-
Where the dancing took the field?
Hi all!
I try to write a bachelor thesis about pole dancing. I have to question you at all – what do you think about where the dancing took the field like a sport? I need something officially documented. Now there is only claim of Sheila Kelley – in her book, that she transformed stripper moves to exercise, which began to be taught as a sport. It was really she, who began to promote pole dancing as a sport? I dont think so.. ://
-
8 Replies
-
Hi all!
I try to write a bachelor thesis about pole dancing. I have to question you at all – what do you think about where the dancing took the field like a sport? I need something officially documented. Now there is only claim of Sheila Kelley – in her book, that she transformed stripper moves to exercise, which began to be taught as a sport. It was really she, who began to promote pole dancing as a sport? I dont think so.. ://
-
well pole dancing has kinda existed before pole dancing in strip clubs was even a thing. if you look up the history on chinese pole, though modern pole dancing and chinese pole are done on different style pole , they both use many of the same techniques, different climbing methods, similar grips. but as for sheila kelley…im skeptical, she wasnt the first.
-
Sheila does not claim she was the one who took it out of clubs. She realized how great of a workout it was when she was working on The Blue Iguana and thought it would be great to bring this to the masses. She was the first one that I know of in the United States to bring it mainstream as she was on Oprah. BYW, Dancing at the Blue Iguana came out in in 2000 and Sheila publilshed the S Factor book in 2003. I don't know when she opened the first S Factor studio.
Prior to this I do not believe there was anyone who had really taken this out of the clubs. KT Coates I don't think started training others until after 2005-2007 ish (ME, correct me if I am wrong), and Pantera did not release her Pole Tricks 101 until 2007. If anyone Fawnia Dietrich could be classified as the very first Pole Dance Instructor as she opened her school around 1994 but I think it still was strictly for exotic dancers. I am not sure when her first video came out.
-
And I hate to say it but appearing on Oprah was the door that opened this workout to the general public, whether or not she was the first to have a school. But S Factor does not promote this as a "sport". It is promoted more as a way for women to get in touch with their feminine side and have fun and get in shape at the same time. It has always been more about letting go than form and perfection.
-
If you want a time frame when things REALLY changed it was probably the first USPDF competition. Up until this point competitions were held at strip clubs and was more about being sexy with a few skills than it was about aerial arts, In an interview I think Alethea even states that watching Jenyne during that competition totally changed her view as to what pole dance was. Jenyne took first place, Alethea took Miss Sexy and Sarah Cretul took Miss Trickster. This competition totally changed the face of pole forever.
-
You can take a look to this book : Holland, Samantha. (2010) Pole Dancing, Empowerment and Embodiment (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
-
I'm currently writing a thesis for my college term paper as well! Mine is about pole dancing and the Olympics. There is an actual Olympic association for pole dancing that is responsible for defining pole dancing as a sport.
-
Thank you all for the information and opinions. Is there anyone who knows with certainty when the first pole dance studio was based – I mean dance as a sports studio? Also, I look urgently on literature about chinese pole and aerial silks, I'll be very grateful for anylink. In the Czech Republic there is no literature on this topic 🙁
-
The first S Factor studio opened in 2001 in LA. Fawnia started teaching exotic dancers in 1994 (although I have seen this listed as 1996 in some interviews) but I am not sure if she had a studio or if she travelled to clubs. She put out her first video in 1998. My guess would be between these two as to who had the first actual studio.
Log in to reply.