Why Pole Dance

So after last weeks ‘Why Dance’ article, I thought why not take things one step further. I first wanted you to see why I’m so passionate about dance, before I introduced the love of my life… Pole dancing!

There are lots of people who seem to believe in the myth that if you’re a pole dancer, then you must be a stripper. Those people can continue to believe what they want, but that isn’t the case. On the contrary, most of us pole dancers pay to dance instead of the other way round.

Pole dancing is basically a beautiful mix of dance, gymnastics and parkour.  It’s the grace and fluidity of contemporary dance; the hard, rhythmic, edgy stylings of hip-hop; together mixed with the flexibility and skill of gymnastics and the gravity defying stunts of parkour!

What could be better?

Well let me tell you…

Pole dancing or pole fitness is an amazing form of exercise. You’ve probably heard that before but imagine this: you could do your weight training AND your cardio AT... THE SAME... TIME!!! 

That is exactly what pole dancing is. 

You have to use your own weight to build your strength. The beautiful of this form of training is that you don’t just have a broad goal of “I want to have a six pack” or “I want to be stronger”. Your goals are supper specific based around a move you are trying to perfect. A happy consequence of those goals will get you stronger in the process. Maybe you are trying to do a one handed bow and arrow, which looks like this…

So you practise and practise and practise until you get the move right and in doing so, you get stronger and stronger. This means you are more likely to succeed because you can actually see your improvement week after week as you get harder moves right.

So that’s one amazing pole benefit or polefit J

There’s another one though! Pole has this incredible ability to change lives. You see, the stronger you get, the more you can do these gravity defying tricks. And if you can go from doing this...

To doing this…

Or this... 

Then hell, you can do anything right?

Suddenly, the things that used to hold me back are minor, my feelings of inferiority have dwindled and I feel invincible. I firmly believe every woman out there should stop making excuses and get on a pole. Pole has definitely changed my life, it’s given me strength physically, emotionally and mentally. It’s given me more confidence and taught me the art of perseverance. It’s taught me not to be afraid. 

In pole, there’s nothing that will hold you back more than fear. If you can take that and apply it to your life, there’s nothing that can stop you. And pole has changed the way I feel about my body.

If you’ve read my Beautiful Body Challenge article, you’ll know I’ve struggled with this curvy and somewhat wobbly body of mine, but pole changed that for me and many other women I know from pole. Not only is pole a great way to lose weight, which obviously makes you feel better, but it also just makes you feel sexy. I think it’s partly that feeling of strength and power where you know you’re strong and that makes you feel confident which makes you feel sexy. I also think that there’s a little bit of that “Hey I’m a pole dancer and I can do the kind of things men pay to see in strip clubs except I do it with a class and my pole clothes on” and that always just makes you feel sexy.

I love pole. I love my pole family. I love the women and man who teach me. I love the constant support and encouragement you find inside any pole studio. I love how we share our triumphs and our tribulations. I love how it makes me feel and what it’s taught me about myself.

Every day is a new challenge and a new achievement. So all of you, women AND MEN, please do yourself a favour and go try pole, because the only answer to the question “Why pole dancing” is because it will change you life…