’s point? “What did you think would happen? Be our ally. It’s the only way to fix this.” Since then, the two have bonded and have similar dreams of industry reform. Nova’s has one of the most unique ways of healing her body through dance. As a veteran, a mother and a sex worker, her perspectives come from many angles and it’s fascinating.
*This transcript was auto-generated and may contain minor errors.* Begin transcript after opening credits.
AMD: 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. Hey, and welcome back to another episode of Yes, this Tripper podcast.
My favorite thing in the world to do it is still quarantine time. I am still in my bedroom, not in the studio, but. It’s been really interesting not being in the studio because we’ve been able to connect with more strippers in different parts of the country and even different parts of the world. And you know, before I was doing, yes, the stripper podcast, I thought I was very connected with the stripper community because I had been a stripper for 17 years before we [00:01:00] started, 18, before we started this podcast.
And, um. I realized one day that I wasn’t very connected and I wasn’t doing enough to listen to the stripper community and what they needed. And the way I figured that out was by literally getting called out. By dozens of strippers on a post that I made on one of my Instagram accounts at up artists, which has over 180,000 followers.
And I pretty much got dragged that day on that post, um, about being tone deaf to strippers and the discrimination that they’ve been dealing with online and just in general, for a long time, even though I was myself a stripper, I also learned that I’m privileged. I was a privileged stripper, which is another reason why I was tone deaf.
And I had several people comment to me and basically tell me how it is. And my response was, please tell me more. Help me give you a [00:02:00] voice. And I’m telling you this because I wanna encourage you to take a step back and listen. Really pay attention to people who are calling you out and ask yourself why, especially if it’s done in a semi respectful way.
Um, because we don’t know everything as human beings, and we don’t know everyone’s perspectives, and we don’t know what we don’t know. And so I think it’s really important to listen to people, especially people who are in the shoes. Um, for, in this example, it would be strippers on the ground in the clubs, working in environments that.
Weren’t as good as mine for so long, um, and not really understanding the scope of the dangers and the bullshit they’ve been dealing with. Um, so one of the things that I did from that post is I reached out to several people and I DMed them and I said, please teach me, tell me more, and please be a voice.
And one of those people is my guest on this show who has become a very [00:03:00] dear friend of mine. We’ve not met in person yet. I think maybe once, but it was for two seconds. I’d like to introduce our next guest on the show, Nova Caine. Can you say hi to everyone? Let’s unmute you. There you go. Hi. Hello everyone.
Nova: Hi, I’m Nova Caine.
AMD: Yeah, thanks so much for being here with me.
Nova: Thank you so much for inviting me that it’s such an honor.
AMD: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just adore you.
Nova: I adore you back. I know.
AMD: Um, do you remember, like, did, did you know, I mean, obviously you remember how we, how we officially like met and started corresponding, but did that like really stand out to you? Like the way we kind of came together?
Nova: Yes. Yes. It, it was on a time that. A lot was happening to me in the strip club. Yeah. And I wanted to speak out about how it’s not all glamorous. It’s not all pink ponies and glitter shits. It’s, yeah. [00:04:00] I always say that when I go into a pole studio and I see all those polls, they represent coworkers of mine that have passed for different reasons. Yeah. And. Some of those reasons could have been so avoidable. And that’s the environment I work in. Yeah. It’s not so glamor. It’s real life. Life and death. So I wanted to speak out on that. Yeah. And you gave me that voice.
AMD: Yeah. And very happily. I was so happy to do that. Um. I don’t know everything, you know. Um, and that particular post was about the shadow banning of all of the pole dance hashtags globally. And it was in the summer of 2019. Um, and you guys made a really good point, which is like, oh, you pour, you, you can’t share your pool dance videos. We have been invisible for. And amount of time. Do you wanna elaborate on your [00:05:00] feelings of the poll community’s reaction to being shadow banned versus what sex workers have dealt with way before that?
Nova: Yeah. It was kind of like we’ve been shadow banned in real life since ever. Right? Um, they muted us by shaming us in studios, by shaming us in real life. By pushing us away from communities that would’ve helped us blossom as people, just like they had the privilege of, of doing. Uh, I experienced that time and time again no matter where I was. Studio work, real life, love situations. Once you say you’re a stripper, they change. Their attitudes, their posture, their way of speaking to you, the way you interact with people. You are watched. So I’ve been shadow banned way before it happened on the internet. And then you go into the [00:06:00] internet and it’s just a reflection of what’s outside those doors anyways, once you look up on the phone, it’s the same thing. But now everybody’s getting shadowbanned. Now the pole dancer that has never even gone to the strip club is getting as shadow banned as my HOAs. And I always say that’s karma. That’s karma coming back. It’s, yeah. You know, you shadow banned us in life.
