No, I won’t sign your Pol’ympics Petition
Ladies, you know I love the art of pole dancing, the delicious joy of moving a sensuous curvy feminine body. But I cannot and will not sign or support Pole Dancing in the Olympics. You can throw sticks and stones if you disagree, but names will never hurt me.
Truly, I can’t understand why our community feels the need to “legitimize” pole dancing as a sport. Pole dancing is about reconnecting with our lost femininity. It’s about discovering that we don’t need to be afraid of the natural curves of our body. It’s about learning and expressing our true sensual style in a safe and caring environment. When we each discovered pole dancing, something about this movement captured our hearts and titillated our senses. I know the ladies who created this petition understand that, but I really don’t see how developing it into an Olympic sport will maintain that passionate spirit.
Why must pole dancing be “legitimized?” Is the passion and intensity you feel while dancing “legitimate”? Is the stretch you feel in your legs and back as you invert & brush your hand across your hips a luscious expression of your life… or is it “legitimate”? I don’t care if society defines it as “legitimate”…when I dance, I feel what I feel. I understand why the world of corporations and bureaucracy needs legitimate documents, legitimate processes, and legitimate products….. but we don’t need that kind of distinction here.
In fact, I feel a certain amount of anger that someone might take this beautiful art form and scrub it of it’s sensual feminine components — Because that is the only way it will be accepted by the Olympic masses. No more heels, no more booty shorts, no more bodystrings. No more pelvic circles or hair whipping. And I’m sure the Olympic panel won’t allow you to let your fingers glide along your curves either. God forbid you touch your own body!
Perhaps the pole community is trying to find a way to expose more people to our beautiful art form? But, most pole studios only allow students that are 18 years and older for a reason. You can’t ignore the roots of this dance, which come from aerial, acrobatics, circus, bellydance, and STRIPPING. I’m not ashamed of those roots and I don’t want to remove the flavor and style that those roots impart. I want to share it with others BECAUSE of that fabulous flavor and sexy style.
Maybe I feel this way because I’m a pole DANCER instead of a pole TRICKSTER…. Because I focus on the feminine, sensual, dance aspect of this beautiful art form instead of it’s athletic/gymnastic aspects…. Because I prefer continuous movement that celebrates the seamless transitions and emotional expression of life just as much as the gorgeous variety of tricks.
Would you call Cirque Du Soleil a sport? Would you call Ballet a sport? Would you call BellyDance a sport? Or would you need them “legitimized” as a sport? I would call them art. The expression of art is about how it makes the artist and the audience feel — not about how many points the artist can earn.
Obviously, gymnastics is defined as a sport. And if all they want is to take the gymnastic aspect of pole dancing into the Olympics, then I wish them luck. But, this will completely take the DANCE out of it; and I respectfully request that they don’t call it pole DANCING anymore. Call it Pole Gymnastics or Gymnastics Pole. A little vocabulary change could make a big difference.
I realize I’m a small voice in a minority here, and my interest isn’t to incite a flame war on my blog. I very much understand why other pole dancers are trying to share our movement with the world, I just don’t agree with the way they wish to do it. In fact, I’m actually in tears now, hoping some of you will understand how precious this dance form is to me. It’s a beautiful movement that has helped me create a life of playfulness, confidence, and sensuality. It’s a major reason why I’m not afraid of my body or my sexuality anymore.
Pole & Exotic Dance has opened me up to the inherent sensual nature of life and my path within that life as a woman (instead of the androgynous person trying to be “better than a man” that I used to be). I don’t want to steal the athletic Pole Trickster’s right to share her awesome gymnastic ability with the world, but I don’t want someone to take away my ART of Pole & Exotic Dance either.
So, I urge you to consider how pole dancing will change, before you sign a “Pole Dancing in the Olympics” petition. Is this really the best way to share this art form with the world around you, when there are so many other ways. I believe it’s as simple as turning to the woman sitting next to you and telling her your amazing story. I know I’d love to hear it.
