Pole dancing: a sensual dance or a sport?

Although pole dancing was combined with night clubs and strippers, over the years this has dramatically changed. Have you ever heard about its origins? These are a combination of different cultures. Firstly, it was an exotic dance in Africa in medieval Europe. It is said that, in some African tribes, the future wife had to dance on a wooden pole in front of her husband in order to please him sexually.

Secondly, pole dancing was a type of Indian sport. Mallakhamb was a traditional Indian dance in which athletes performed some acrobatic moves on a wooden pole. Just like pole dancers do today, except the fact that only males could train at that time. 1000 years ago, pole dancing was, also, one of the main traditional sports in China. Chinese athletes used to make performances in which they climbed on two 6-metre-high poles and only men had the chance to participate in.

Going back to 12^th century, Maypole takes place in the western world and specially it was influenced by Paganism and Roman rituals. According to Maypole, girls used to dance around the pole, which was decorated with flowers. It was a kind of fertility ritual for Paganism.

Last but not least, in the 1920s, pole dancing appeared in circuses as a form of sensual choreographies where female dancers used to dance on the poles in order to support the circus stage. It took place in the USA and since then pole dancing became the core of Burlesque and cabaret scene.

What about modern years? In 1980 this kind of dance became widely known in Canada and the USA because of lap dance and striptease that were integrated into pole dancing. Fawnia Mondey, who was hired as a dancer in Exotic dance in Canada in 1994, tried to combine so the athletic side of pole dancing as the dancing one. She was the first to make both DVDs about learning the art of pole dancing and to establish her own Exotic dancing school.

Nowadays, pole dancing takes part in many competitions around the world and it is also considered to take part in Olympic Games very soon. Did I change your mind yet about pole dancing’s athletic part? If not, I promise I will in next articles.