In studios in ways that. If you didn’t shame and actually said, yeah, I’m not a stripper, but I work out like one, you know, I’m, I’m a badass. Like one I am, I’m a strong like one or whatever. You could have completely changed. This what’s happening right now. You guys work like work out like us and it was your voice that could have resonated to people and [00:07:00] help people understand how strong you have to be to pole dance. Imagine doing it to pay the bills, um. And you muted us. So now Karma’s muting you.
And that’s pretty much what I said,
AMD: right? And I, I understand the idea of like, karma. I almost see it as karmic energy because
Um, I try to have compassion for the, for the whorephobic I do, because here’s why. We have been integrated into a patriarchal society from the moment we’ve been born. And if you’re, if you’re dealing with whorephobia currently, it means you’re so far entrenched in the patriarchy and the societal system that’s been built around you, that you’re brainwashed and you see no other way out and, and that hurts others. And it hurts the individual who’s dealing with whorephobia. And here’s why. Because then you get attacked whatever way [00:08:00] verbally assaulted, sexually harassed. You have no idea why it’s happening to you because you don’t dress like that and you don’t act like that. The fact of the matter is- when women will always be harassed because it’s okay to harass sex workers.
Nova: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
AMD: You know,
Nova: and so you think women know better, but they don’t. Even the the girls that come in the strip club to Ah, yeah. Yes, girl. They be touching all up on my pussy. All up on my nipples. They try to move the thong. I’ve had a girl try to finger me who would think they know better, but they’re just as bad.
AMD: Well, I think my theory is that they think that because they’re women and we’re women, that it’s okay.
Nova: And it’s, it’s just so okay for you to touch me.
AMD: Yeah. Yeah. And so I’ve actually, have you had to school somebody and have you done it in a compassionate way or not a compassionate way, or maybe a little bit of both?
Nova: I am a [00:09:00] compassionate person. I’m a kind person, but if you touch me, I’m gonna touch you and it’s gonna hurt.
AMD: Gotcha. Noted.
Nova: you. You can, you can, you know. Try to sabotage me verbally, and I’ll go back and forth and in a compassionate way.
Um, I, I have the mother gene. But once you touch my body. It’s done deal. I’m gonna punch you.
AMD: Gotcha, gotcha. Wow. I’m a little nervous. I’m kidding.
Nova: Um, not you, you can touch anything I can right now.
AMD: Oh snap.
Nova: Okay. You’re totally allowed for free.
AMD: You know, that’s such a good, that’s such an excellent thing that you just did right there, because like that is the definition of consent.
Like, just fucking ask me first.
You know? I had this, this, so [00:10:00] I experienced. Um, sexual assault from a female customer in the lady’s room at Jumbo’s Clown room one night. Um, and she was a friend of one of the dancers there that night too. So that’s a situation where you’re like, you oughta know, right?
So we’re in the bathroom and she starts like, grabbing my ass and rubbing my hair and like literally like hugged me without me asking me, put both of her hands on my ass. In front of all these other women in the bathroom. And I like turned around and I had to get slightly physical ’cause I had to push her off of me.
Nova: Exactly. We were dealing with drunk people, so they’re very aggravating without even knowing. So that’s why I’m always like,
AMD: yeah, exactly. And then I went and told the bouncer, I was like out, kick her out.
Nova: Yep.,
AMD: and then he went and they found her and they like kicked her out, and my dancer friend at the time was like furious with me that I had done this, that I had had her kicked out.
She’s like, well, that’s my ride. How am I supposed to get home now? [00:11:00] I’m like, she just assaulted me in front of people.
Nova: Yeah, thank you. Letting them know that it’s okay to touch you like that. Right. That’s why I’m so, Ooh, I’m just. When it comes to my body, I’m not as compassionate ’cause I don’t have, that is my boundary. Just because I’m in a song, I could be completely naked. It doesn’t give you the right to touch me.
And you should know better. I’m a complete stranger to you. You don’t know what I got.
You don’t know nothing.
Absolutely nothing about me. For you to think that you can touch me like that.
AMD: So, I mean, this is because. Let, let’s break it down if you don’t mind.
Nova: I don’t mind.
AMD: So I, they we’re in, not in our clothes.
’cause I’ve also been grabbed on stage by females. Okay. And, and men, but mostly the females are, are the worst offenders. But. Is it So we’re naked or almost naked in front of people. So do how, where does the message, and we’re just [00:12:00] theorizing and philosophizing here, where do you think they get the message in their head? Oh, that person doesn’t have clothes on. It’s okay for me to grab them.
Nova: Patriarchy.
AMD: Right, but like where, like what? I think the message
Nova: also the, the, the message is that people think that just because we’re strippers, that we are like addicted to sex and you have to talk.
AMD: There it is. Yeah. That’s what it is.
Nova: Okay. That’s
AMD: that. That’s literally what it is.
