Meet Our Instructors
Ellice Apostolos
Ellice Apostolos empowers every woman to connect to her body's innate wisdom and pleasure so she can move through the world in her fully expressed radiance. As a certified S Factor instructor and owner of Steel & Grace, Santa Cruz's Premier Pole Dance Studio, Ellice offers deeply transformative trainings where what begins as a personal erotic movement exploration can become a sustainable practice that enriches every area of life. Ellice also specializes in working with women entrepreneurs and professionals to build the life of their desires through her online programs and private coaching. She combines her knowledge of the body's wisdom with her refined feminine business approach to guide women on the path of their greatest success and joy. Learn more at https://www.elliceapostolos.com/
Ellice holds a degree in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis on performing arts from UC Santa Cruz. With an extensive background in dance and choreography Ellice has been performing for close to twenty year in the Santa Cruz area. She has choreographed and directed original pieces for many Santa Cruz performances, supporting dancers to hone their performance skills so they can to share their message with the community. One of Ellice's greatest delights is to support others to discover how they want to tell their story through their body, whether they want to perfect that for the stage or develop a personal practice for authentic expression. With years of exploration in the area of somatic healing and authentic expression she is excited to be specializing in the area of sensual movement for women now. In her classes, Ellice invites every woman to drop into her body's truth, eradicating shame and self judgement so she can unearth her pleasure, confidence and full emotional expression through dance. As a Board certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant Ellice adds a layer of body love and self-care through private and group nutrition education, guiding women to have a healthy thriving body so they can show up fully for all areas of their life.
As owner of Steel and Grace, Ellice offers a wide variety of weekly S Factor classes suitable for students with or without dance experience. Whether you want to pole dance, learn a fun wall routine, discover your flow with floor work, unearth your sexy, learn a lap dance or add a strip tease to your play, Ellice is excited to dance with you!
Sessaly
Ana
Ana took her very first pole class the Summer of 2018 at Steel and Grace and immediately fell in love with pole. She especially enjoys the community that is created around pole. She prefers strength tricks and transitions and doesn't have a preference between static or spin pole. She is currently a Scientist at a biotech in South San Francisco.
Jill
Jill's obsession with dance took hold in 2018 when she discovered contact improvisation and sensual pole dance. She's participated in countless classes, living room dance sessions, workshops, and performances since that spark was lit, and is a certified Floor Flow® teacher through Marlo Fisken's Flow Movement. Jill believes in dance as a way cultivating creativity and confidence that should be fun and accessible for everyone.
Nina
Nina fell in love with pole in 2018 when she was working in Hawaii and tried a class at a local pole studio. She loves how the form of art has greatly helped her unleash her inner self and enabled her to meet many new pole friends. Her latest passion is to study Russian exotic style moves as well as training smooth transitions for short choreographies. Nina also enjoys street jazz, heels dance, waacking, and has lately started training hip hop and vogueing. You may see a few jazz hands and waacking moves once in a while in her choreos :)
Simona
Simona is a Czech native raised in the Bay Area now living in Capitola with her her husband, dog, and two cats. She is an Occupational Therapist and works primarily in the Home Health setting in the Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.Simona’s love for all things acro and fitness began at the age of 10 when she discovered cheerleading and was instantly drawn to building human pyramids. Simona became part of a co-ed stunt team in high school and an all-girl team in college, where she found great passion in being a “flyer” and in performing with her squad(s) at a competitive/National level. It was during this time that Simona also gained some basic gymnastics skills.
Simona started pole fitness in 2012 and has since performed/competed in duet and small group pieces, as well as in 5 solos, placing 1st in 2017 GGPC Entertainment L4, and 2nd in 2016 PPC Entertainment L3. Simona excels at both static and spin pole and is especially drawn to strength and acrobatic moves with a love for all things flips, tricks, tumbles and drops. Simona is also exploring other aerial arts such as hammock, trapeze, and lyra. She has been with Steel & Grace since it’s opening in 2018, and has taught multiple classes from beginner through advanced, on both static and spin pole. Simona is known for hosting the annual Holiday lights class and other themed classes.
Simona is excited to share her passion with her students and to teach them how to unlock their potential, and most importantly, how to have fun while doing so!