A Studio Of Our Own

Around Christmas time 2017 we got some unsettling news. The city of Clarksburg was planning to purchase the building that we operate Vertical Vixens Pole Fitness in. Of course, they gave us no timeline for when this will take place, but a move to a new location is inevitable.

The news was dreadful, but also a good kick in the butt. Staying put is obviously the easiest option, things have been going great and everything seems to be working fine. But it's so easy to fall into that trap, we all do it, of just getting to a good enough point and try to coast there. That's where I was, dreaming big, but not taking action. If I can get anything across to my Grrrl Gang, it's that you should always be pushing yourself to be the best that you can be. When you see that you've fallen into that trap, get on the pole, do a dance, clear your mind, and get back into action! Thank you Clarksburg then for waking me up and getting me moving . We had limited resources, but it was time to make a plan to relocate and expand our business and our vision. We scoured the region looking for places to rent, but our options were not accommodating for the direction we want to go. Things were looking bleak. That’s when we knew we had to do something different, and fast.

n the process of stumbling through properties, we came across an old church for sale nearby and decided that somehow, some way, we were going to make it our own. It met all of our architectural needs and had the right amount of space to pursue our vision, so we made it happen. We agreed on a deal with the sellers, and by the end of February we had ourselves our very own church. A building that needs a lot of love, work, and fundraising to make our dream come
true. It might not be technically a church anymore, but once we get it up and running we will be creating our own slice of heaven right here in Clarksburg!

Right now, renovating the church is our priority. So far, we have mainly been focusing on the demolition necessary to rebuild. We tore about three feet off of the front of the stage to make more room for poles and dance space. This left us
with a huge pile of scrap wood! With the help of some awesome friends, we separated the scrap into two piles: re-usable and unusable. We pulled every single nail and screw out of the re-usable scrap wood and piled and bagged up the junk.

The next challenge we faced was engineering two more beams to attach to the ceiling. In order to add the number of poles we want, we need more rigging points on the ceiling. We toyed with the idea of buying two laminated beams to add to the existing ones but two factors stood in our way- cost, and transportation. After brainstorming for a few weeks, Drew (my handsome husband) came up with a brilliant plan. The church came with about 16 beautiful, hardwood pews. After trying unsuccessfully to sell them all we decided to "reuse" them. 

We, with the help of our wonderful friends, disassembled every pew into individual boards. We staggered and layered these boards to create our own laminated beams. So now, instead of finding new homes for these church pews, they will stay in the building with a new purpose!

Now that the room is almost completely empty, we will start ripping down the boards to create the beams. Next we will sand, stain and refinish the floor, and then the poles can be moved it! We’ll keep you posted on our progress. Stay tuned!