Nova: Yeah.
They don’t understand that this is a job just like you work at Apple or what have you.
I work here.
‘Cause I’m talented at what I do, but it doesn’t mean that I want to get finger 24 7, bro. Gimme some space.
AMD: I know, totally. Yeah. I think you just really hit the nail on the head. Like, ’cause I’ll be dancing sometimes and people, ’cause like I’m always like, ah, every time I’m dancing. Right. You know.
Nova: Oh, not seen me. I’m like
AMD: titty, nipple, twisting, [00:13:00]
Nova: like cocks in my mouth. Like, uh,
I titty slap people. I titty slap people.
AMD: So I hear them. I can hear customers going, oh wow. She’s like. She’s like a sex freak or she’s, oh, she’s a, she’s a bad girl. I hear stuff like that. I’m like, you have no idea how like, chill and nice I am. Like, I’m, I’m not some sex freak. I’m not trying to have sex with you right now. I’m just pretending like I wanna have sex.
Nova: I’m doing my job rather well.
If you think that I’m turned on. I mean, sometimes I’m turned on, but most of the time it’s just me. Just expressing myself and getting money out of it.
AMD: Exactly. So, okay, so that’s the, so how do we get them? How do we get people. Besides having this amazing podcast, obviously, how do we get people to, to really open their eyes to that, that like, no, we don’t want you to grab us. No, we don’t wanna fuck you all the time. [00:14:00] Yes, we, this is our job. And a, when I’m done with work, I go home and eat dinner and go to sleep like everybody else does afater their work. How do we get them to really understand that? Do we need like a social media camera?
Nova: Not Yeah. We need to be visible. We need to not be shadow banned. Yeah, we need to raise the standard as well. That’s what I always say. Uh, when I worked in Daytona, they were like, oh, Nova Caine, why do you take it so serious? And why this and why that customers, and I always said, ’cause I wanna raise the standard. On the way people think about strippers and sex workers, I am a highly educated woman. I have a great resume to die for, and I’m a stripper. And that’s okay. It’s we’re, there’s nothing wrong with that. I make plenty, and I’m using every single degree that I went to school for. Aesthetics. Therapy, film, [00:15:00] audio, all of that is music. It’s artistry. It’s how the person sees you. I see. I try to be, I try to give you cinematography even if you’re not even watching me on a phone or, you know.
AMD: Nice. Yeah, I totally get that.
Nova: So I wanna give you a full show that is well thought out of, but it comes naturally for me. And I’m, that’s it. I’m monetize out of it. So what I’m using my education to do what I want, the right way, the right way for me, and look what is done to my life.
So visibility is very important for
to take away ignorance because they just don’t know. We’re not seeing, so how do they know about me? How do they know about you if we’re not being out there?
AMD: I know I’m so shadow banned right now on the Queen of Sexy. I’ve been shadow banned.
Nova: I don’t even hashtag
AMD: Yeah, I don’t hashtag either. I’ve been shadow banned for like maybe six months. I’ve stayed, I’ve gotten a hundred followers in the [00:16:00] last six months. Like I just, it’s just sitting there. Still.
Nova: So can we ask the privilege of folks who are not shadow banned to help us out?
AMD: Yeah. I mean that’s when the ally
Goes out like
Nova: you can be a pole dancer. Not a stripper, but a stripper ally. What are you gonna do
AMD: Exactly. And I for that.
Yeah. And so, okay. I’m so glad we’re, um, brainstorming in and everyone gets to listen to this brainstorming session. So it’s like, and someone’s brought this up again and forgive me if it was you. Um, that, that we really need to encourage the- like collective pole dance industry to really step up and like put a stamp on the origins of pole dancing and then take a stand for who we are and who we’ve been for the community.
Nova: Yeah, this is definitely part of your job. You don’t wanna be shadow banned [00:17:00] then take the shame out of it. And this is your, you put the shame, I wasn’t ashamed. You were though. You were ashamed of being compared to me. And you rather give this amazing thing that’s changed your life, your sensuality. Your femininity, it, it helped you find who you are and then you give it to the man. And not the women that helped you spread your legs and be able to do it and understand how empowering that is. That I can open my legs and nobody. Will touch me everybody will go, wow. Or ooh, what they’re reacting. There’s our reaction and us doing that helped you be able to do what you do in heels and garters and sexy clothing and yeah, do it for your man or our audience or whatever. It was your job to be the greatest of allies and now is your [00:18:00] time to step your pussy game up with that
AMD: 100%. Yeah, I mean, so we talk a lot about the divide between strippers and pole dancers on this podcast. Um, and I know that you firsthand have experienced a lot of atrocities in the Pole dance studio. And I’d also like to preface this statement with, um, and ’cause I wanna ask you about your experiences, but, um. I’ve not seen that on the level that I’ve heard you talk about in like California. Um, which is where I spend the majority of my time. Uh, so I, and I, I’m asking this because I’m wonder if it’s like a cultural thing based on like the leaders of the community in your area. ‘Cause I know who they’re, um, or if it. If it like really varied from studio to studio or, so I wanna kind of know some of your experiences that you feel comfortable sharing and then also why do you think it was so cray in Florida?[00:19:00]
Nova: This Florida,
AMD: Florida’s different. Let’s be real. That state is hella different. I love it though.
