[RetroRabbit]

Hey all, my friend lent me his dance pole for the summer yesterday, and I just had a 25 minute workout session on it. Not very long, but I am sweaty!

I started last fall, but practiced sporadically and would go weeks without practice, so I haven't advanced too much. I can climb it and do a couple of inversions, but am trying to work on getting my abs rock hard to pull my bottom half up easily and learn to do really neat tricks (like suicide hook) by the end of july when I have to give it back to him.

Anyone else into it or learning? I would love a group to share successes, tricks, and tips and to keep the motivation going! I'm hoping to get in at least a bit of practice almost everyday and will be using it as my muscle workout.

[LovelyLeah]

I have wanted to try it. I can't afford any of the classes around here and I still have an issue with the stigma. I don't have an issue with it but it bugs me how people only think of it as stripper dancing and not as the acrobatic sport that it is. If you flip the pole sideways it's pretty much gymnastics.

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[RetroRabbit]

That's definitely something that really bothers me. When I tell people I'm into pole dancing, they always jump straight to stripping. It's such an intense and beautiful form of gymnastics though!
It is expensive. I always wanted to learn, and then one day my friend decided to buy one for himself and put it up in my school's dance studio.
I wish gyms had them for practicing similar to having treadmills or weights.

[Palestrina]

Originally Posted by RetroRabbit

I wish gyms had them for practicing similar to having treadmills or weights.

I'll preface this by saying that I consider myself a liberal feminist who strongly believes that women should own their sexuality.

That said, the stigma of pole dancing is not going anywhere. It is so deeply entrenched in the minds of people that dancing on poles is something that a woman does to earn money by exploiting her sexuality for the pleasure of men. There is a big difference between acrobatics, dance, and gymnastics. Gymnastics is an olympic sport, it is done to show the strength of a human body, there is nothing sexual about it while pole dancing from what I've seen of those classes they teach you how to be sexy and flirt. I just can't separate it from the lecherous stigma it has acquired if I tried.

I take dance lessons, hip hop, african dance and zumba. There are some sexy moves but I don't have the same associations with it. Gymnastics is something I associate with teeny tiny girls that don't exhibit a hint of sexuality and are the physical opposites of pole dancers. Acrobatics I associate with grace, mystery and danger.

Quite ironically (and hippocritically I' sure) I view belly dancing as quite beautiful.

[RetroRabbit]

Palestrina- I agree with a lot of what you say, but I associate pole dancing with practicing with friends, celebrating a new trick we mastered, accepting all body types, and having fun and working out. It's becoming increasingly common for both women and men to do pole dancing as a form of exercise and there's a growing movement of using it as a fun way to get in shape for all types of people. I think it's absolutely beautiful. It does require little clothing for grip, but that's no different some other sports like gymnastics or swimming. While some of the people I practice with do it for sexuality, most don't, and I don't. I have given lessons to a couple of male friends and try to destroy the association of pole dancing with stripping in as many people as I can just to get it in their heads that being a pole dancer can be just the same as being into aerial hoops or ballet.

There are also plenty of pole artists who are fantastic dancers with incredible strength and flexibility. They treat it as a dance performance, paying attention to form, movement, and fluidity. The World's Best Pole Artist competition has a lot of good ones. I am often so amazed at some of the things people can do. I will also say, there is nothing like the feeling of finally getting a move you've been trying to master!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCxK_1pYCC4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Vai9fInEQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiAcVby7XiE - this one is awesome (3 performances)