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February 26th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
You said it! And girl, this has been on my mind for ever!!! Sad, that we forget about the reason that brought us to pole dancing and we start treating it as another thing to be “good at”. F*** that. F*** the Olympics. I do not give a damn. Really. It will not make it more special for me. It will actually take dignity out of it. Recently I saw a great pole acrobatics video on youtube. As much as impressive it was I felt so sad at the same time. No single hip circle, no single hair flip….. Although I wanted to comment all I had to say was negative so eventually I gave up. It was pole gymnastics not a dance and a hip circle would be nice for f*** sake! Cannot wait for my class tonight. If you want to do gymnastics why not a Chinese pole? there is place for everything in this world and a hip circle belongs to pole dance, it’s essential to it. Got it out of my chest lol
February 27th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Then I guess it’s time for you to dance the f**king night away girl! Circle those hips, flip that hair, and Rock that Pole! xoxo
February 26th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
BRAVO!!! You put my thoughts into words perfectly! I think the petition should be “Get Pole Gymnastics in the Olympics”. I am originally a ballet dancer and it never bothered me that it was not recognized as a sport. It is because it is an art that it has creativity and freedom! I think this would be severely restricted if it made it to the Olympics.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:08 am
That’s what I believe. I don’t want restrictions placed on this amazing dance form and I don’t need society to tell me how it should be judged. Art is always in the eye of the beholder and pole dancing will always be a beautiful art to me.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
I cannot agree with you more! Sad that they want to bid it out to the IOC…but are no where near able or capable of making basic regulations for safety and standards in the current industry.
There are hundreds of forms of dance that are recognized with respect without being in the olympics…lets just get pole dancing accepted.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:11 am
Yes, I think the pole dancing community can do a lot of other things to build respect for this art form that doesn’t include an Olympic committee. Integrating more safety is a great place to start.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Beautifully written. Months ago I was very supportive of it when the petition first came out, but now I have mixed feelings on it and I have to agree with a lot of what you stated.
You always write so eloquently. I love your blog
February 27th, 2010 at 12:16 am
Thank you Mary. I’m glad you are considering some alternate viewpoints on this subject. My goal is to share my knowledge, passion, and opinions about pole dancing so that I can help bring respect to this wonderful art form…. and have a kick ass time!
February 26th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
thanks, yannori. you, and the commenters above me, have articulated exactly how i feel.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:17 am
I’m glad to have you here Amy!
February 26th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
I could leave a comment on my thoughts, but you have summed them up perfectly. I did sign this petition a long while back, and now I regret it. It didn’t dawn on me until I read Jennifer’s (Pole Skivvies) blog what exactly this would mean for our beloved art. If we take the sensuality out of pole dancing, we strip it of it’s soul. We move backwards as human beings. God gave us the gift of sensuality and sexuality. It’s something to be embraced and honored, not shunned and shamed.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:19 am
Beautifully put Nikki.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:08 am
I completely agree with your article also. Sensuality and sexuality are not things that can be judged
February 27th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I can see both sides, really. I don’t understand how it could be in the Olypics yet anyway. There are no handbooks, no safety regulations, no official training camps, no universally accepted terminology. Give it another 10-20 years. Even if it went to the Olypics, I think all us girls would carry on doing the thing we love! I think it’d be pretty neat to watch!
February 28th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I agree that pole dancing has a long way to go in creating standard safety practices, but I don’t know if we will ever standardize the teaching methods or trick descriptions. There are just too many variations of the same trick & alternative teaching methods to make this feasible… but that is another post.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Thank you Thank You Thank You!!!
February 27th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Thank you Yannori for writing such a beautiful article on such a controversial topic in the pole dance community! I’m a little behind on the politics of pole dance and am currently in the process of educating myself and forming my own opinions on the matter. I completely agree with everyone about how much pole dancing will change and be less of an art form if scrutinized by judges that will make everything we’ve grown to know and love “appropriate” for everyone’s political, religious, and personal views. It is what it is…therefore, why change it? Censorship will only change things. If its meant to be changed, then create a completely different “sport” all together- which is what will happen when its all said and done.
