Phoenix flight studio has been through an amazing evolution!
This studio started out as Knockout Bodies in 2010 with the original owners, a women’s only pole and fitness studio that resided as a side business to a large boxing gym. The studio was started during the infancy of recreational pole dancing.
The studio maintained a very posh, fitness-focus approach to bringing pole to women’s fitness. Since then the industry has been learning and growing and acknowledging the harm in excluding and sanitizing pole from its strip club and sex worker roots. In 2017, Knockout Bodies came under new ownership. The new owner, Charisma Blue, came in wanting to make changes and evolve Knockout into something that was more authentic.
Over the last six years, the studio has opened its space to all who want to try pole. New apparatuses and modalities were added to provide more opportunity for students to find beauty and strength in themselves. Two additional owners came onboard whose mission was to bring authenticity of sensual movement that honored and respected the roots of pole.
Most recently, the studio underwent a huge re-branding effort with changing the business name and logo. This effort was a love child of the owners as the previous name was the last tie to the original business model that didn’t feel authentic to what the studio has evolved into.
Hear more from our owners:
“When I was a student, the studio was a space for me to be me away from the daily roles that I was playing. Wife, Mother, Employee, Daughter. Each of these roles brings me joy, but they also come with a lot of expectations. Being in the studio, I could shed those expectations and do something for myself.
When I bought the studio in 2017, my primary goal was to cultivate a space that provided meaningful joy to students away from those external expectations. Whether it was providing classes to explore and discover your sensual side, or tricks classes that allowed you to feel strong and powerful. I want our studio to be a space that allows you to come as you are and provide the opportunity to feel good in your body and in your movement.
Every student comes to the studio with a different goal. But I have the same goal for every student that tries us. That they discover something about themselves that brings them joy. Whether that is rediscovering their sensuality, learning they can be strong and creative, creating a community of supportive friends to lean on, or building confidence and feeling empowered.”
“When I first started as a student it was something new to explore. I felt safe and I was having as much fun that I didn’t want to leave. Pole pushed me in so many ways that I never thought it could.
It gave me a chance to get outside my comfort zone and when I found it, I was in a dark space. Slowly working through things I felt I couldn’t do, I shocked myself more than anything. I never thought I’d become a teacher let alone help guide others on this crazy journey. I want students to follow their own drum and figure out what this journey is for them. Everyone has a different reason for walking in through those doors and hopefully when they walk out they feel better
than when they entered.”
“A momma to three and a pole momma to so many! I have been teaching pole dancing for seven years and dancing for over ten years. I came to pole dancing and aerial through dancing in strip clubs, and then moved into teaching that style of pole in studios. Because of my experience working as a stripper, when I became an owner of PF, I wanted to be sure that our studio would authentically honor and respect the roots of pole. I wanted our studio to be a place that welcomes, respects, and supports sex workers. Sensual movement is universally owned by each body and we have a divine right to move sensually. But teaching that style of dance without authenticity and respect to its roots only contributes to erasing the influence they have had on this industry.”