Embody Instructors

Kristin

Kristin is a certified Pole Fitness Instructor and certified in Embody Barre, Kristin began her pole journey at Embody Pole Fitness, and quickly became captivated by the grace, athleticism, and art of pole dancing. No stranger to fitness training, Kristin has completed several marathons and has trained extensively in Bikram yoga. Her current fitness routine includes a mixture of pole dancing, ballet barre, and conventional weight training. Kristin’s focus is on developing the strength and flexibility to pole dance competitively. Kristin takes a holistic approach to health and fitness, and believes that beauty truly comes from within. Through pole classes that emphasize fluid transitions and flow, Kristin encourages students to develop their own style of movement and self-expression. She is thrilled to be a member of the Embody family and to share her pole journey with this incredible community of women.

Kristina

Kristina grew up dancing and performing at various venues throughout Orange County. Upon graduation from the prestigious Orange County High School of the Arts, Kristina became a member of the national championship dance team at Orange Coast College, which allowed her the opportunity to travel the country to perform in various competitions at the collegiate level. During this time, Kristina began sharing her passion and experiences by teaching various dance and fitness classes, as well as choreographing for musical theater productions, dance teams, and beauty pageants. Since then, she earned her Bachelor’s in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara, and has returned to Orange County to continue her performing and teaching ventures. When she is not teaching, Kristina can be seen performing at Disney’s California Adventure. She is excited to be part of an Embody!

Diana

Diana is a certified Pole Fitness Instructor, and Owner of Embody Pole Fitness and www.embodydirect.com. A native of Long Beach, CA, Diana started her lifelong love affair with fitness at an early age, training for sports. An athlete her entire life, she looks to continually improve and refine training. She enjoys alternative and conventional fitness, believing that by exposing oneself to different types of sports and fitness you become, not only a better athlete and in optimum physical condition, but a more well-rounded and happier person. Enjoying sports such as long distance trail running, kettlebell training, Crossfit, hiking, weight lifting, and of course, the loves of her life, pole dancing and aerial silks.

With Pole she discovered a life altering form of self-expression and creativity. So taken with this beautiful form of dance she decided to make a pivotal career change, she splits time between a promising IT consulting business as well as pursuing her passion for women’s fitness as a full-time venture. Since then she has rapidly become an elite fitness instructor and seeks to improve women’s self-esteem by assuming a physically active lifestyle.

Always striving to reach and inspire more women Diana started Embody Pole Fitness as a fitness studio exclusively for women. Her influential combination of physical fitness, possession of amazing interpersonal communication skills and a strong base of fitness knowledge, have allowed Embody to become a place for women to come and play, to be themselves, to experience the glory, self-expression, challenge and sensuality that lies within each and every woman. A community of women, striving to support, challenge, inspire and rejoice in each other. Diana is an avid fitness and health blogger and currently blogs for Livestrong.com, GalTime, MerchantCircle, BodyBuilding.com and UPA, United Pole Artists, as well as Embody Pole Fitness.

Krisanna

Krisanna began dancing when she was 3 years old taking ballet. It grew into a lifelong obsession and became a creative outlet for her as she continued to dance through high school. Upon graduation she was fortunate enough to dance professionally for several years in the entertainment industry. She particularly fell in love with hoopdance, belly dance, striptease and fire spinning. Utilizing her dancing skills she toured Europe and North America with several performance groups as a Go Go dancer and hula hoop striptease artist. In 2010 she obtained a Masters Degree in Holistic Education. She currently performs regularly in Southern California as a hoopdance performer. She is a certified and licensed hoopdance & burlesque instructor, who every year produces and organizes an upscale burlesque show which raises money for breast cancer survivors. Through her personal journey of body image issues and eating disorders she has unearthed a passion to encourage others to find a creative and emotional outlet through dance. She remains physically active through a love of running, weight lifting and pilates. Her classes allow individuals to experience an alternative way to becoming fit, flexible and fabulous. She is happy to be able to share the benefits of dance at Embody!

Melanie 

In Canada, Melanie had many years of dance and gymnastics experience stemming back to her childhood as a Nationally ranked Rhythmic Gymnast. Competing in Gymnastics required not only athleticism, but also extensive dance training –primarily ballet and lyrical dance. As a young adult, Melanie began working with Olympic Gold medalist, Lori Fung, coaching rhythmic gymnastics within her club. She thoroughly enjoyed working with the girls from 4 to 17 years old from the recreational to the International level. After moving to the United States and starting a family, Melanie returned to coaching gymnastics at Kips Gymnastics and also teaching Acrobatics, flexibility and strength training at Conlin Dance Academy.

In 2006, Melanie chose to turn her desire to teach others to help women express themselves through dance. She felt that she would always love to teach children, but that finally there was an opportunity to reach out to women and help them become more in touch with their sensuality, their own beauty and have fun all at the same time. As a certified Pole Dance Instructor, she has trained extensively with Fawnia Dietrich of Las Vegas and also studied under the teaching styles of KT Coates of the U.K. She presently teaches classes that focus not only on the beauty of each individual, but also the importance of exercising and keeping in shape. “Participating in a pole dancing class is for all women regardless of their age, ethnicity or religion. The focus of the class is re-inspiring one to express themselves through exercise, laughter and freedom from the labels and stresses of everyday life.”