Nova: I love Florida. Don’t get me wrong. We have the coolest of cool, but we always have like we’re all crazy. We’re all crazy. That’s what it is. Good, bad, middle. We’re all buck fuck wild. In Florida, um, I think that not only is it Florida, it’s also we’re still the south. So we have that kind of thinking. Um, and yeah. When you are a star performer, somebody that people look up to. People will mimic your reaction to things. Especially if they wanna look up to you or they see you as the head leader of the, of whatever. So I feel I, [00:20:00] depending on the leaders, depending on the students, the, the environment.
So if you have a very open teacher that is pro stripper and puts that culture in there, then you have less ignorance of course, or lack of knowledge, lack of whatever. And then if you have somebody that’s very stringent on. N wanting to separate and divide from us, then that’s what’s going to rotate in their minds.
And that’s what they’re gonna aspire to as well.
AMD: Yeah. It trickles down from the top,
Nova: your influencers right. That is a word. That is some, that’s a job. That people have made millions with. . When you have that power to influence, you have the power to influence. And I think that’s pretty much the,
answer for that.
AMD: So you’ve experienced a lot of discrimination and rejection from. Of several studios, [00:21:00] right. In Florida.
Nova: Yeah.
AMD: Yeah. I mean, there’s gotta be a good one though, right?
Nova: Apple Jelly Studios by Amber. Bright.
AMD: By who?
Nova: Amber Bright.
AMD: Amber Bright,
Nova: yes. She is my mama. I just was working there before the virus Coronavirus hit and I had to you know, not work. Uh, yeah. And make my own virtual something, so I think
still survive. But Apple Jelly Studios that came in there and they love that I was stripper. That I was a stripper. They love how I spoke. I they love that. I was like, oh, that’s too much. You better wear less. Like, are you gonna take that off? They love my classes because I teach how to dance. I don’t really teach you tricks. I can teach you tricks. I know plenty, but I’d rather teach you how to. Find your, uh, your movement that way that you seduce yourself so you can seduce others.
[00:22:00] You know, it’s a fine tuning kind of job and I watch my students and everybody had a different piece of advice that I gave them. Even though we’re on the same class, I would just be like, Hey, I think. You really got something with this part of your body. I saw you dance with it. I saw you connect and I want you for next freestyle or wherever. I really want you to add to that and create something different from that. And then I would go to my students and it would just completely change them. And then once they got that, that, uh, then I would switch it all up and then give them some kind of, now we have to switch polls every 20 seconds. Now, but it has to be a show. You know? And they love that they gave me an opportunity to show people that I am teaching empowerment. And that’s what it is to be a stripper, at least to me, is to be empowered as the most feminine. That [00:23:00] you could do.
AMD: Oof. Girl, you’re killing me right now. Also, have you, are you reading my class descriptions, my workshop descriptions? Because I literally say, learn how to seduce yourself so you can seduce others, because if you’re not filling yourself 100%, then that energy isn’t being produced to get the result that you’re looking for.
Nova: Exactly.
AMD: You need to feel yourself 100%.
Nova: I think that I, I haven’t read your workshops, but except for that intensive that you did in California and I was crying that I couldn’t go ’cause it’s California.
AMD: Don’t worry girl. It didn’t work out. There wasn’t enough takers. It’s fine. LA is really hard to sell workshops in.
Nova: Oh my God.
AMD: They’re never getting the offer again. Trust you. Hear that LA ever again. Alright.
Nova: Do it virtually. Let’s get together. Do it virtually.
AMD: I will. You know what? That’s a good idea. I didn’t even think of that. Thank you.
Nova: All Sex Academy.
AMD: Yeah. Don’t worry. We’re gonna talk about Sex Academy before the, before this episode is over, but [00:24:00] um, but what were we talking about just now? Oh, workshop descriptions. And you were you? Yeah.
Nova: Oh yeah. That is our job. I mean, to seduce, and obviously you have to learn how to seduce yourself before you can seduce anybody else.
AMD: Totally, totally. That’s why I teach mirror. Mirror exercises.
Nova: Yes.
AMD: Yeah. They’re very awkward.
