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WHERE DID THE SEXY GO????
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I very much agree with Leeloo's ("noone could call this piece sexy. It is a highly emotional piece that is sending a message, beautifully created and executed") and Black Orchid's comment: "By the way, I did not find Crystal's performance "sexy". Powerful, brave and amazing, yes. But I couldn't find a routine set to a song about lynching sexy. I don't think it was her intention anyway."
I realise that I'm probably going against popular opinion here and I don't want to ruffle any feathers – but why is there such a need for everything to be sexy? Yes, I can enjoy and appreciate the sexy side of pole dance and I realise that the 'sexy' kind is mostly where all the other kinds (gymnastic, artistic etc) originated from, but everyone should be free to dance however they like, sexy or otherwise, and trying to call Crystal's performance sexy seems silly to me. It seems almost dismissive of all the deep thought and emotion and soul she must have put into her routine, which as she has said herself on YouTube was designed to make a statement, and I don't think for even a second that that statement was "I'm sexy". Sexy has its place but to me, and I can't speak for her but I would imagine to Crystal as well, her routine was not that place.
Sorry if anyone thinks I'm being rude, I hope that isn't the case, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter (and I realise that this is a little off-topic of the whole thread).As for the thread as a whole, I fully understand some people's dislike for the stricter rules some competitions are putting in place, but as others have said there is more than enough room for all styles of pole. I'm not a huge fan of competitions that require competitors to wear heels, for example, as they can be uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous, but I hear less people complaining about that than I do about the "no heels" rule. Each to their own, I suppose – there are different styles of performance and competition so there is something to suit every poler, and no one style is going to stamp out the other.
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Kate92, you basically said exactly what I was thinking.
To me, gymnastic pole can be sexy… if I am not prescribing to a typical definition of the word "sexy". To me, I would call a piece sexy if it's sexually suggestive (lots of booty, or grazing, body rolls, incredibly slinky, or even just the attitude, etc). I would not in any way consider Crystal's piece suggestive, so I wouldn't call it a sexy pole piece, even though it was amazing and mind-blowing. To me, sexy = strong, sexy= smart, etc but I don't tend to use those definitions when describing things other than humans. I don't tend to use it for things like dances, dresses, films, chemical reactions (I had a prof who did that, hehe) etc.
At the same time sexy pole can at times be… not exactly something I enjoy watching. It goes both ways, as I would assume it would for everyone, based on individual tastes. Whether I like sexy pole (I do) or not, when I see an awesome gymnastic or contemporary dance piece, I'm still gonna like it. But it doesn't have to be sexy to be awesome to me.
I don't really think that sexy has gone from pole. It may not be de rigueur for some of the larger competitions now, but it very well may trend back. And I think a big reason it seems like its not the forefront, is because the media doesn't report on the studios empowering women nearly as much as it likes to report pole is attempting to get into the Olympics, or pole dancing for kids (gasp?!), etc. I think because of the Olympic push, a lot of the pole people going to the media tends to be trying to legitimize pole as a sport, which just doesn't include the sexy.
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Totally off topic sorry…corbyOconnor, I had a prof at UCD that described Chemical reactions as sexy too!!!! Lmao
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Corby its good to know someone else feels the same 🙂 you pretty much summed up my feelings in one sentence – ‘It doesn’t have to be sexy to be awesome to me.’
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I’m totally with you in this, for me pole dance is all about the sexy, of course it is also a great excersise and doing it for fitness is totally fine, but when people try to eliminate the sexy on it, it kind of stops being the same, what’s the point of pole dancing if I can’t be sexy while doing it?