February 28th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Yes Kobajo, I’m not trying to say there isn’t room for other pole movements, but I really feel that there is a significant distinction when you define something as “DANCE” compared to “SPORT.” Thanks for joining in the discussion.
February 27th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Yannori – Thank you for writing this, and I could not agree with you more. The reason pole dancing is empowering for women is BECAUSE it provides them with the opportunity to reconnect with the erotic, the sensual and the deeply feminine parts of themselves. And those parts are best experienced through the slow circling of your hips, or the fiery toss of your hair, or the soft slide of your belly on the floor. I dance to play with the whore inside of me, to reconnect with experience of moving for the sake of movement itself. I dance for pleasure.
I wrote my thesis for my MA in psychology on how erotic dance can help women to reconnect with their sexuality, and I focused on pole dancing. The argument I make is that pole dancing provides a therapeutic context in which women can heal from any wounding (individual or collective) surrounding their sexuality. As you mention in your blog, it can be something as simple as needing to learn how to let go of exercising the masculine and allowing the feminine to come forward. What makes the movement healing, however, isn’t the pole tricks as much as it is the experience of moving sensually and slowly and experiencing what that feels like in your body. So in addition to stripping the art and beauty away from pole dancing, turning pole dancing into an Olympic sport takes away the healing potential of this movement.
I think we all, as women, know in our bodies and in our hearts and souls what this movement does for us. We know subjectively (subjective knowing being a more feminine way of knowing something – based on intuition and a felt body sense) that this movement has touched us, shaped us, woken us up, ignited fires and yes, changed our psyches. In my humble opinion, the way in which some of the community is seeking to “legitimize” pole dancing feels offensive not just because it threatens to leech the beauty out of this gorgeous movement, but because it is basically saying to those of us that already know what we feel in our bodies, “Well, that’s not good enough.” Not only are the more feminine, empowering parts of this dance at risk of being taken away, but we are, on some level, being told the very experience each of us has in our bodies is not a “legitimate” enough source of information. And I think that is deeply hurtful to the feminine – who’s primary power and source of knowledge is the sensate, the body. It is a larger symptom of our culture’s dismissal and critique of the body as a source of knowledge. Trying to turn pole dancing into an Olympic sport, is in some ways, taking a very feminine experience and forcing it into the the more masculine, objective world of measurements, restrictions, linear direction and goals. We lose the flavor, the power, the essence of the femininity of it that way.
I do think, however, that this push for the Olympics has thrust pole dancing into the public spotlight, which, despite a lot of the ridicule and outrage in people’s responses, is a very good thing. Erotic dance is an excellent mirror for our culture’s sex phobia, and this Olympic debate is forcing people’s prejudices, fears and beliefs into plain view. This is good because it allows these beliefs to be examined, instead of festering in the unspoken unconscious somewhere.
Now, with all that said (sorry, I have a lot to say), I had a discussion with one of the founding members of The PFA the other day, and I do see what they are trying to accomplish, and I certainly would never want to undermine the efforts of any of my fellow pole dancers. But here’s what was interesting about the conversation: The guy contacted me because he read somewhere that I had written my thesis on how pole dancing could be therapeutic for women. He wanted to find out more about that because he had seen the same effect in many of the women in his studios and he wanted to understand what was happening from a psychological perspective. He thought it might help further “legitimize” the PFA’s goals. A frank discussion ensued and I told him some of my thoughts. He openly stated that getting pole dancing to be accepted in a culture where it was so heavily associated with stripping and sex was pretty much going to be close to impossible and that was why they were moving away from the sensual nature of pole. I explained to him that what I found in my work was that it was the sensual movements that were empowering and healing for women, and not so much the tricks. I told him that I would be willing to fight the good fight for pole dancing as a “legitimate” way for women to heal, grow and connect with their sexuality. We shall see what comes of it. In the meantime, I think the best thing we can do as dancers is to continue to talk about and spread this knowledge we feel in our bodies, collectively. I would much rather see a world that embraces pole dancing as respectful and beautiful expression of female sexuality, as a healing modality, as an art form than see it become a form of gymnastics. And frankly, if pole dancing and the whore gained some standing, I think our culture would be forced to grow and change some of their ideas around female sexuality and the body. And this would be a very good thing.