Nova: I know. I always teach, I’m teaching a student of mine to, I don’t even wanna say. Well, because I’ve had such bad reactions for myself, I kind of wanted to infiltrate the competitions with somebody that wouldn’t get shamed. Um, and I’m training her how to represent me, but also learn how to be a showstopper and teach these [00:25:00] people that. Look down on me before and show them my talent. Like I want to, make sure that people see that I am a talented human being and I can teach you how to bring that talent out of yourself too. And. Little Novocaine. Little
AMD: please. More. Novocaine, I am obsessed
Nova: little metals with your work.
AMD: You are such an incredible performer. Um, so I wanna talk about that a little bit. You do the most amazing leg quaking from the front with a sneak through hand from behind, and it taps the pussy so fast. Girl, I die. I was like. I’m dead. I died.
Nova: That’s called my pussy Twerk.
AMD: That’s a great name.
Nova: Thank you.
These are my chaching.
AMD: Oh yeah, my,
Nova: these are my Chaching.
AMD: So for those of you who are just listening, [00:26:00] Nova Can is popping her boobs up and down just with her chest muscles. Say, say something. So the video switches, start talking and try it again.
Nova: I can say things and these are my chi Chis.
AMD: Yeah, they’re bouncing. Oh my God. It’s so cool. I could, I don’t know. I can, i, you gotta squeeze this part right here, right? Yes. I’m just getting started. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Love it. Okay. I’m gonna practice. Check me in a year and this,
Nova: this helps too.
AMD: Oh, tight. With the hands in a nama stay position, shoulders down, squeeze. You’re kind of activating your pec muscles, right?
Yeah. And then it’s lifting the tits. Okay, I’m gonna practice queen check in on me in like a year. ’cause I wanna get really good. Okay. Um, so I wanna, I wanna ask you, when you’re doing all of that really cool shit, and you’re in the, you’re in the zone, you’re in the flow zone, and you’re performing like, what is that? [00:27:00] ‘Cause I know what it feels like for me, but I wanna hear in your words, what does it feel like when you just, you know that you’ve captured everybody’s attention, all eyes on you, they’re eating outta the palm of your hand, you’re having the time of your life. What is going through your head? What does your body feel like?
Nova: Most of the time it just feels numb because when I first finish, that’s so funny. People always ask me, how do you feel? And I always go, I don’t know. Always. I’m just all the floodgates come of emotions that I don’t even know how to articulate it. And I’m also panting like crazy ’cause I just gave it my all. Yeah. Then once I calm down and I can breathe and I sit there, it just always reminds me of the times that I was bedridden and doctors told me I would never be able to walk correctly again, and I’ll always have chronic pain and I always have a, I told you so. Kind of [00:28:00] pride feeling that I not only. Can walk, I can fly, I can grab the attention of everybody in the room. And I can shine bright in a well lit room. So I feel pride. Pride. Just happy pride. I am exhausted. I’m turned on. I’m just, fuck Yeah. Feeling. It’s,
AMD: yeah. I love it. Tell us about why, why you were told you would, you wouldn’t be able to walk again. Do you feel comfortable telling that story?
Nova: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
AMD: Tell us everything.
Nova: It’s the reason I’m Novocaine, it’s the reason I even thought Novocaine would be a good name for me. Um, so when I was in the military and when I was in the army, I fractured my femural neck bone, which is where the femur connects to the hip. So right here, Uhhuh, I had a really bad stress fracture. So the, the bone opened in [00:29:00] itself and it healed with a sharp point in both sides. But now it rubs the, it rubs nerve, dam nerve and muscle. So now I have nerve damage and muscle damage and also bone damage from the stress fracture. ’cause once you stress that again, it comes back. They told me that as long as I was walking in, they told me that every time I walked, it was high impact on my hip. So that’s why it would always hurt when I, I would step on it. Because I, I was 21 walking like a penguin because it was just like, ow. So they discharged me. ’cause obviously I can’t deploy. And I had just a bunch of scar tissue. ’cause your body’s always injured, right? It’s always rubbing. It’s always rubbing. So it’s always making scar tissue. . Um, and that’s what was my problem until I started pole dancing and it gave me [00:30:00] a way to find cardio. That’s low impact. ’cause I can pull myself up and still have that cardio and still work my legs. So the aerial part of it just was like my magic pill. Then the stretching part of it was like the syrup that coats it in and helps it go down smoothly. And then the twerking, it’s another way of, uh, cardio for my actual cheeks. Because that’s where the, the scar tissue is so when I, when I twerk, it isolates it. It’s a workout. It warms up. Everything, and I can literally feel that scar tissue breaking down and then with a stretch, I can move that heat.
AMD: Yeah, of course.
Nova: Right? Because when you dance, it feels good, right?
