My Start into the Pole Dancing Industry

If you had a chance to ask a pioneer how they got their start, would you? Well here’s your chance. My name is Fawnia Mondey, and I am known for being the first to teach people how to pole dance. How did I get my start in the pole dancing industry? Here is my story…

In the summer of ‘94, I was fresh out of high school and needed a good job. I thought being a police officer would be an excellent choice, so I went to the police department and asked the receptionist how I would get started and she suggested I sign up for their reserve program.

“Oh we are out of application forms. You will need to check back next week.” Yes this is long before the Internet and online applications.

I didn’t go back the following week though. Free time was minimal. I was 19 years old and had been living on my own for close to four years. Now that I had graduated from high school, I had more time to work, and needed a better job then my three jobs at Fair Weather clothing, Yogen Fruz, and in a alternative clothing store as a GoGo dancer. 

I was accepted into a college further north but I would be away from family. My plan B there was to be a counselor, as I had already had my fair share of counseling myself, this seemed like a natural fit.

But I needed to make money now, and at a faster rate, my three jobs could provide. I was tired, young, and ambitious. I walked by the intriguing Monty’s Strip Club in Victoria and decided to peak my head in.  I knew this was a bar, and one had to be at least 19, the legal drinking age in British Columbia. I opened the door to another world and stood just a foot inside. I may have lasted 15 seconds before I was asked for ID. I looked more like 15 years old then 18. I remember seeing four girls on the stage wearing sailor outfits. They were beautiful, simply perfect. Wow, I would love to dance here and be just like them. 

A few months later, I was celebrating my 19thbirthday at my house with a few friends. Drinks were flowing, and we decided to head down to Monty’s! My boyfriend Erik casual said he could see me dancing there. My initial reaction was ‘no way, me dance here?’  I was honored that he could picture me on the same stage where I saw those four statuesque ladies a few months before. The drinks won me over and at closing time, I asked the bartender where the stripping or pole dancing school was.

“Hahaha you’re funny. There isn’t a stripper school. You just get up there and dance. You know, learn as you go. But look up Stripper Entertainment, as you will need to sign up with the agency we book our dancer from.”

I thanked her for the information, and walked back to my friends, with a big smile, my heart pounding, and disbelief there wasn’t a place to learn how to dance like these women. They were perfect goddesses. 

Three days later I entered an amateur contest in Coquitlam, just outside of Vancouver and placed 2nd, to a girl who had been clearly dancing for at least a year. The following week I was dancing at Monty’s and went on to create the worlds first instructional video on how to pole dance, and yes, I proudly offered lessons to the new girls and anyone who wanted to learn how to move like those women on stage.