Cats, crosswords & coffee - Meet Miss Filly
We all know and love this OG Aussie Queen who has been rocking our competition stages, both nationally and internationally for the last decade, but today we will be meeting Miss Filly – entrepreneur, head trainer and bloody good coach to discuss the ins and outs of training and teaching.
To shed some light on what a legend she is on stage, her titles include:
Miss Pole Dance Australia Winner TWICE (2015 & 2017)
Pole And Aerial All Stars 2nd Place 2014
Australian Pole Championships 3rd Place 2015 and 2nd Place 2016
Paragon International Pole Dance Competition Winner 2015
Pole Championship Series (Arnold Classic) 2nd Place 2017 & Winner 2018
International Pole Championships 2018 Finalist
Most recently, Miss Pole Dance Australia 3rd Place 2020 (we have all seen that epic trust fall off the pole!)
Not forgetting the numerous placings at state heats and guest performances over the years, Miss Filly really is a dazzling fixture on the competition circuit!
What you may not know is that Miss Filly prides herself just as much, if not more, on being a passionate, well-rounded and educated instructor. Last year, Miss Filly launched the ‘Miss Filly Institute’ in which she offers her knowledge, tips and tricks to instructors and studios from all over the country.
I was fortunate enough to sit down with this Aussie Pole icon early one Saturday morning, and have a chat over coffee.
Competition life
Miss Filly started teaching in 2009, not long after becoming a student. “I lived with my sister at the time who is 8 years older than me, she used to do a lot of ballet and we lived together. She found this Pole Divas in Prahan, we went and did a casual class and loved it. Then we went back and did like 10 other classes. Then we were suddenly spending more on pole than on food! Then a year later I got asked to teach so it kind of escalated really quickly!” Filly says.
Teaching and competing happened almost simultaneously for Miss Filly, with her first ‘big comp’ being at Miss Pole Dance VIC in 2010, and since then, her career has been overflowing with silky sashies and awards. Just last year, she made a return to the Miss Pole Dance Australia stage, with a fiercely breathtaking performance.
“I’d always had this idea to do this Mad Max inspired routine. I’d been sitting on the idea for a really long time and my original idea was with this like giant lazy susan sort of situation. It was conceptually really cool but physically to make it happen, there were too many moving parts. I had this idea of like this slave emancipator sort of thing very much based on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.” Miss Filly goes on with a laugh, saying “I thought if I’m going to go back to Miss Pole Australia, I might as well do it with all my mates on stage! So yeah, it was a really cool thing! I really like dancing with other people and notoriously I don’t have a lot of human props, I’ve never really done much of that, so it was new for me as well. I needed a certain amount of people on stage and the pole height [to do the fall], so Miss Pole was the perfect venue and forum to do it in, as obviously it’s geared more towards show. And it was one of the only routines that came out exactly how I planned.”
Any performer would be well aware that to come off stage with a performance that was executed exactly as planned, is like finding a four-leaf clover covered unicorn standing in a field of yellow diamonds – lucky and rare!
“It’s really funny because I’ve done a lot of comps and a lot of shows, and it’s really rare that I’ll come out with something I’m 100% happy with. Like I’ve won with shows that I still can’t watch properly because I nit-pick and I’m like damnit!” Filly continues, “’Welcome to the Jungle’ – there's one. The first routine I ever won! But for this one, man that was exactly how I imagined it to turn out. So I was really happy with it. So super happy [to have placed], it was a really good competition and obviously stoked for Misch as well – great to be in the top 3!” she says.
Being a regular on the competition scene, Miss Filly has certainly faced her share of challenging comp preparation. Surprisingly, having 5 human props doesn’t worry her – “That was actually really easy and it was fun and I had lots of faith in them (I think they stressed out more than I did) … they worked really hard,” she says. However, she has faced her fair share of speed humps and potholes on the road to the stage.
“I think mainly it was the ones where I haven’t been in a very good head space. I’ve worked a lot on routines where I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself for some things or I’ve been really busy and stressed about other things (like breaking up with someone) and it’s all real difficult. So I think when I’m emotionally not great ... it’s a lot harder to focus,” she tells me. “It’s a lot comp prepping – physically, but emotionally as well. You have to deal with all the mental stuff – am I good enough, what are people expecting from me, can I do this, I don’t trust my body.. There's so many different facets of the emotional and mental preparation that I think sometimes is more challenging than the physical aspect of it.”
