Our Instructors
Jenni Waters, Owner/Instructor
Pole-ology Certified
Jenni Waters has been pole dancing since 2010. As the owner of Arete Pole Fitness in Salem, VA, she has helped hundreds of students achieve their fitness and artistic goals through dance. She has been competing nationwide since 2011, and is now also a proud PSO unicorn helping to coach new pole dance competitors.
Shealynn, Instructor/Lyra
CirqFIT Certified
Shealynn has been teaching and performing pole and aerial hoop for over 13 years, since Arete’s very start! She runs the aerial hoop program at the studio as well as many of our behind the scenes projects. She is a photographer, artist, and gamer, and went to school for Illustration and Photography. You can often find her performing at local events.
Michelle Derrico, Instructor
XPERT Certified
Poundfit Certified
Michelle has been poling since 2014. She has a BSA in microbiology and animal science and a JD, both from the University of Georgia. A former marathon runner, she likes fluffy animals and well-behaved children.
Amanda Woods, Instructor/Silks
Amanda has been an aerial dance lover for almost 20 years. She studied all forms of dance and was a dancer with City Modern Ensemble in Roanoke. She has studied 5 aerial apparatuses but her favorites are silks and pole.
Brenda Calderon, Instructor/Pole
XPERT Certified
Brenda has been poling since 2018 and has competed twice. She is currently enjoying all aspects of fitness, including silks, lyra, and pole. She enjoys cross-training with Spartan races and marathon training. Brenda hopes to be able to teach doubles classes at the studio some day.
Chantel, Instructor
Aerial Hoop
Bio coming soon
Tara, Instructor
Aerial Silks
Bio coming soon
Tena, Instructor/Static Trapeze
Nimble Arts Certified
Tena has been teaching aerial arts for the past eleven years. She enjoys sharing her love of aerial with students, especially beginners. She received her initial teacher training at Bumbershoot Aerial Arts with additional certifications through Nimble Arts.