Education bosses invited pole dancing company The Art of Dance to South Devon College in Paignton to give two demonstrations as part of their Be Healthy Week.
A packed crowd of around 1,000 teenage students, aged 14 to 19, watched the first display performed by company boss Sam Remmer in the main public area of the college...
The college has refused to comment on the issue, vice principal Pat Denham did say there was a "pole fitness demonstration but no pole dancing" and the college had received no "official" complaints.
Mrs Remmer said unless people are educated in the differences between modern fitness pole dancing and lap dancing then "negative stereotypes will not go away".
She said pole dancing is appropriate for young teenagers at school as it is a mix of dance moves and gymnastics and is excellent for fitness...
"If anything my classes empower women and therefore encourage them to be in control of their bodies."
After writing this, I discovered that "pole fitness" really is viewed differently from pole dancing, with thousands of YouTube entries. Here is a video of the finalists in a competition from the Netherlands. You learn something every day.
"You learn something every day."
ReplyDeleteEspecially true if you read this blog :)
If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, and acts like a duck, its a duck.
ReplyDeleteYou can understand why someone might disapprove of a pole dancing demonstration in a school, but watching the video, it's really more like gymnastics. In fact it reminds me a lot of circus performers hanging upside down on ropes. Pretty damn cool actually!
ReplyDelete