P.S. One thing that did come up in my conversation with the PFA was that they planned to call the this gymnastics based pole work “Pole Fitness” instead of “Pole Dancing”.
Claire Griffin Sterrett´s last blog ..An Olympic Sized Debate
February 28th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I signed the petiton originally, but have expressed mixed feelings about pole being in the Olympics. I’ve said before that I like the “anarchy” in the sport/dance. And the baseline requirement of the Olympics is a “governing body.” The way pole is set up now, as a hobby/dance/sport shared on-line and in studios, there is much variety in it. I totally agree with your comments about pole having its roots in stripping and that the sexual/sensual nature of pole is valid and shouldn’t be condemned. In fact, I sometimes cringe when I see the “I am not a stripper” comments. Some of my You-Tube pole pals ARE strippers and I often feel that must go like a knife through their heart. But…I do feel that pole can “survive” the Olympics and diversification. I am a male poler, I don’t dance…I am one of those (poor) gymnastics tricksters, lol! But Hockey is in the Olympics…and boys and girls still shoot pucks across the pond without a governing body! And despite Lance Amstrong and the Tour de France, people still ride bikes for fun and exercise. Sexy/dancey/sensual pole will always exist–regardless of the Olympics! /joel
March 1st, 2010 at 4:23 am
[...] AGAINST the Olympics (The best link I’ve found so far) [...]
March 1st, 2010 at 7:44 am
Yannori,
I have used your link in my blog , hope that’s ok ? x
http://www.adamjay.co.uk/blog/latest-news/pole-dancing-the-olympics/
March 1st, 2010 at 9:24 am
Absolutely AJ! Thank you for including it in your discussion.
March 1st, 2010 at 3:51 pm
You summed up my feeling on the matter perfectly!
March 1st, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Thanks Veruca! I’m glad to have your voice added to our discussion here.
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
100% agree with the sentiments expressed here
March 26th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Well said however I think that if the pole sport people want to pursue that style and the Olympic dream why not? I think if it happens it would be way better than watching curling even if it is sterilized. I think there is room for pole sport to happen without diminishing the sensual side of pole dance. Both can co-exist. In the cycling world there are racers and there are tricksters as well as commuters, messengers, tourists and downhillers etc. and they all have their own thing going on without it getting in the way of anyone else. I want to get another pole trike and start racing them. Maybe PoleRiding can be in the Olympics!
March 26th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
That’s an interesting point Andrew. I agree that both can co-exist. However, using cycling as an example… I doubt most cycle tricksters would deny cycle racing as the basis for their movement. Nor do the Xgames promoters avoid discussing the different types of cycle tricking. But some groups wish to ignore or look down on the sensual roots of pole dancing (exotic dancing, belly dancing, stripping etc). To me, this is a travesty and leads to the social limitation of female (& male) expressions of sexuality.
I too want all the different facets of pole dancing to be available and honored equally. I just don’t believe the Olympics can help us do that.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Amen! I have received puzzled looks and snide remarks every time I state this same argument. Honestly, can you think of any other sport in the Olympics that is sensual? Curling? Bob Sledding? You are not even allowed to dance in a sensual manner in gymnastics, so why would you want to “sterilize” something so beautiful and sensual such as pole dancing. If pole dancing were an Olympic sport they would insist on taking out the sensual aspect of it- well if that happens- wouldn’t it be called “Chinese Pole Act”?
April 13th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Exactly! I want to keep the “Dancing” aspect of pole dancing!