About
Gwen’s favorite pole dancing buddy is her dog named “Shasta”. You can always find Shasta by Gwen’s side when she is on the pole. He loves to dance too. Gwen’s background is vast in the performing arts arena. Her dance classes started at the young age of 4. Training in ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics were the highlights of her life, for almost two decades. Ballroom, disco and belly dancing followed in step later in her career, as the owner, of the LaShonse Dance Studio in Mendota, Illinois. Gwen danced as a professional ballerina with the Peoria Civic Ballet Company and the Rockford Dance Company in Illinois.
Fours years ago Gwen was looking for a business to start. Not knowing what that would be she listed everything she loved to do and everything she ever did for a living. She knew that it had to make her thrilled to get out of bed every day and love every minute of what she did. Life is just too short. One morning flipping through the television channels she ran across the Oprah show and there was a woman pole dancing! Gwen saw her new future right then and there. It was back to dancing, but with a spin this time. The next day she bought a pole and has been pole dancing ever since, loving every minute of it. Gwen has always said, “to stay young at heart stay sexy.” She says she will be pole dancing into her eighties.
After owning and operating a highly successful studio in Medford, Oregon, Gwen knew she had to move on to Texas. She had studied the Texas market and saw that there was little in the way of pole dancing being offered here. She loves Texas. So, Gwen sold her studio, The Poledance Experience to her student Dawn Rittiman, a year ago and here she is. Gwen intends to take Texas by storm. Yes, she knows this is the Bible belt and what will people say? ”Oh my, pole dancing in Texas.” Here is what you would hear Gwen say to that, “yes, ladies pole dancing has made its way to Texas and I know that I am not the first to be here with pole dancing but my spirit for pole dancing is huge. Just like Texas.
Gwen believes that all women can seize the opportunity to define their own path to health and spiritual wellness. Her own triumph over illness was the inspiration that led her to open The Poledance Experience. In 1998 she became ill with a debilitating mystery illness. Gwen went from doctor to doctor with no diagnosis, three years. She suffered from a mélange of symptoms including chronic pain, vertigo, insomnia, chronic fatigue, and subsequently depression not knowing how to get well. For the first time after a life of dance and exercise, she could barely function. Gwen was bedridden 80% of the day for three years. She dreamed of being able to do the things that brought her joy and fulfillment. Her unrelenting search for answers and prayer for guidance led her to this book. “What you Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia And How it Can Be Reversed, by Dr. St. Paul Amand. With a diagnosis in hand, she embarked on her path to wellness having lost 3 years of her life to illness, she recognized the important role that exercise plays in the well being of both body and mind. In her prayers to God for answers, she committed to him that if she found the answers to restore her health, she would share that knowledge with others. She is currently working on a blog site for those who have fibromyalgia and to help those who want to reverse their illness like she did.
Inspired and impassioned, she has developed The Poledance Experience, and now here in Texas, Poledance Experience, so that women can share the empowerment that physical energy provides in all aspects of life.
When you meet Gwen you will instantly bask in her glow, as she radiates, energy, joy and compassion.