About
Anastasia Skukhtorova and her mission.
Anastasia’s pole journey has the true ring of a Cinderella story, with humble beginnings and big dreams that led to her life in the international spotlight. Today, there is hardly a pole dancer who doesn’t recognize her name or draw some influence from her signature style.
Born in Moscow, Russia, on April 6 1990, Anastasia grew up longing to be a dancer. At the age of 22, with no prior dance experience and only 4 years of pole training, Anastasia was launched to international superstardom when she won the 2012 World Pole Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
As a teen in the early 2000’s, Anastasia was highly influenced by the era of ‘90s pop cult dance films. Watching movies like Step Up, Honey and Save the Last Dance, 14-year-old Anastasia would eagerly copy Jessica Alba and Julia Stiles’ moves in her living room in front of the television. She found herself inspired to move in that feminine, powerful way that the dancers in those movies did. She was also drawn to the elegance and grace of classical ballet dancers.
After training and competing in Russia for less than a year, Anastasia took a giant step towards her goal of international pole fame: she aspired to win a spot in the World Pole Dance Championships (“WPDCs”), which were set to take place in 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland. The WPDCs would provide an opportunity for Anastasia to showcase her talent for the first time on an international stage, competing alongside some of the world’s best dancers.
The two years that followed the WPDCs, 2011-2012, marked the pinnacle of Anastasia’s competition career – this is the period when she truly rose to achieve her ultimate goals and gained international recognition.
After winning the World Pole Cup in 2012 and achieving international stardom, Anastasia made it her new mission to guide other aspiring dancers and “show the world how beautiful pole dance can be”. In addition to traveling to teach workshops, Anastasia spent several years touring as a soloist with professional circus companies, including Cirque le Noir – the Dark Side of Cirque in 2014-2015. After her contract with Cirque le Noir came to an end in 2015, she moved to Denmark and now calls that country home. In 2018 she competed in “Denmark’s Got Talent”, with the sole goal of showing mainstream audiences that pole dance is a truly beautiful art form.
Anastasia’s advice to aspiring pole dancers and competitors is this: believe in yourselves. Set realistic and attainable goals, and write those goals down. Discover what makes you special and hone it, rather than trying to fit your existing skills into someone else’s style. Some of the best pole dancers in the world are not naturally flexible, nor do they have any background in dance. But they all share that ability to trust their instincts, and they honor what makes them unique as artists.
Every dancer has that special something that they can tap into. Anastasia says it’s important to celebrate small achievements, because every day you train you are getting a little closer to your goals and a little better than yesterday – don’t be too critical of yourselves. And finally, Anastasia is living proof that her personal mantra really works: “If you believe it, you can achieve it”.
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