Being an emotionally driven performer, Miss Filly says that there’s always some sort of emotion she has to channel really hard.
“My first international [competition] that I won, the Paragon Pole Championships (my song was ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ by Alicia Keys), I had just told – it was actually my boyfriend I’ve got now – ‘Oh yeah I think I want a relationship with you’ and he shut me down! I was devastated and that routine was very much all about him. So at the time when I went on stage I was like heart-broken, but it felt real good. There was lots of energy and power behind it, because I was really feeling it you know! It wasn’t like a defeated thing, but I was very like soooo many feels!!”
Along with heart break, Miss Filly found herself in a unique situation when preparing for IPC, having a documentary crew following her for a student project. She felt a lot of pressure as it was her first-time doing IPC and what she had planned was not typically IPC-style! While she received maximum deductions for the profanity in her song choice haha, Filly tells me, “I do really like that show, I liked the idea and it was actually the first reincarnation of the Mad Max thing.” She continues, “But I think having the extra stress of having these film students following me around... I think it just really stressed me out. I was like ‘guys you do what you want but you’ve got to be like fly on the wall – I’ve got things to do’.”
Miss Filly’s focused attitude towards competitions and determination to just doing her thing, might just be the key ingredient to her success on stage. “At the end of the day I always just try to focus on just doing me. Whatever turns out, it’s just me and I’m going to do the best thing I can I do - whatever!” she says.
Workshops & Touring
When Miss Filly started teaching and competing full-time in 2010, social media was not what it was now (there was no Instagram!). “I think when I started competing, I just want an opportunity to perform, but it also became a platform where I could advertise myself a bit better. People would come and see me perform and they were like ‘wow you came 3rd you came 2nd you came 1st'.” Filly says.
It wasn’t long before Miss Filly starting touring internationally, with her very first tour to Body Electric studio in Wellington, New Zealand. While she loves touring now, at first she was a little hesitant.
“A lot of the other big pole stars at the time were touring and I was always really afraid of touring a lot because of my big work schedule here [at Pole Divas]. It’s very rare to have someone who will tour very regularly and teach full time as well. When I go away it was only 2 weeks at a time. So til this day that’s the longest I’ll ever be away from the studio – 2 weeks at a time. That’s it, that's my max,” she states.
Being incredibly independent, Miss Filly found another aspect of teaching overseas difficult.
“I don’t like relying on other people, it was always like a really big stress for me. I loved going to Singapore because they would get me a hotel or an apartment and I would walk to the studio and do my own thing and I would be very self-sufficient and I like it that way.” She continues, “If I have to stay at someone’s house or someone has to chauffeur me around I get so awkward and I feel really bad. I always found it really hard, I was worried I wouldn’t sleep properly, all these little things.”
As far as teaching new students in workshops overseas – well that part she absolutely loves!! “I love teaching new people, I find it such a good challenge!”
Along with NZ and Singapore, Filly has taught workshops in the UK and USA. “In 2017 I did like a UK tour and I went to England Ireland Scotland and I had the best time – it was amazing. To travel and experience other people and just ‘do the thing’ was really nice. I would always be like ‘I’m not sure you if you know who I am!’ so it was nice to see what reach I had, which was really cool,” Filly says.
A special milestone was being invited to teach at Pole Expo in Vegas. “That was a big thing!” Miss Filly says. “I think that was maybe 2016 or 2017, but that was a massive one. I was so stoked to make it there, to me that was a really big career highlight. And it was great experience! So it’s fantastic I’ve been really lucky, I love teaching in other locations, it’s really, really good!”
Coaching & being a dance mum
Over the years Miss Filly found that private lessons started to stream into 2 different areas – students who wanted to work on class tricks and content they were struggling with, but also competitors who wanted guidance on upcoming competition pieces.