AMD: Yeah. Yeah. I’m laughing because I’ve seen you make these posts [00:31:00] like, or tell me, you’ve even told me in messages like. Stripping keeps my body feeling healed and stripping keeps my body feeling from being injured. And I was always like, yeah, like, yeah, that energy is empowering you and it’s, but just now when you broke it down about how your body is actually working for you through the movement, that’s why I am like sitting on the edge of my seat because I’m like, I understand you literally mean. That stripping and sex work ha is keeps your body doing well.
Nova: Because it breaks down the scar tissue. I had to learn how to dance the way I dance right now. Like I’m in bars and I’m like using it as like yoga blocks. I just call it like ho yoga slash dancing.
AMD: Oh my god.
Nova: Slash contortion slash [00:32:00] therapy. For myself. So you can tell what hurts the most in my body if I’m giving it extra attention.
AMD: Wow. You’re literally doing self, like physical therapy at work on stage while taking your clothes off.
Nova: Yeah, and I monetize that of it. I had
AMD: you make money while you do it.
Nova: Yeah. That’s why I, I told you. What can, what else can I do? I cannot sit for too long. Scar tissue builds up, right? Everybody’s hips hurt after sitting. Imagine having a disability through chronic pain, pain and arthritis and all that stuff, and sitting for that long. It’s a death sentence to me. A stagnant body to me is a death sentence. I end up in the bed with my legs up in the air with a hip this size, the size of Kim Kardashian’s ass, and I don’t want that. That’s not normal. . Um, my bad, Kim. I love that.
AMD: Her ass is pretty tight though.
Nova: It looks. [00:33:00] Yeah, but when you have one Kim ass one normal ass and she just look
AMD: now that would be different.
Nova: Yeah. She looked like ball sack. So, um, yeah, I, it was just, I have to strip, I have to, even if I’m not stripping in the club, I have to do some kind of stripping. To keep mobility. I don’t know how my future’s gonna be, but right now this is what it is and I’m taking it and I’m writing it, and I’m loving it, and I’m teaching other women to do it. And hopefully that’s, you know, my input in the world and my input into my community.
AMD: What were you doing in the military? You were in the army.
Nova: Yes, I was doing logistics.
AMD: What does that mean? I don’t know anything.
Nova: Automated logistics. It’s ordering parts. It’s ordering things for deployment. It’s ordering things for mechanics to be able to fix Humvees, et cetera. So I was just like this. And they still discharged [00:34:00] me. I had a desk job in the military. I worked in the motor pool. Logistics office. What do you want, SAR? You want. This part. Okay. Yes, chief? Yes, ma’am. I couldn’t even do that.
AMD: Wow. Okay. And then, so how did you discover after you were discharged and you were, you know, healed enough from your injury to start dancing? What, what, how did pole dancing come into the picture?.
Nova: Okay. Well, I was a stripper before the Army.
AMD: Oh.
Nova: For a few months. And that was the first time I ever saw pole dancing.
AMD: Of course. Me too. Yeah.
Nova: But it was like pole dancing. I. Uh, show of crazy splits and drops and wow pleasing tricks. So it’s not just like, oh, cool, you did a jade. It is like, oh my God, you [00:35:00] just got into the rafters. Twerked fucked it a little bit and then jumped out of that into the pole and then what? And turn me on. And now there’s rain everywhere.
AMD: Yeah. She means money.
Nova: Yes.
AMD: For civilians who listen to this, we need to help them
sometimes.
Nova: Oh, I’m sorry. Moola coin, rain sex.
AMD: Where were you? Was it like Miami? Where were you?
Nova: Oh, I was in Orlando.
AMD: Oh, okay.
Nova: In Dancers Royale. That was my first club.
AMD: Okay, great.
Nova: Right. And I saw this crazy shit and I couldn’t do it. And then I joined the army and then I came back with a disability and my friend told me to take a class at a bar, and I did, and I super sucked, but I liked it. And I understood that, I mean, I’m a smart person, so I was like, oh, okay. It doesn’t aggravate when I walk. This actually is okay.
AMD: Okay. So just kind of like,
Nova: well, remember I’m in [00:36:00] wheelchairs. I’m in in, um. Ting Tings, that’s what they call me.
AMD: Crutches.
Nova: And crutches. Yeah.
AMD: TI prefer that over crutches. I didn’t think I’m gonna start.
Nova: Yeah. Because in the army you could hear the ting. Ting kind of
AMD: Got it, got it.
Nova: So used to call me Ting. Ting.
AMD: Okay. Yeah. So got all thet,
Nova: so I be a wheelchair. Crutches. I would have um, oh my god.
AMD: Cane
Nova: a cane. Nova cane. I had a cane. And um. So it kind of just changed into a pole.
AMD: Right. Wow.
Nova: So that I, I found the, you know, and when you have crutches, you have to like really pull yourself up. Right. You can’t just like lay on it. You have to pull yourself up. When you’re in a wheelchair, you have to have good posture. You have to still move and then have a cane. You’re still putting that pressure up away from your hip, so you can step
AMD: Totally.
