3 Things I Wish People Knew About Pole Dance

I recently found a new addiction: pole dance.

I posted a lot of my failed attempts on my Instagram story, and I notice that people don’t skip the stories that much. My theory is that they watch me out of curiosity because pole dance is still unusual among my friends, or they just want to see me fall on my butt.

From those Instagram stories, I received a lot of encouragement messages from my fellow ladies, and a lot more comments from guys basically asking me if I’m going to be a stripper—yes, that’s the image of pole dancer among my friends.

If I see my friends doing pole dance 5 years ago, I would have made the same comments as my guy friends.

The image of pole dancer equal stripper equal bad girl is still dominant in the world because most of the pole performances happen in a night club—I guess. Also, to do pole dance we have to—HAVE TO—show our skin a lot to grip the pole, especially arms, legs, and belly, which means we kind of wearing just bra and panty to perform, and that tends to be sexy—very sexy.

I used to think pole dance is too sexy to be considered a sport until I saw a real pole dance performance in a night club 4 years ago. I was standing close to the stage and I was… mesmerized. The dancers looking so strong yet their moves were delicate and graceful. They climbed the pole and spin like those moves were easy, which now I know is so not true. They looked so fit, not too much muscle, just the perfect kind of body I’ve always wanted. I’m still not sure how, but I didn’t see pole dance as ‘only sexy’ anymore. To me, pole dance is a combination of sport and art.

I’ve always wanted to try pole dance ever since. I’m not sure why I kept holding back to give it a try these 4 years, but yeah, finally, last month I sign up as a member of pole dance studio despite the bruises I got from the trial class.

So now I just hit 1 month after that hardcore trial class. I went once or twice a week to the studio, and the rest of the day I’m watching YouTube about pole dance, or scrolling Instagram, looking for hashtag #poleprogress to see pole dancer training result. I like it that much I wish I could install a pole in my apartment—but it’s just kind of impossible at the moment.

From this 1 short month, around 8 classes, I’ve gained a better understanding of pole dance and there are 3 things I wish people knew about this awesome sport.

1. Pole dance is for all ages, all body shapes, all genders; it’s for everyone

Every time I ask my friends if they want to go to trial class with me, they’ll say either one of these, if not all:

1. I’m too fat
2. I’m not flexible
3. I don’t have enough strength
4. I’m too young/old
5. I’m a guy

The most common is number 1. Here, watch this video. Look at the pole instructor and tell me you’re too fat.

If you choose number 2 and 3, well, no one is born flexible and strong to do pole dance, that’s why you train!

Some chose number 4, and let me tell you: the younger you start the better. Your young body is more flexible than the old, and you will learn a lot faster if you train from a young age. And for the old, meet Greta Pontarelli. She was 66 years-old in that interview. Beat that.

And last but not least, number 5. You are a guy, so? Isn’t that great? You have more upper body strength than a normal woman who has never trained, so you are off to a good start. There’s almost always a guy in my pole class, and some of the pole instructors are guys too.

If you are not interested, I get it. It’s your preference. But blaming age, body shape, and gender isn’t the right excuse.

2. Pole dance is more than ‘just sexy’

To do pole dance, you need to have strength, flexibility, and creativity. Just because you are strong doesn’t make you good playing with the pole. See this video of rock climber trying to do pole dance. You need enough flexibility to look good on the pole, and creativity to create the dance routines—especially if you are competing in a pole competition.

Pole dance isn’t always performed wearing heels. There are static pole, spinning pole, floor work, trick pole, and heels pole. From that many choices, only heels pole requires heels. The rest can be performed with or without heels.

I personally do pole dance for fitness although I recently bought a pair of pole heels and took the heel class for fun, which was not that fun: it’s extremely tiring to dance in heels.

3. Pole dance is dangerous

Just like other kinds of sport, pole dance has its own risk.

At first, you might get bruises, lots of bruises on your legs, arms, and butt maybe if you fall on your butt a lot like me. Those bruises are called pole kisses, by the way. They’re not dangerous, just painful.

After a bit more training, you might get a little bit impatient and wanted to try some new moves that you are not actually ready yet to do. In this stage, you might sprain your muscle. The instructors always tell me not to rush and do things step by step. All of the instructors have experienced muscle sprain so they know how to avoid it.

The worst, you might die. Okay, maybe not die, but severely injured. There are a lot of spinning, climbing, inverting, and combinations of them. Imagine falling from the pole when your legs up and head down.

Pole dance is a dangerous aerial sport, and we should respect it as such. Proper training, proper clothing, proper ‘crash mat’ are essential.

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I’m a newbie in pole dance but I enjoy it so much. I’ve tried signing up to a gym and going to yoga classes, but all other kinds of sport have never attracted me as much as pole dancing. Some of my friends asked me if I do this to please my husband. Ha. Yeah sure I bear my whole body aching and the bruises to please my husband. I’m such a dedicated wife.

Last but not least, give it a try guys and girls! Your whole body will hurt for a few days after the first class, you will get bruises, but it’s a very rewarding experience when you can climb or spin for the first time.