Our Family
Kayla Glynn
She/Her
​
The Spark
Kayla grew up dancing competitively and has trained in jazz, tap, ballet, and hip-hop, but pole dance stole her heart in 2011. She has been teaching pole since 2015, and enjoys mixing all different styles of dance with pole!
​
Kayla's favourite parts of teaching are choreographing routines, doing pole doubles tricks, and being the first one to whoop with joy to celebrate your successes!
​
Her 2023 Pole Goals are to continue her progress on those elusive front splits, continue her work towards getting her Phoenix, and become more confident in handstands and flips.
​
Kayla is the studio's resident adrenaline junkie and has a love of travel, languages, musical theatre, craft beer, lipstick, and all things creative. When not dancing her heart out at the studio, you can find Kayla just down the street at Steel & Vines, where she will happily talk your ear off about the latest unique wines and fancy cheeses they've brought in that week, or chilling at home with a True Crime podcast.
​
Kayla teaches Intermediate and Advanced Pole, choreography on and off the pole, and a variety of stretch classes.
Ainsley Latta
She/Her
The Spirit
Ainsley took the first spin of her pole journey in 2010. She had no prior dance or gymnastic experience, and had been looking for a fun, fitness activity to join with her friends - little did she know it would become such an incredible source of passion in her life! As her strength and skill grew, she was able to share her passion with her students.
​
Ainsley’s favourite part of teaching is collaborating with her students and helping them to foster their creative energy. She loves building routines, putting together new combinations, and gushing with pride when her students FINALLY master that one move that’s been stumping them for weeks!
​
Ainsley’s Pole Goals for 2023 are to improve her flexibility and flow, really work on making time to practice for herself, and improve her consistency in her Hummingbird.
​
When not at the studio, Ainsley spends her time pursuing her other passions: experimenting with baking from different parts of the world (with a current love of fresh, buttery, French croissants), hiking and swimming in the great outdoors, and curling up to play video games or read books with her partner and pets.
​
Ainsley teaches Pole 101 and Beginner/Intermediate level pole classes, as well as Chair classes, Floor classes, and Stretch classes.
Erin Duerksen
She/Her
The Spice
Erin started out as a baby poler in 2015. With no previous dance or gymnastics experience, it was a leap out of her comfort zone but she couldn't be happier she took it! She poled off-and-on for a number of years before dedicating herself to it as a primary pastime. Erin is always saying that pole dance made her stronger not only physically, but mentally as well; this carries over into her teaching style.
​
Erin's favourite part of teaching is encouraging her students to push their limits and see how much they are really capable of. Her delivery method could best be described as "dry sarcastic support", but it's always delivered with love and the expectation that you'll sass her right back!
​
Erin's Pole Goals for 2023 are to improve her pole flow, tackle her little "flexibility problem" (literally and metaphorically - for real this time. She promises), and start getting comfortable on spin pole.
​
When not at the studio, Erin can most likely be found curled up on the couch in a pile of fur-babies with a scotch and good book.
​
Erin teaches Pole 101 and Beginner level pole classes, as well as On-the-Pole and Off-the-Pole Conditioning.
Vic Hecker
She/Her
The Inspiration
Vic (or "Vicky") started with pole in 2015. While Vic had done a few team sports in the past, she was struggling to find a sport that she truly enjoyed. Aside from a bit of social dancing in the past, she had no experience with dance or gymnastics. Finally, she made the leap and tried a pole dance class and it's been a source of endless joy ever since.
​
Vic joined the Empower family as an instructor in 2022 and has been an absolute blessing! Her upbeat and energetic teaching style makes every class a blast! Vic's favourite part of teaching is the little sparkle in her students' eyes or the yelps of joy she hears when a move they've been struggling with finally feels "right". She loves working on routines and learning to use dance to tell a story.
​
Vic's Pole Goals for 2023 are to work on her floorwork, to add more shoulder stands and kips to her repertoire, and to make stretching a regular part of her day.
​
When not at the studio, Vic can be found hosting trivia nights, watching bad movies with her two cats, in her kitchen coming up with weird new ice cream flavours, or sewing a new pole outfit or costume
​
Vic teaches Pole 101 and Beginner level pole classes.
Our History
Empower started, as many enterprises do, as a half-baked dream tossed around in off-moments between three passionate polers who met while dancing and teaching at a small pole studio in Lethbridge, Alberta: "What if, one day, we were able to build a studio of our own?" Of course, Lethbridge is a small city and only able to support one pole fitness studio, so it seemed doubtful that the dream would ever become a reality.
​
Fast forward to March 2020. COVID-19 is sweeping the globe and entire nations are closing everything from boutiques to borders. Alberta was no exception. It was during this first lockdown that the idea of Poledemic was born. The purpose of Poledemic was to provide a safe place for our existing students to come together and escape the turmoil of the world through online pole classes and fellowship. It was in running these virtual classes that we discovered how much we really loved building our own lesson plans and connecting with our students in our own way. After our Poledemic experience there was really no turning back and we began to transform our Dream into a Goal.
​
In September of 2020, changing circumstances encouraged us to to escalate our Goal into a Plan. An amiable transition was arranged with the owner of the previous pole studio and the real work in forging Empower began. After weeks of perusing listings on every real estate website known to man (and possibly a handful more), we came across an undeveloped bay in the Historic Oliver Building in Lethbridge's downtown core and were immediately smitten. The lease was signed, renovation designs and possession date were finalized, and the real work began.
​
After months of (tedious) logistics and paperwork, online classes were launched in mid-January 2021. Our team (and their wonderful partners and family!) put in many late nights and gallons of sweat equity to bring the space to life, and the countdown to Opening Day began... and continued... and was postponed... and began again...
​
COVID, eh? After numerous delays due to rising numbers and increased safety measures, we were *FINALLY* able to safely open our doors for real in July 2021. Trust us when we say there is no rush quite like seeing students take their first spin after six months apart! There may have been tears involved (there were definitely tears involved).
IT'S BEEN A WILD RIDE TO GET TO THIS POINT, AND WE EXPECT EVERY DAY WILL BRING NEW AND EXCITING ADVENTURES TO OUR CHROME-Y HOME. WE CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE THOSE ADVENTURES WITH ALL OF YOU!
​
Our Home
The Historic Oliver Building
The Oliver Building was first constructed in 1906 by then-alderman and four-time mayor William Oliver. A full century later, and after sitting vacant for the majority of those years and falling into disrepair, it was finally purchased by Hegnberg Ltd. in 2016. This purchased saved the once-beautiful old building from demolition.
​
The renovations commenced immediately and by 2019 a number of the bays were already rented out. The last bay, #318, was destined to become the home of Empower Pole Fitness.
The Studio
With its original brick-and-plaster feature wall, exposed ductwork, and 110-year-old hardwood floor, Bay 318 of the Oliver Building is the perfect mashup of turn-of-the-century architecture and industrial chic. It's the sort of space that is simultaneously comfortable and invigorating, and we immediately knew it was destined to be our new pole home.
​
Our studio features a comfortable entryway with a privacy wall dividing the dance space from the main entrance. The 1900 square feet is shared between pole space and an open area for floorwork. The floorwork space also features ceiling mounts for aerial silks and hammocks. Our space is fully wheel-chair accessible and possesses barrier-free facilities.
