The Art of Pole

Pole dancing has been around for over 800 years.  It started  as a sport in India.  From their it spread to China, where men (not women) would climb up 20 feet and then jump from one pole to another showing off their gravity-defying strength.   In the 1920’s pole was popular in circus acts, with performers impressing audience members with their strength and acrobatic tricks.

This is where it gets a little shady.  Somehow the circus act ended up getting mixed up with burlesque shows and then “pole dancing” turning into “walk-in-a-circle-around-the-pole-in-a-skanky-bar-to-look-cool-while-doing-a-striptease.”  Oops.  Pole dancing was synonymous with strip tease until about the 1990’s.

As the new millennium approached, women began reclaiming the dance and gymnastics portions back, and pole classes starting popping up in local gyms and dedicated pole studios.

Actress  Sheila Kelley (Gossip Girls, LA Law)  made this trend of pole dance for fitness and for celebration of the feminine body popular through her S Factor studios.  I was fortunate enough to interview her; you can read it here:   Redefining Sexy – A Conversation with Sheila Kelley.)

There is a huge push right now to get pole as one of the sports in the 2016 Olympics.  Competitions are sprouting up internationally and the 2014 Arnold Classic just had it’s first pole competition this past February.   This is fascinating to me, because it is now beginning to blend my favorite sports (bodybuilding, gymnastics) with pole dance.  Here is the video of one of the most talented bodybuilding fitness performer,Oksana Grishina, adding pole into her routine.

As it becomes more mainstream, there is a bit of debate coming into play.  In an effort to sanitize the sport, “tricks” are now being renamed.  For example a “corkscrew spin” might be called something like “FN7” in a competition, but as the competition aspect of the sport is still relatively new, the judging components are still being defined.

This is Jenyne Butterfly performing “Dog Days Are Over.”  It is the routine that inspired me to enter a competition.  Her signature move, where she literally walks off the pole into the air, happens around 3:29 in the clip.  It’s insane.

One of my friends recently asked me if the women in pole classes were just trying to be sexy and competitive with each other.   That hasn’t been my experience at all.  Right now, pole is what you make it.  Different studios offer classes ranging from pole level 1/pole fitness all the way to level 5 “I don’t care what anyone thinks Ima pole dance!”  If you take “cardio pole fit” that’s a totally different experience then “burlesque chair tease”; both can be fun.  Most studios are women-only.  At least at the studios where I dance, it’s just a group of women moving their bodies to really great music.  There are all different body types and different fitness levels.  And to date I have not met anyone who was a stripper.  Every teacher I met had a background in either dance, gymnastics or yoga.

Since the Capital of Texas Aerial Championships are a mere six weeks away, it’s a safe bet to expect I’ll be writing more about my pole dance experiences between now and then.  I hope you will consider giving pole a try; it’s a lot of fun.

How about you?  Have you ever considered taking a pole class?

Lisa 

• @sheslosingitnet
• http://www.facebook.com/ShesLosingIt.net

Sheslosingit.com (c) 2014 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, video, photographs, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.