Nova: The doctors teach you how to do [00:37:00] this the right way. So train the body to think as the pull, as the cane. And learn how to be yourself.
AMD: Of course.
Nova: And then I became Novocaine.
AMD: Yeah. Amazing. Such a good, wow. I didn’t know all of that. It’s so fucking cool. Seriously. Yeah. Um, I wanna know about Sex Academy. What’s the inspiration? Tell us what exactly it is.
Nova: Sex Academy is a pop-up studio and strip club. Okay. Uh, I’m. I still haven’t figured out the strip club part yet. Okay. So like I’m still debating I’m, I am overthinker. You know, as creative people were like, oh no, scratch that. No, scratch that. So that’s where I’m at with the strip club part. If it’s gonna come out, it’s gonna be a badass motherfucking, possibly like pussy popping game shit. Like, ugh. Right. It has to be like that.
AMD: Two cocks on the [00:38:00] face. I love that move. It’s one of my favorite.
Nova: I got it from somewhere. Hashtag inspired. Uh, but Sex Academy came really easy for me because I never got to teach in studios, these kind of things. The stripping off the clothes while pole dancing, the stripping off the clothes on the floor work, the using the walls, using your paintbrush sets, which is what I call your pussy and your starfish. I call it your paintbrush, so you know that your painting and it connects. My wording to your vagina and what I want her to do.
AMD: Oh gosh, you’re blowing my mind right now. Okay,
Nova: so, so I never really got to give a whole spectrum of what it is to be a stripper or how to [00:39:00] work out as one, because I work out like this. So I just wanted to teach women how to strip, have a workout, build strength and flexibility and freedom of sensuality while creating and persona that you knew you had inside of you and now you get to see her. So that’s pretty much what Sex Academy is, is teaching you how to wind like a stripper, you know the stripper wind.
AMD: Yeah, totally. Can you actually, I was looking at the names of your classes. Can you list out the names for the audience so they know?
Nova: Yes. Yeah, so peel it off. It’s my poll class. This is not a Trick Space class. This is not a choreography based class. This is a class where you learn how to take off whatever the fuck you put on before class. Use the pole and use your mouth and use your heels and use whatever it is to get that clothes off. Then we [00:40:00] have not yet rated, which is a forward class, uh, but it’s also surrounding class. I like to use the walls. I like when I was in the strip club, I like to use the bars that raise the stage. . Um, that it’s more of how can I create. Essential artistry without the pole kind of class. And not yet rated. And then I have stripper wind, which is. How to teach, how to learn how to twerk, but not really just up and down and those cool ways that other, that, uh, like the Russian girls do or um, very African based. I don’t stripper wind like that more is, uh, mine is how to rub on. A dick. Stripper wind. The, the whining that gets you the money and everything else you really want in life. [00:41:00] Yeah.
AMD: Okay. Okay. Give us one more, one more
Nova: and then, um, moan it like you mean it, which is, uh. How to moan it like you mean it. You don’t wanna do all these crazy stunts and look pissed off or look strained. People do look at your face. You have to look like you are having the biggest orgasm throughout your whole set. And a lot of people don’t do that. And I wanna teach that. I You teach it too.
AMD: I do
Nova: wanna teach it too. It’s just something that. It’s so specifically stripper that I love it.
AMD: It it really is. It, it really is. And porn star too.
Um, I think it’s easier
Nova: sex worker period.
AMD: Yeah. But I do think it’s easier for the porn stars to make the face because they’re in the act itself. And so like. It just kind of feels, because like when I’m having sex, right? Like I’m not, I’m not saying like, okay, time to [00:42:00] make sex face now like I do. I’m dancing. I’m just like, I’m really into it. Like, yeah, like I’m so into it. It’s naturally the face is being made. But when you’re dancing, you have to like fake that you’re turned on. It’s harder.
Nova: It’s a performance, right? Like a, like the, the porn star. She might not be really liking what’s going on, you know, it might be boring her. It is a job. I don’t see it as. That every single time she’s having an orgasm. I’m sure she’s like, oh my God. .
AMD: I’m sure she is not. Yeah. And not to say that their job is easy, that’s not what I meant by anything.
Nova: Not, that’s what I’m saying.
AMD: I just mean that like it in my, from my perspective. Let’s rephrase it from my perspective. I feel like in the act of sex itself, it’s easier to make those faces.
Nova: Yes. Yeah. Yes, because you actually have, I. That going on. Stripping is sex work because you’re literally humping the air
AMD: and fake Yeah.
Nova: You’re [00:43:00] giving, yeah. You’re giving them a show, so they take it at home and do whatever with it. So, and then whatever’s gonna be sex work.
