Remembering Jamilla Deville: A Pole Dance Legend
The pole community lost one of its true pioneers in August. Jamilla Deville, one of the most celebrated names in the global pole industry, has passed away. Tributes have poured in from studios, instructors, and fellow performers around the world, all echoing the same sentiment: pole dancing would not look the way it does today without her.
For anyone who has ever taken a pole class, watched a competition, or scrolled through pole content online, Jamilla’s influence is everywhere, even if her name isn’t always attached to it. This is a look back at her career and the legacy she leaves behind.
From the Stage to a Global Movement
Jamilla’s pole career spanned more than two decades and reached across the globe. She came to pole with an already rich performance background, having trained in dance, acrobatics, trapeze, corde lisse, and silks. That foundation shaped the artistry and control she became known for on the pole. During her time dancing at a gentleman’s club in Sydney, she discovered pole and linked up with a fellow dancer to transition into teaching at Sydney’s first pole dance studio. She claimed the original title of Miss Pole Dance Australia in 2005, a milestone that launched her into the international spotlight. Later, she opened The Jamilla Deville pole studio in 2006.
Building the OG Pole Dancer’s Bible
Perhaps Jamilla’s most lasting contribution to the sport was The Art of Pole, an instructional DVD series she created, produced, and starred in between 2007 and 2013. It became so influential that the pole community started calling it “the pole dancer’s bible,” and it remains one of the top selling pole instructional series ever released. For a generation of dancers who didn’t have a local studio or coach, those DVDs were often the closest thing they had to formal training.
Her impact on teaching didn’t stop there. She served as head judge and helped develop scoring criteria for the Australian Pole Dance Championships, and she was voted IPDFA International Instructor of the Year in both 2010 and 2011, along with Pole Dance International Magazine’s Instructor of the Year in 2011. A former Australian National Champion and multiple award winner of International Instructor awards, Jamilla went on to work with the MTV Awards, Gravity First Mexico, and Pole Expo, and she currently judged the USPSF National Championships.
The Moves That Carry Her Name
Few dancers get a trick named after them. Jamilla has several. She’s credited as the inventor of the Jade split, and her name lives on in moves like The Jamilla (also called the Apprentice), tricks that are still taught and performed by dancers who may not even realize where they originated. That’s the mark of a true pioneer: her fingerprints are on the vocabulary of the sport itself.
She later relocated to Las Vegas, where she continued performing and teaching at Shine Fitness, most recently as a featured acro pole artist and instructor, leading workshops for dancers at every level right up through the past year. In 2024, she moved to Nashville and joined the Shiners Nashville family.
More Than an Instructor
In interviews over the years, Jamilla spoke openly about the parts of pole dancing that don’t always make it into a highlight reel: the discipline, the setbacks, the taboos the art form still carries, and the deeper connection to confidence and self expression that drew so many people to it in the first place. She was candid about her own path through strength training, nutrition, and even her experience overcoming an eating disorder, using her platform to talk honestly about the athlete behind the artistry.
She was sponsored by X-Pole and Mighty Grip throughout part of her career and remained a fixture in the community as a judge for multiple competitions, presenter, and mentor to newer generations of dancers long after her own competitive days.
A Legacy That Isn’t Going Anywhere
It’s rare for one person to help build both the artistic and the institutional side of a sport, but Jamilla Deville did both. She helped define what pole dancing could look like as a performance art, and she helped build the organizations and standards that gave the sport structure. Every dancer who has ever thrown a Jade split, trained from an instructional DVD, or competed under standardized judging criteria has felt her influence, whether they know her name or not.
Rest in peace, Jamilla. Thank you for two and a half decades of artistry, mentorship, and pushing an entire sport forward.
Please note that this post in no way encapsulates the breadth and impact of Jamilla and her career; there is so much more to her, her story, and her influence on the industry.
Sources
- Jamilla Deville, official bio. jamilladeville.mykajabi.com/about
- I Am Pole: Jamilla Deville, Pole Pressure. polepressure.com/iam/jamilladeville
- Chatting Fit podcast, episode 36: Elite Pole Dancing & Animal Based Nutrition with Jamilla Deville. music.amazon.co.uk
- TalkSex with Gabriela Rosa, episode 24: Dance as a Tool for Sexual Empowerment with Jamilla Deville. gabrielarosa.libsyn.com
- Two Exclusive Workshops with Jamilla Deville at Pole Fitness Studio, Pole Fitness Studio, Las Vegas. polefitnessstudio.com
- Jamilla in Philly, StudioVeena.com forum post. studioveena.com
- Learn How to Pole Dance DVD, background on The Art of Pole series. godsballroom.com
- Pole Dance Community, tribute on Jamilla Deville’s passing. poledancecommunity.com
- Pole Passion, tribute post on Facebook. facebook.com/pole.passion1
