Rumpuree dance studio Bangkok

Rumpuree is a fitness and dance school in Bangkok with two branches, one situated in Silom and the other at the top of Amarin Plaza, BTS Chit Lom. Pole dancing is a lesson taught at Rumpuree among many others dance classes such as flamenco, hip hop, belly dance, salsa, zumba and, a favourite of mine that I would love to try at some point, swing dance. If you are looking for a pole dance class in Bangkok, choice is quite limited, your only other option being the ‘xxx pole dance’ lesson at some of the California WOW fitness centres. Dance classes at Rumpuree cost 500 baht for an hour or if purchased in 10 session blocks, 4000 baht.

The dance studio at Amarin Plaza is actually relatively small; there is a rather smart, wooden floored reception area complete with leather sofas, sweets and magazines to entertain yourself while waiting for classes. This opens into the changing area, of which there are three curtained booths with ample lockers to keep your belongings safe. The pole dance studio itself is quite cool – two of the walls are covered top to bottom with mirrors (very useful when trying to perfect moves) with another graffiti decorated wall to brighten it up nicely. There are four static poles altogether, with an extra separate pole at the front for demonstration.

Review

Despite there being a huge lacking of pole dance schools in Bangkok, there still don’t seem to be many students who attend classes here, meaning that the classes can be quite small and private. Generally at the times that I have been, pole dance class sizes have ranged from being just me on my own to about six people maximum. Some people might find this a little relieving and less intimidating to know when first starting out.

Also, the poles used in the studio are all static. In case you are new to pole dancing and unfamiliar with this pole dancing term – there are static poles and there are spinning poles, the static poles being harder to use and at times more painful on the skin due to friction. I find that the spin poles tend to just spoil you too much and impede improvement though. If you really want to get good at pole dancing, in my opinion using just the static poles is much better for you in the long run.

Now on to the pole dancing teacher. There are a few different teachers who teach the pole dance classes at Rumpuree but I have only ever had the pleasure of being taught by one of them. When it came to technique, she was very thorough and vigilante to point out any bad habits or mistakes.  Pole dance moves were broken up into detailed and specific steps – this is definitely the important to learn many complicated moves pole dancing, however sometimes I found very simple moves could be a little over-complicated by this overthinking and also… less fun. Personally, I generally perform better by just watching and copying without thinking about something too much. And I enjoy it much more too; but then hey I do have really bad pole dance technique apparently.

Most importantly of all for me though, I found the atmosphere at Rumpuree dance studio in Bangkok to be a little cold and unfriendly with no sense of community. The other dance students were very distant, most days nobody speaking a word to eachother throughout the whole of the pole dance lessons. I don’t know if this is just unfortunate and down to those individual people, or if it’s because of the style of teaching not pulling people together and opening them up to eachother. At the pole dance school I went to at home, the teachers tended to encourage students to share poles and spot eachother, making the whole vibe of the pole dance classes much more close-knit and relaxed. I think it’s really important to have a social side; a close, friendly community when taking part in activities like this.

Pros

+ The teacher(s) is very good – particularly observant in reinforcing good technique and habit

+ At 500 baht per lesson, although I think the price is a little steep even for Bangkok, the classes can be very small, meaning more attention and help per student.

Cons

– Lessons tend to neglect fundamental strength and grip conditioning – crucial in buiding a good foundation for advanced pole dance moves

– Not very sociable and not as fun or varied as pole dancing has the potential to be