S Factor Expands

Sheila Kelley's S Factor, the aerobic striptease workout studios, will be opening more locations in Manhattan.  The Chelsea studio, on West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, is so popular they’ve opened two annexes.  They are also looking to open two additional studios, on the Upper East and West Sides.

Sheila Kelley, founder and CEO of the privately held company, also said they are considering an overseas expansion in Australia, England and Brazil.  When asked if they are making a profit, Kelley would only say they reinvest everything back into the business.  She said there are no plans to take the business public anytime soon.

Kelley has an extensive background in fitness, ballet and studied dance at New York University.  She thought these movements were always too linear, rigid and masculine, unlike the moves she learned from dancers in clubs. She developed S Factor, named for the shape of a woman’s body, to be a quintessentially female workout. 

Working out is about fitness, but the focus at S Factor is the empowerment of female sexuality.  Attendees include everyone from housewives to actresses like Lindsay Lohan and Teri Hatcher.  Kelley says the S Factor experience helps women overcome feelings of negativity about their bodies.  In addition to being stronger, leaner and possessing interesting skills, the end result is increased confidence and self-awareness.

While S Factor offers classes in striptease, pole and lap dancing, Kelley said she’s not a fan of strip clubs.  “When men enter a so-called ‘gentlemen’s club’, all of the rules of appropriateness change.  Men think they can act badly and disrespectfully.”  Kelley’s interest in stripping began when she did research for a role in a film, Breaking In.  While learning moves from women in clubs, she thought she’d “never find such beauty in a dark place.” 

Dancers from clubs sometimes come to S Factor to learn new techniques.  The results are not what you would expect, she said.  After they’ve been at S Factor for a while, many of them pursue different careers.  “They change in such a way that they can not allow their bodies to be sold for so little.  Dancing makes you feel beautiful and powerful, but it doesn’t feel good to sell your beauty and power,” she said. “This is something you can’t put a price tag on.”

-Sherry Mazzocchi

Sheila Kelley's S Factor
239 West 23rd Street
between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
212.989.8030

Comments

[Nancy Mindes]

Love the SFactor.
It has changed my life and my body for the better.