Meet the Owner of Denver’s Sexiest Fitness Studio

When Ashlee Renee was jokingly gifted a Groupon for a lap dance class at Tease Studio, the Denver nurse didn’t expect to become a regular at the RiNo gym—let alone to buy it. Founded by a former ballerina in 2007, Tease has offered a variety of fitness modalities over the years, but the foundational draw has always been, and remains, pole dancing.

“Pole dancing builds strength very quickly,” says Renee, who took over Tease in 2015, “and to counter that, you need to increase your flexibility. So, we added aerial yoga. It all started out to make us better at pole; to make us look more fluid and dancey.”

Today, across two studios and a pole pod (a private studio available to rent), Tease’s schedules feature static and spin pole lessons, dance classes (burlesque, a lap and striptease combo, salsa, chair), reformer sessions, cardio and strength offerings, and aerial options in which participants stretch while floating in suspended hammocks. Saucy names like Look Good Naked, Naughty Hour, and Heel-o-graphy 101 may still be good marketing for bachelorette parties and gag gifts, but Renee knows better than anyone how easily those visitors can become devoted Tease community members.

“This shit’s addicting,” Renee says, “and it’ll change your life in the best way.” As she celebrates a decade of owning and operating Tease, we caught up with Renee to talk about her big career change, what brings people to pole dancing, and who actually buys all the platform heels hanging on the walls of the flagship studio’s lobby.

Editor’s note: The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

5280: How did you go from being a nurse to buying a pole dancing studio?
Ashlee Renee: So I took this lap dancing class, and when we were leaving, the class after was an open pole practice. The clients there dancing were all shapes, all sizes, all ages. They were not wearing a lot of clothes, obviously—we need skin contact. But I was so intrigued and just fascinated by how supportive they were, how happy they were. I thought, You know, I’m going to try a pole class.

I didn’t fall in love with it immediately. At the time, I was a power lifter, and so it was a little out of my comfort zone. But what I fell in love with was the community. There was no judgment. Soon, I was going all the time. I’d been doing it for maybe six months or so when there was an opportunity from the owner to come in and apprentice. Shortly after I started teaching pole, the owner came to me and told me she was having a family, and the life she wanted just wasn’t conducive to owning the business. Do you want to buy it? I was just naive and excited enough to do it.

What changes did you make?
When I took over Tease, it was a female-based gym, more like a Curves. There were no men allowed. I really wanted to open it up. My first private lesson was a group of three gentlemen who wanted to learn how to pole dance. To this day, we still have them in our community. One of them actually teaches some beginner classes.

Why do you think people are drawn to pole dancing?
A lot of our clients come in because they want to do something different. Maybe they’re a mom now; they’re working all the time. Maybe they’re a wife or fiancée—all the titles that end up following us in our life, we become attached to them, and we are no longer us. I’m no longer Ashlee. I don’t know what it’s like to be me in my body.

The physical benefits of what we do at the studio are just the cherry on top. What our community offers is empowerment, and when you have a safe space that lets you explore movement, that’s a big deal. It can be intimidating because it’s hard to let go, but once you do, you can take ownership of your body and all the amazing things it does. There’s nothing like walking around knowing I can lift my body weight over my head. If I can do that, I can handle my day, you know?

Do clients often come in wanting to learn to dance for someone else?
Our clientele is pretty mixed. We have people who come in and that idea is in their head—I want to do this for my partner. But then they start, and they’re like, Wait a minute. No, this is now my thing. This is the thing that makes me feel alive. This is the thing that makes me fall in love with my body. There are a lot of images that come to mind when someone says pole dancer, and what that body looks like. And you walk into our community and you see that there’s not just one single type of body that is able to do this.

I was just having a conversation with someone who kind of made an assumption that our clients must all be there just because they are dancing, and that’s not necessarily the case. We have all kinds of people who come in, and really, I’ve only got two rules at the studio. One of them is: Anyone is welcome. You just gotta be nice. Be a decent person.

What’s the second?
Well, you gotta pay for your class.

OK. But surely only professional dancers are buying those gigantic platform heels all over the RiNo lobby walls?
Everyone is buying them! When I came into it, all that shit was really intimidating to me too. I did not have a good relationship with myself or my body. The thought of putting on shorts in front of anybody, and then having them see my legs jiggle or see that my stomach wasn’t flat—all the hangups I had, I couldn’t get past that for a while.

But pole did it. I became so obsessed with the feeling of freedom and strength that I started looking at myself a lot different. And instead of thinking, You’re not as skinny as them, or, She’s prettier than you—that stuff stopped coming into my head. Instead, I started finding things I loved about my body. Dang, my arms are so strong, they can pull me up. You get this sense of empowerment, and empowerment brings confidence. Confidence brings you that strut.

Then I’m like, Hey, I want to maybe wear shorter shorts. The more contact you have in pole dancing, the easier it is. And then, I bought my first pair of heels. I walked like a baby giraffe, probably, but I felt really sexy, and they did make a lot of things easier, which is a conversation we have with a lot of newbies. Being in relevé can sometimes be uncomfortable; in heels, you’re on your tippy toes already. It’s really easy to glide in them, too. They become an apparatus of their own, honestly. It builds ankle strength, all that stuff. But, I mean, come on: You just look so good.

Tease’s main studio is located in RiNo at 3534 Walnut St., Denver. Teaser 2 is located at 3270 Blake St., Suite 120, Denver and the Pole Pod is located at 800 8th Ave., Suite 104, Denver.