“I think because I have been competing for such a long time, that opened up a new kind of market where people would come to me to work on their routines because of things they had seen me do on stage. So it grew really organically, I never went ‘you know what I’m going to coach now. I’m going to coach routines, that’s what I do’”, says Filly. “But because I've been through the experience extensively, I feel like over a decade I’ve pretty much seen it all. There’s always things that still surprise me but I feel like I’ve been through it personally, so I was always in a good position to coach people through that,” she states.
So are you a competitor with a 3 minute time limit, restriction on tricks you are allowed to do and have 4 different reoccurring injuries? Well you are Filly’s DREAM! She loves working around the problem's competitors have when creating a performance.
“It’s so good for my brain, I like being creative in that way too. So I like it when people to come me with lots of problems, it means there’s always other ways of doing things and you end up with a really unique show because you can’t do what everyone else can do. I like being able to work to people’s strengths and if you’ve got that special skill, we utilise that – I like everyone moving really differently,” she says. “That’s something I enjoy A LOT so I’m really proud of the competition girls that I’ve had. I think they represent very well in comps and have done over the years because I really trust that these girls are going to find something that works for their body. I can choreograph for people and if you hear the music differently to me, that’s cool, you do that but keep it consistent and that’s usually the key.”
A true dance mum, Filly gets a sparkle in her eye when talking about her stage babies. “I’m always really proud of everyone that I’ve trained because I’ve trained across all different levels. It’s always a win if they come off and they’re happy with what they’ve done. Obviously being judged is really difficult so the coaching aspect never stops at putting together a routine. It’s dealing with the emotional fallout at the end of it, or the high or the post comp come down, or the anxiety leading into it. So there’s a lot that goes into it … oh god I love it!!”
Miss Filly Institute
After a decade in the pole industry, in 2019 Filly launched the ‘Miss Filly Institute’ converting the invaluable experience she has gained over the years into a face-to-face program. Stemming from her prior role as Director of Training at Pole Divas which she did for about 4 years, Filly soon realised that there was a need in the broader pole community for more guidance when it came to ‘training the trainers’.
“The Institute actually grew out of my role as Director of Training at Pole Divas. As the brand grew there were lots of consistency issues which came up so it was my job to make sure our clients would get the same experience at all [studios] as brand consistency is obviously very important, update certain levels, making sure there’s a good flow on effect and it’s appropriately progressive and that all of our teachers felt supported and were trained,” she says reflecting on her time in this role.
As she starting teaching more often interstate, Miss Filly soon realised teachers were booking privates with her to assist them with not just their own development, but also their professional development. “I ended up doing a lot of that stuff and I found that there was a big need for support in other smaller studios potentially that didn't have their own director of training. As a small business owner it’s very hard to be across everything. You’re running a business but to also create a syllabus – hard,” Miss Filly tells me.
Filly stepped away from the Director of Training role at Pole Divas when she opened the Institute. While it made her very sad, she felt the brand had already started to grow into something a bit different anyway. “The team’s grown a lot and we were able to disperse that role amongst lots of different people. Now it runs really efficiently, it’s fantastic, and I get to go and do my own thing as well,” she says.
The Miss Filly Institute offers two difference programs – one for new instructors and one for upskilling current teachers.
She tells me a bit more about the ‘New Instructor Training’ program. “[It’s] an intensive course and it gives an insight into what it’s like to be an instructor and I separate it into several different modules. We talk about how to warm people up appropriately and teaching methods. It is based at an entry level, but the range of people I’ve had through the course so far has been really diverse.” She adds, “I’ve had people who want to open up their own studios and just don’t know anything about teaching, to students with no desire to teach but just want to know more about pole and the physics of it all and how it works and their own development. I’ve had teachers that are current teachers but haven’t had a lot of training, and that want to train and upskill a little bit more. People that want to become a teacher desperately and want to get that sort of foot in the door.”
While a pole instructor course is not revolutionary to the industry, the Miss Filly Institute is like choosing to have Gordon’s pink gin in a classic G&T – she is bringing bundles of new flavour to learning and upskilling. The Miss Filly Institute ‘New Instructor Training’ program is a training regime at a more intensive level. When you complete the program it doesn’t just stop there. Not only do you get a certificate of completion, but ongoing guidance in what is almost like a pole dancing apprenticeship. If you’re successful, Miss Filly will also provide you with a professional reference when applying for pole instructor jobs as she retains notes on your training, upskilling and how you went during the program.