AMD: We, we have to touch on one other thing before we change gears. Yeah. It’s what you just said. Um. That stripping is sex work and you’re humping the air. Something that I deal with that I, that I see is some strippers don’t consider themselves or identify as sex workers. And then civilians will say to me sometimes, oh, well, strippings not sex work.
Nova: Stripping is definitely sex work. It’s even in the, the salt and pepper stripping because. Well, I stripped, I also did sex work. Maybe I wasn’t penetrating, I wasn’t getting penetrated, but I let a guy sniff my ass for two 50. And that’s sex work.
AMD: Yes.
Nova: Um, but that’s, that’s adding different layers to it. But even [00:44:00] in the salt, in the most basic of layers, you are humping the air for money. So somebody can go and do whatever they want with it. That memory. So yes. That is sex work. They, they’re not going home and cooking, remembering your stripper wine.
AMD: Right. Right. They’re not like contemplating about how the mechanics of your stripper wine is. They’re, they’re stroking themselves.
Nova: Exactly. Yeah. So you’re being, their fantasy that they can pay. Right there, right then, so they can remember for later time. Whether it be a single man, a single woman, or a couple. They, they want you to turn them on.
AMD: Exactly.
Nova: That. You’re not there for shits and giggles. You’re there to hump dry hump people for and give them a heck of a show.
AMD: Thank you. I’m glad that we nailed that. Um, it was very important. [00:45:00] Yes, to get off of our chest.
Wanna be fabulous just like these strippers. Pay attention. It’s stripper tips.
Nova: My stripper tip is to invest on your look. So many times people have come up to me in the strip club world because of what I’m wearing and how I’m wearing it. So not only are you buying something that makes you feel good and look good, make sure that you are creatively putting it on. So whoever buys the same outfit. Can never and will ever. So be creative with what you invest in, in your look. Get the nails, get the lashes, get your hair. Most importantly, get your attire. ? And, um, also invest in your talent and your niche. Find what that is and invest in that. [00:46:00] So whenever you do invest, it comes back at you 10 times more, and that’s when you’ll be able to put stuff on savings. So that’s what’s worked for me.
AMD: Yeah. I love it. You’re right.
Nova: That is when you’re, nobody was like, yeah, I saved up and became a rockstar. They’re like, I put my, I put my everything into it, you know, I, blood, sweat, tears. I knew that this money was gonna come back to me. I am my investment. I am my business. And what I do to my body makes me money. And I don’t wanna make 20. I wanna make a thousand. So how are you gonna change from only making twenties and hundreds to making thousands? And it really is just like a businessman wears a suit. You have to find what your suit looks like.
AMD: Love that. Thank you. You’re the greatest. All right. Let’s,
Nova: you’re the greatest.
AMD: I know. Thanks. We both are. It’s [00:47:00] great. Stripper solidarity.
Nova: Thank you, sister.
AMD: Thank you too. Get ready for our rapid fire question round. It’s time for four for one. All. Here we go. Number one question. What’s one of your closing lines when selling a lap Dance.
Nova: So you want this shit or not?
AMD: It’s very aggressive.
Nova: Thank you. I don’t look like this for no reason.
AMD: Yeah. All right. Next one. What’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever done with a partner?
Nova: Wow. I think like nipple play. I think that’s really hot.
AMD: Oh shit. Okay.
Nova: Yeah. Nipple play. That’s a And like sexy talk. Like give me Yeah. A story in my ear while you’re fucking me.
AMD: I love how you interpreted that question.
Nova: Oh, not bad.
AMD: That was great.
Nova: Lemme take it back.
AMD: [00:48:00] No, no. Please don’t. No. That’s why I say don’t interpret the question. Love it. All right. Have you ever farted on stage and worried that people sitting at the tip rail would get a whiff?
Nova: I farted on stage. No. I go up the the pole and I spin really fast and rip it and then split it down.
AMD: God. You’re kidding. That’s hilarious. Oh my God.
Nova: I am very thorough with my,
AMD: yeah, but so for me, like I’ve had one like slip out, like I as doing ara on it just came right the fuck out. And you’re like,
Nova: maybe when I’m drunk sometimes
AMD: I was drunk a lot at work, so, okay. All last one. Oh wait. Yeah. Last one. A customer asks to suck on your toes. Yes or no?
Nova: Yeah. You got 500 a spare.
AMD: Exactly.
Nova: That is a, a pitch That is definitely where you go and get that money.
AMD: Exactly.
Nova: Anything extra other [00:49:00] than me dancing is gonna cost you.
AMD: Right. I mean, it’s really not a big deal to get your toes sucked on.
Nova: No. Yeah. Suck on it. Asshole. Click what else you want. Yeah, let’s put some add-ons up in here.
AMD: Oh my God. I feel so fulfilled.
Nova: That’s what they say.