Today we’d like to introduce you to Tink.
Tink, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was in cheerleading at my school growing up. When I was a junior in high school, I got the opportunity to work as a cheer coach for the company Core Athletics. I stopped coaching cheer at 19 and started my aerial journey. I got my dance pole in July 2020 during the shutdown due to covid. I got on it every day and learned by using my knowledge from tumbling and stunting in cheer to understand how I saw other pole dancers perform moves and tricks on the pole. I documented my journey on Instagram and got a lot of love and support from fellow dancers in Detroit. I fell in love with pole for pushing and seeing what my body was capable of! Two years into my pole journey I really wanted to learn more aerial arts. I invested in more durable equipment from X-Pole and purchased more apparatuses to learn off of. I got training on the straps. Ordering a pole strap from Dimitry Fedotov from Ukraine. (He is the founder and seller of the pole strap). Pole strap allows you to combine aerial straps with dance pole. I saw hair suspension back sometime in 2021 for the first time off @abilola90 on Instagram and was completely mesmerized. Hair suspension is one of the oldest circus secrets and took me a year to find a teacher. The art is incomprehensible to most. Even me! Someone who does it! It amuses me every time because I myself can’t believe I am hanging from my hair. I messaged about every hair suspension artist on Instagram for months. I really thought it was never going to happen, but I knew I could take advantage of what resources I did have and what I could train up to finding a hair hanger to pass the art along. I used my pole strap to learn neck hanging and with still consistently messaging hair hangers to find a teacher, I was reached back out to by a lady in Greece who would share the art form with me. I had my first hang on January 29th, 2022, and ever since made that my main apparatus I train. My goal is to perfect the craft and see where it takes me. I am currently performing at Legends Detroit and accepting local gigs while I work to get on a contract. People can contact me for bookings @ tinkliketinkerbell@gmail.com.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life was hard growing up and Cheerleading was my first escape but I didn’t fully appreciate and find joy with it being so strict and competitive. My true love has always been performing and bringing joy to others. Becoming a cheer coach so young I got taken advantage of financially and struggled to get respect. The pressure of being perfect and bad connections through cheerleading caused me to lose my love for cheer. When I started dance pole, I had no muscle and strength left from cheer from a year gap and just the old muscle memory. It was very frustrating when pole is hard enough. Your skin is going to rip, and you will get burns and bruises all over your body until you are conditioned to it. Even after conditioning any new trick or skill can bring back the burns and bruises. Dedication and consistency is the only way to do aerial and it’s possible for all shapes and sizes! Hair suspension was really hard to. It became something I was so fixed on doing for so long without finding anyone willing to teach me. When I finally did it was over video call which was really scary having no in-person supervision while learning something so intense. Breaking fully into the entertainment world has been very difficult and hard as well. This year I’ve had many doors open and close just as fast when it comes to bringing my dreams to life. It can become mentally draining being so close but that is why I keep going so I can find out what is in store ahead! Faith is a big part of my life and I know God blessed me with this talent for a reason and I am faithful my journey is going somewhere bigger than I can imagine! Hair suspension believe it or not was smooth learning pain-wise. There was a lot of mental fears I had to get over to do it and it still hard for me to grasp that it doesn’t hurt me, but I know it is different for every hair artist.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Hair suspension, dance pole, Lyra hoop
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Detroit is the best because we have so much talent and drive out here. My bad experiences with the city I feel are due to people not fully respecting others.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Tinkliketinkerbell
Image Credits
Greg Young
J. Weems
