So I have a dilemma. I looked at these pictures from an article about the recent second annual pole and fitness dance convention. It seems some people want to distance themselves as much as possible from the tawdry heritage of the pole and that makes me angry.
Of course fitness instructors and gymnasts are among the attendees of this convention, pole work is crazy fun and it is really challenging. But seeing all those bare feet, spandex shorts and sport bras, and hair tucked up in sloppy pony tails, I can’t help but feel a little betrayed. It doesn’t help that the article reports that it was hard to find anybody with a background in the adult entertainment business.
Actually, I suspect anybody with a background in the “biz” might be keeping quiet about their past as they watch their dance form get co-opted and sanitized for mainstream sensibilities. Let’s make it all about the fitness aspect and take away that ugly stripper association.
Yeah pole is seriously hard work. It is a gymnastic level skill. But the history of it is in the clubs. It’s a prop of performance. I don’t like to see it distanced from exotic dance. To me, pole and exotic dance go hand in hand along with stiletto shoes on the feet.
Strippers brought you pole dance, period. Strippers. And they did all that crazy shit on the pole, gracefully in time to music wearing seven inch platformed heels, and they made it look effortless!
Strippers always did deserve more respect.
I feel a similar disappointment about some in the belly dance community. Many belly dancers want to distance themselves from a tawdry lineage. We don’t like to think about how Little Egypt and the “exotic dances” of the East commingled with carnival hoochie coochie girls, can-can and saloon girls and other assorted nasty dance hall floozies and strippers.
But that is part of the heritage that has influenced contemporary belly dance.
Many belly dancers want to by-pass all that gypsy mess of varied influence over the years and miles and tone down the sexy. They want to get taken more seriously, elevate a folk art form into something more “tasteful”.
Thankfully, it’s a hard sell. Many audiences refuse to not see the resemblance!
But now there will be a whole generation of women trying to do the same thing with the pole.
I think it’s a bunch of crap. Just say “no” to sanitizing the exotic dances!
