Shaina Cruea stands alongside the pole in the center of her home studio, her 6-foot frame a combination of gymnastic power and balletic grace.
She places one hand on the pole and lightly grips with the other before taking several strides, releasing the leg backwards, folding it around the pole and spiraling to the floor like a samara falling from a maple tree. It’s a simple move that is beautiful to watch and relatively easy to learn for beginners.
This Virginia Beach native and former U.S. National Pole Dance Champion currently offers group classes, one-on-one training and specialty pole dance workshops in her home for students of all skill levels. Now, the wife and mother of two has plans to open a studio where she can expand the coastal pole community with every inversion, twist or “between-the-pole” sequence.
Cruea’s journey into competition pole has its origins in 2012, when she was living the Big Apple and looking to make a career on stage. Feeling uninspired and craving opportunities to dance, the classically trained Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts alumna Googled alternative dance options in the city. What came up was a cozy pole studio in lower Manhattan.
She began taking classes, participated in a work study program and found a passion. Within two years, she’d be crowned national champion and find herself a bit of a “fish out of water” as she toured the world—teaching, judging competitions and performing. Her travels took her to more than 40 countries in four years, including Australia, Japan, Egypt and Argentina.
Cruea was in awe of pole’s universality: “I could go teach somewhere where they didn’t speak English,” she remembers. In France, for example, she says was able to fly through lessons using only tactile cueing and physical demonstrations.
Pole’s adaptability and inclusivity are pillars in Cruea’s teaching philosophy. At the soon-to-open CoVa Pole and Movement, the Virginia Beach studio she is establishing along with her business partner Chelsea Bawab, she hopes to create a space that is welcoming for all gender identities, upbringings, ages, skill levels and fitness goals.
“That is the beauty of pole, Cruea explains. “You don’t have to have a background in dance, you don’t have to be a certain weight or a certain age or a certain anything. Literally anybody can pole dance.”
Pole can be adjusted for any level and offers a full body workout that’s much lower impact than traditional strength or cardio such as weightlifting or the treadmill. While the studio will teach the sportier competition-winning tricks and combos that earned Cruea her victory status, there will also be room for flows more closely aligned with pole’s club origins.
“We’ll have the sexy stuff,” she says, listing parts of the studio experience that can be modified to fit a more exotic course—including music and lighting—and the addition of heels.
She reiterates that everyone is welcome whether they’re looking to improve their professional go-go bar game or stick to a gymnastic or sport approach. Hot yoga, conditioning, aerial fitness, a potential daycare program and performance opportunities will round out the studio’s offerings. Cruea is also developing a mentorship program for faculty.
The opening of CoVa Pole and Movement will also broaden the reach of another of Cruea’s notable endeavors, an extremely personal mission called the Warrior Mom Initiative. Her smash success in the global pole scene is not the only demonstration of miraculous strength in the mother’s life.
Before his second birthday, Cruea’s eldest child, Drew, developed a mysterious lump under his chin. The lump grew rapidly in size, and the decision was made to surgically intervene, but the procedure had to be stopped mid-operation due to the tumor’s malignancy. With her son’s diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma came a dizzying cycle of doctors’ visits, procedures and tests, a tumor resection and 43 chemo sessions over the span of a year.
The treatment, though grueling, was a success, and on May 25, 2022, Drew had his chemo port surgically removed. Every three months, he undergoes imaging, a process that will continue until he reaches the age of 21. In the meantime, he is happy and healthy and remains active just like his mom.
Her experience as a caretaker inspired her to become the third in a trio of moms from the local pole community to form the Warrior Mom Initiative, a nonprofit organization under the umbrella of Richmond-based Our Amazing Fighters, the mission of which is to emotionally and financially support mothers of pediatric cancer fighters. Cruea and her cofounders, Miracle and Ivonne, distinctly remember how badly they could have used a respite, a single day off to refill their cups so that they could then come back stronger for their loved ones.
“There are lots of organizations that cater to helping families as a whole feel less burden during difficult times,” Cruea explains, citing Make a Wish or Tobey’s Dream. “They send people to Disney, and all three of us did that, we went to Disney, but we never actually got a break from the whole situation.”
That’s the niche that Warrior Mom Initiative has been fighting to fill. Projects such as Mom Goodie Bags brought to the local clinic on and around Mother’s Day or Parent Survival Bags given out on the day of diagnosis act as much needed gestures of community as much as they are practical in times of need.
Their annual events include a Mom Mixer, a support group and day of therapeutic self-care complete with a life coach, massage therapist and makeup artist, and Pole or Gold, a fundraising pole showcase and raffle that donates proceeds to treatment for local families. Cruea handpicks amazing national and local performers to participate.
The more you learn about Crue’s professional endeavors and passion projects, a theme emerges: community building. As in her dance, there is an attention to detail and a power in her decision making when it comes to uplifting those around her through her artform.
Learn more about CoVa Pole &Movement at covapoleandmovement.com or Warrior Mom Initiative at ouramazingfighters.org/warriormominitiative. Pole for Gold will be taking place this year on June 14 at ODU’s University Theatre: On EventBrite, search Pole for Gold. Follow Shaina Cruea on
Instagram at @shaina66.
Photos of Shaina Cruea at top and bottom of page by Misty Pruitt of Misty Saves the Day.
Shaina was photographed at Festival on 8th event venue at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Ava Baker
