Pole Trix Competition highlights subtle art of pole dancing
Sitting with two of three recent winners of the Pole Trix competition and their teacher, Alida Gunn, dispels all thoughts that pole dancing is somehow dirty.
These three local women, who belong to the Pole Cats Studio, in Impala Park, shone in the national Pole Trix Competition, in Roodepoort, on May 9.
Vanessa Frade obtained a bronze medal, while Amanda Dahl (33) and Leigh-Ann de Jager (31) walked away with silver medals.
According to de Jager, pole dancing has, for a long time been, a form of performance art, historically associated with strip clubs and nightclubs, which combines dance and acrobatics, centred on a vertical burlesque pole.
This art form has, however, recently gained popularity as a form of fitness and mainstream entertainment, practiced by many enthusiasts in gyms and in dedicated dance studios.
A wide range of amateur and professional competitions are now held in many countries around the world.
“It’s simply a sport,” said Dahl.
“Though there are many derogatory things said about pole dancing, it remains a sport and the fact that it is a sensual sport does not make it a lessor sport.”
Dahl added that people confuse this form of fitness with stripping.
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“The minute you mention that you are a pole dancer they immediately think you are a stripper, which is not true,” she said.
Why did these women choose to participate in pole dancing, of all things?
De Jager said she was prompted by the desire to do something outside of her comfort zone.
Surprisingly, her husband, Mathew, was also supportive from the start.
Dahl’s boyfriend, Craig Ward, was sceptical at first, but became completely supportive when he saw her competing in the competition.
“He realised that I love dancing and, after seeing me at the competition, he is definitely putting up a pole,” she said, giggling.
The women said the competition was their first and the decision to enter started as a joke.
“We started pole dancing in mid-January, but, because we have a good teacher, we managed to come out as winners, bearing in mind that most of the people against who we competed are in their 20s,” they said.
Their next goal is to compete in the Miss Pole South Africa competition, in September, next year, which will allow them to don the national green and gold colours should they win.
Their teacher, Gunn, has been involved in pole dancing since 2008 and said her oldest student is 62.
“Pole dancing is psychological and the moves are done in such a controlled and disciplined way that one needs to know your strength and weaknesses,” she said.
