Why Pole Dance?
The Pole is a strange and wonderful dance partner. It has much to help us communicate both to ourselves and to the world.
It can be a tool, a toy, an anchor or a pair of wings. Most importantly, it's a symbol and we get to decide what it will mean for us as we dance with and around it. Dance itself is a language that is inherently symbolic. As human beings we are healed and transformed by the language of dance that is embedded in our deepest cellular intelligence. Weddings, wakes, graduations, coming of age ceremonies, wars, sadness, joy, madness, loss and love all bring us to movement and help us change with grace. Dance and music exist as medicine for humanity to be greater and preserver through life.
Pole dance holds a certain social charge as a remnant of the " the club." It carries with it connotations of raw female sexuality —and for some— it represents the male consumption of that sexuality (or even a kind of subjugation of it).
For this reason, Pole dance has sometimes been rejected. However, just like a word or symbol, the Pole has been re-appropriated by women who have felt its allure and its power to transform. Where there is fear or taboo, there is often something deeper to discover. This is especially true for Pole dance!
It is precisely because of its complicated and disavowed status that the Pole holds so much potential for women to investigate their own unique feminine nature.
In a way, the Pole has much in common with how female sexuality has been treated in our culture. It has often been relegated to the realm of the hidden and shameful, and yet it's true beauty and depth of soul shine through. Like a Siren at sea, forbidden though it may be,we just can't resist answering its call. And if we do...oh, the truth we may uncover about ourselves! Really the Pole is our long lost alley, a partner that can help us to truthfully articulate who we are and how we feel.
Whatever is rejected, forgotten or suppressed in us is exactly what we have the chance to encounter and make friends with as we Pole dance.
Yes, Pole work helps to build upper body strength,which is a great thing for women! It's also really fun! After all, what do little girls love to do at recess? Flip around with total fearlessness on the bars, that's what ! The simple act of PLAY and flight can be more than enough to bring one to the Pole. But we return to the Pole for all that we seek to cultivate within ourselves.
The Pole serves us as a touch stone to remember ourselves, nurture our femininity and embrace all of who we are as beautiful and worth knowing. Long live Pole dance!
