We had the pleasure of meeting Anastasia Skukhtorova in person· an accomplished athlete, an agile dancer and a pole dance instructor that has an extremely flexible body and her performances seem to resonate passion and deep emotions. She is currently one of the best Pole Dancers in the world!
She started Pole Dancing in 2008 at the age of 18, and by 2009 she started winning titles with the pinnacle of her success being placing first in the World Pole Dance Championship in 2010.
We had the opportunity, when she came to Athens for training at the Eastcoast Pole Dance Studio in Nea Makri, to chat with her and spend some time admiring her unique technique and capabilities.
Anastasia visited Greece for the third time.
Anastasia showed the girls how to make their upper and low part of the back and the shoulders more flexible.
Also they learned how to do Rainbow Marchenko, Cocoon, Eagle (bielman) and Pearl etc. and they were able to give it a try.
But they also tried tricks that require more power.
Different kind of dead lifts, reverse elbow grips, forearm and arm handstands
And also smooth transitions into them.
Performing both on spinning and static poles.
Time for a little relaxation between the classes.
During our lovely chat she told us that she saw a difference in the level of the Greek pole dancers since her last visit in Greece
All the girls are much stronger and flexible now and it was so easy to train with them.
It was also easy to teach them because they were fast absorbers!
We also saw children training too as EastCoast Pole Dance Studio has pole classes especially for kids.
She never stopped being asked to pose for photos so we asked her if she expected that kind of publicity when she first started pole dancing.
She told us that she never thought that her love, Pole Dancing, was going to change so rapidly. When she first started it, it was more for fun!
Training on the pole was giving her all the satisfaction she needed. Then it started being more and more important and bigger and now she is travelling all over the world sharing her knowledge. She also sometimes works for Cirque le Noir.
She plans to move to Denmark with her boyfriend. He is Danish and they have such a great relationship so they want to move together. After that, she will keep travelling and sharing her knowledge and then maybe she will open a studio in Denmark. It’s too soon but she thinks it’s a great idea.
She would like to compete again but she has other things to focus now. Move to Denmark, travel… so maybe next year.
“I travel a lot, I think I am used to not being home. And actually I think I want to have a home now because I am travelling almost nonstop since 2011. For 5 years I am travelling nonstop and I think I am a little bit tired so I would like to have my home, my base. I don’t know maybe I will miss travelling a little bit.”
“I like high heels actually. By wearing them, make your lines even beautiful and your legs become longer. When I started pole dancing I was dancing with high heels so I like them definitely.”
“I am trying to eat healthy. It is a little bit difficult when you travel. It is difficult to have very nice diet but I am trying to drink water. I drink water with lemon every morning, I eat a lot of vegetables, fish. I eat meat but only sometimes. So, it’s more fish, vegetables, fruits and a lot of water. I need to do more massage! I am not doing massage very often but I am trying.”
“If I wouldn’t pole I think that I could be good in organizing something. Another thing that I am good at is drawing. Last, I never learned how to sing but I would like to learn!”
She would love to come again in Greece and visit different cities and islands.
Her boyfriend is a fan of Greece so she would love to come back with him!
Anastasia with Elvira Dubbeld, the owner of EastCoast Pole Dance Studio on the right and Elli Voulgari, founder of Vertical Wise on the left.
Anastasia with Aggeliki Rerra, master instructor of EastCoast Pole Dance Studio and Elli Voulgari.
Thank you Anastasia for the great interview & EastCoast Studio for the hospitallity!
Photos by Michael Tountas
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