Paulina

Paulina Lagudi is a certified group fitness instructor. Paulina has always lived a very active lifestyle, but her passion for health and fitness grew after overcoming major health struggles during her 10 year competitive dance career in Las Vegas, NV. She was a founding member of Inspire Dance Company and attended the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts as a Dance major. After rehabilitating herself through Bikram yoga and strength training from what doctors expected to be a debilitating dance injury, Paulina began extensively training with one of her fitness mentors who inspired an interest in teaching not only dance, but also fitness.

Once Paulina moved to Southern California to study Theatre and Kinesiology at Chapman University, she began teaching boot camp classes for a gym in Huntington Beach, CA, which was one of the most fulfilling experiences. Unfortunately, Paulina had to end her boot camp instruction at the gym in Huntington Beach after being cast in student films, Chapman University’s production of “Urinetown,” and her first professional show in LA “Jekyll and Hyde the Musical.” Paulina has been trained and educated on various forms of fitness and nutrition that have not only cultivated how she approaches her own life, but how she has helped others around her. Although Paulina has a strong passion for performing and the arts, she believes that the reward she feels from helping others achieve their health and fitness goals while gaining a whole new sense of confidence is what draws her to this industry.

Jackie

Jackie started dancing at age 12 with The Royal Academy of Dancing, passing 7 levels of Ballet and Character as a company dancer of The Claremont Youth Ballet. After graduating high school Jackie danced for two years with The Blankenship Ballet Company in Riverside and then moved on to The Sunrise Ballet Theatre in Anaheim. There Jackie became a soloist as well as teaching Ballet, Jazz, and Hip Hop. For five years Jackie enjoyed dancing at many companies and different studios, when she decided to start college, dancing with Rio Hondo College Dance Collective and even traveling to China to perform.

After two years at Rio Hondo she was accepted to the Dance Program at The University of Oregon, were she studied and taught dance and fitness classes as well as working with the athletic department. While in Oregon, she also danced and choreographed for hip hop dance companies Dance Northwest and Kings Krew. After graduation Jackie moved back to sunny California to continue dancing and teaching She resides in Ontario with her husband Jonathan and is very excited to be a part of Embody!

Laurie 

Laurie is a certified pole fitness instructor as well as a certified burlesque instructor. Laurie started her pole fitness/dance passion about four years ago looking for a workout that would help with her core strength and balance. From the very first class she was hooked and has since been dancing and training for the last four years. She is involved in her community by serving on the advisory board at her local breast cancer resource center (Michelle’s Place) as well as creating and organizing a very successful fundraiser event MX Ride for the Cause benefiting Michelle’s Place.

Laurie has always enjoyed a good challenge which has led her to be involved in many extreme sports. Along with riding and racing motocross she has since been certified to coach motorcycle safety to new riders including our military men and women. She enjoys the beauty and strength that pole fitness brings to her fitness program. More importantly she enjoys sharing her passion for pole fitness/ dance and experience in teaching with other women in hopes of inspiring other ladies in a supportive positive environment. “Having the privilege to learn from Diana and the other instructors from Embody Studio has been an amazing opportunity! There is nothing I love more than to watch new ladies come in and get inspired and leave feeling accomplished. I believe when women feel strong and confident it transfers to all areas of their life.” ~Laurie

Joyce

Joyce’s passion for dance began at a young age of 6 when her mother decided ballet would be a great way to keep this precocious child actively engaged. Having gotten used to performing onstage for many years, Joyce naturally developed her love for the arts and continued pursuing other artistic avenues such as music, art, writing, theater and photography. Going through elementary, high school and college, her creative inclinations were equally balanced out with athletic endeavors such as golf and scuba diving, while her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication provided wonderful opportunities for her to delve into a different type of creative arena – advertising, public relations,event planning and television production.

Her dance career took an abrupt turn when she became a mom. Although her drive and the need for self-expression remained, dance training and performing were put on hold albeit temporarily. She instead turned to fitness classes that did not require as much time and training such as Pilates, Zumba, Step Aerobics and Boxing just to ensure that she kept herself active and fit. Her introduction to pole dancing came at a time in her life when she was already able to carve time for herself and re-discover that fire for marrying the movements that sprung from her body with the melodious harmonies gracefully swirling in her head. This journey quickly progressed into something so eloquent that she could not see herself removed from this art form even if it eluded her. Pole dancing gave Joyce a sensual and honest realization of an unequivocal oneness with the body, mind and soul that she had never experienced with ballet or any other art form. It is her mission as an instructor to translate this same realization and passion onto her students.

Adriana

Adriana (originally from South America, Argentina) has spent over half of her life in the US. She received her B.A. degree from California State University, Northridge and holds multiple certifications in Group Exercise, Kickboxing, Personal Training, Pilates, Spin, Water Exercise and Senior Fitness. Her life passions are long distance running (she dedicated over 25 years to running, and completed over 20 marathons), and boxing, sport she’s being practicing for more than 15 years. Adriana has worked for over 12 years as a group exercise instructor and trainer for different many different health clubs. She holds a true passion for teaching, fitness and health. Adriana is a devoted trainer to her clients and students, always going the extra mile helping them achieve their goals. She motivates, inspires, and encourages class members to be the best they can be finding their inner strength and believing in themselves.

Besides being an athlete, Adriana is an accomplished musician, classically trained guitarist, keyboard player, singer, and composer. She gave up her music career to totally dedicate herself to the fitness field, and her training. In her free time she enjoys the outdoors, traveling, concerts, movies, and spending time with her kitty.