The Miss Filly Institute ‘New Instructor Training’ program runs over 2.5 days (Filly warned you it was intense!) which is usually a weekend and she offers the program approximately every 3 months. The number of spots are very limited but that’s just how Miss Filly likes it.
“I keep the numbers very small – I cap it at 6 max because I feel like everyone needs individual attention and to run it in the time that I want. In my experience from taking new instructor training for the Pole Divas instructors over the years (which I’m still doing) that’s an 8 week program where it’s very slow and progressive, but the more people you have the harder it is. So in my experience 6 is like a max that’s comfortable,” Filly says.
Along with the ‘New Instructor Training’ program, the Miss Filly Institute also offers the ‘Upskilling Program’.
“It’s a very bespoke sort of service so I’m working with a couple of different pole schools around Australia that are using me to help update their syllabus. Obviously everyone runs their studio very differently, so I’m not there with a cookie cutter sort of mentality ... there’s no way you can apply the same structure to everyone else. I mean obviously in a class there’s only so many ways to “skin a cat” - so you do a warm up, you teach the things, and then you cool them down. But what those things are and what your style is, is completely studio dependent. Every studio has a very strong style and personality that has kept their clientele, so I go with that.” Filly says.
Having had a training role with a very established pole studio, Filly completely understands branding is important to studio owners in all aspects of business – from training the instructors to syllabus updates and even naming of tricks.
“Everyone has individual brands and pole has so many different styles to it, I think that’s really important to maintain for diversity in the industry as well. So I look at their syllabus and use their names and their terminology and I’ll help tweak or update [the syllabus], or upskill their instructors. They can select any of the modules that I use in the ‘New Instructor Training’ program and they can create like a day of upskilling and bonding for their staff. That’s a big thing that’s quite popular!”
Whether it be helping instructors to learn new warm ups or new tricks to help with their professional development, or assisting studio owners with tweaking their class content and then helping to train their teachers in the new syllabus, Miss Filly has it covered!
“Some are ongoing gigs, some are one off, but everyone’s got different needs and that’s what I fulfill and I LOVE that because I love that side of things. Learning and development is like the key to a successful industry I think, and I want this industry to go on FOREVER! And it will. It will grow and evolve and new roles will be carved out for jobs in the industry which is fantastic,” says Filly.
“This is now a service so if you need help this is what I do and this is what I’m here for. I think that’s really handy and good for those smaller businesses to thrive, because it can be so difficult out there. Like in rural Australia especially, very isolated, really hard, not a lot of support in lots of different ways, so yeah I love fulfilling that niche!” she tells me enthusiastically.
If this has been the sign you were waiting for and would love to apply for either the ‘New Instructor Training’ or the ‘Upskilling’ programs, you can very easily do so!
You can find the application form for the ‘New Instructor Training’ program in the bio of her Instagram account @missfillyinstitute or you can email Filly for information at missfillyinc@gmail.com. You will need to complete the form and provide a pole reference.
“That reference is someone who knows you from the industry, maybe it’s your teacher, maybe it’s your studio owner, maybe it’s your employer – someone in the pole world that can vouch for your approach to pole and your attendance and reliability and things like that too, and a bit of a personality character reference too, because that’s very important to me,” Filly says.
For the “Upskilling” program email Miss Filly at missfillyinc@gmail.com and she will discuss a more tailored program with you.
And finally...
She is a cat lover, has a soft spot for whiskey, meme queen and loves to video bomb her students in class, but what don’t we know about the amazing Miss Filly?
“I’m like a crossword maniac! So me and my partner, we have coffee and a crossword every single morning, and when we don’t we normally have a bad day! So crosswords are just my thing. It’s a way of zoning out, it makes my brain work and I used to do a lot of sudoku but now it’s just the crosswords. I go to the café in the morning and rip the crossword out of the paper. I’m that girl,” she says laughing.
She might be a shorty with buns of steel, but Miss Filly is exploding with knowledge and passion for the pole industry – something that has never waned in her 10+ years in the industry. When asked what the essentials were in life, she replies, “Cats and crosswords and coffee man – what can I say!”