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Over here in Australia exotic or sexy pole seems to be more popular than ever. I think maybe it’s a cultural thing… we are pretty unreserved when it comes to our bodies… but it could also be the influence of significant competitions and studios like Bobbi’s and Miss Pole Dance Australia, or Pole Dance Academy and their Dance Filthy comps etc. We do have the fitness/barefoot style too, with many studios teaching sans heels and purely contemporary competitions like APC popular too… For myself, my dancing style fluctuates but I have found technology like instagram to really globally connect pole dancers so that I’m influenced by what dancers are doing in Russia and Ukraine etc …. and their exotic pole style is really sexy, fluid and creative. I think sexy is alive and well in many pole dancers…. and I’m hoping it stays that way. I too find purely tricks based routines to background music super boring…. I reckon the killer combo is a bit of everything (tricks, strength, flexibility, contemporary and sexy, fluidity, creativity and floor work etc) 🙂
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“Sexy” is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I think our background plays a huge role in what we find sexy too. Here in the US where pole dancing isn’t something everyone does, and if you asked the average person here of their idea of what pole dancing was you would mostly get descriptions of what you find in strip clubs. I used to be a dancer for 4 years and what interested me in learning to pole dance was the tricks. I mean several strippers can dance around a pole exoticly and almost all can do floor work. Doing tricks however was sometching you had to learn to do. Now that I’m many years older and the club is a distant memory I got into pole dancing from instagram. I saw a video that sparked that desire in me to learn how to pole dance, learn the tricks. I have always found the acrobatic gymnastic side sexy and doing it for fitness seemed like a fun idea. While watching videos I came across some Russian exotic pole for the first time, there were very little pole tricks involved it was mostly fast flow leg and floor work and not only did I find it not sexy, I didn’t find it fun and I couldn’t understand what was likable about it. The few videos I watched they hardly even used the pole and only saw a few climb it. It just wasn’t for me. I also didnt start pole dancing for the booty work or body waves. I’ve been a stripper I imagine since I’ve used my body, danced sexually and provocative that I no longer have to express it publicly. Sorta like ive got that all of my system, you know? I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else, but I guess what I’m trying to say is no one can tell you what is sexy or what pole should be or shouldn’t because we all love pole for different reasons and we all like/dislike different types of pole dancing. Gymnastic pole tricks may have brought me to pole, maybe sexy pole brought you here, whatever it was that made you love pole I’m glad we can all share it and hopefully all celebrate the different types even if we don’t understand or appreciate them.
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Based on what I’ve seen, there seems to be a correlation between attempts to make pole more “mainstream” and the lack of sensuality. I think some people believe people will take pole more seriously if it isn’t ultra sensual. I recall that when I first started pole, my teacher said we don’t wear to much for grip, its not that we’re trying to be skanky. To which I thought, so what if you were! Why should I care? its your body and your expression not mine. For some reasons, some people think that sexuality delegitimizes something, which is not at all the case.
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I think it’s just as narrow minded to say everyone should dance sexy, as it is to say that sexy dancing should be only left for strip clubs. Saying something like, you should go and do gymnastics unless you dance the way I THINK you should dance is just sad. Just like there are different styles of dance, there are different ways to pole dance. You may be more of a bachata type, maybe I’m more of a west coast swing kinda gal. We should all do what we love and let others do the same. Nobody owes you an excuse for WHY they don’t do sexy pole, just as they don’t owe you an excuse for why they do it. I don’t have to be ashamed of my body or not in touch with my sexuality or oppressed or not feminine or a whole array of different things to want to dance differently than booty pops. Be happy with what you do and let others do the same. And if it upsets you so much that not everyone is dancing in the style you deem acceptable than research your competitions better, so you are sure you go into one you are INTERESTED in seeing, instead of trying to force all competitions to fit inside one box. And for the record, the olympics also hosts rhythmic gymnastics (aside from the usual gymnastics), that does combine dance/movement with technique/execution of difficult moves and figures.
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Anyone who hasn’t watched/listened to the Pole Parlour podcast – do it! Crimson Minxxx interviews polers from all over the sexy-athletic spectrum. I think you’ll find neither is going anywhere. Some of the guests sound like they think there will *have* to be a split between these schools of pole eventually, but that it won’t necessarily be a bad thing. Honestly I’d be more excited about pole being included in the X Games than the Olympics. It sounds like in the X Games we’d be more likely to get to keep our choice to do sexy or brute-strength-athletic. Here’s the Soundcloud link to Pole Parlour! 😀
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I honestly think, any style of pole dance is beautiful. The strength alone, even if your just doing flips and ninja shit… Is extremely sexy to me lol. Just my thought =}
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