Originally the question posed 9 years ago was is there anyway to convince parents pole dance is good exercise? (original article at the bottom) and now the question is did we ever even have to convince parents that pole dance was good exercise to begin with?
For the last 15 years the world of pole fitness and the pole dancing space have taken a lot of the heat on a taboo art which also has respectively come quite along way. First of all through just sheer overall awareness of the sport. Also through the evolution of the daring dancers-to-be who took the big leap and stuck to pole, slowly changing it’s swanky backstory to a more accepted form of art and fitness.
Vertical ballet as we like to say (and we’ve seen this evolution). Since 2005, All Star Stages has been providing commercial grade portable “stripper” pole units for pole dancers in the production and live event performance sector.
A decade ago, all the talk around pole dance competition to make it into the Olympics caused the pre-SJW uproar while plenty of parents were up-in-arms that their children would ever dare even consider trading money for training on the sport who’s background stems from the ever-fascinating strip-club scene, albeit that from decades ago.
Now those parents are 10 years older. Teenagers are now in their twenties. And the pole doesn’t have the same type of taboo, or does it still?
Like Elvis shaking his hips in the 50’s that got your grandmother all in a tissy (or maybe your grandmother’s mother), just like Madonna in the 80’s, like gangster hip hop of the 90’s, Howard Stern of the airwaves– blah blah blah ~ same old story.
So the question was 9 years ago right here: Anyway to convince parents pole dance is good exercise?
A question a budding pole dancer may ask due to her parents potential objections.
How much of this is no different than your choice of music in your teenage years?
Who Cares Now? Who Cared Ever!!
Therefore did we ever have to convince our parents that pole dance is good exercise?
Nope.
Similar stories in the medical marijuana and the CBD situation in the United States. Lovers and haters. Even California had a medical cannabis program established in 1996. Legalization came in 2018! Something tells me there are far more pro pot peeps out there– and still acceptance took a heck of a long time.
Needless to say, the good fight for pole fitness continues, even more-so with the male population entering the space, a stunning percentage of the other 1/2 roaming earth continues to rise– as does this article that we re-found and updated in the vault, which was originally written in May of 2010.
Are parents still apprehensive or are they just straight-up opposed that their offspring would dare to go bare and take on fitness with a literal twist? How much does or does any of this even matter in a post social media era?
For this writer, I think the same is true as in 2010– kind of. I think it’s more acceptable and I also have spent the last 15 years watching the industry change just through the type of projects we at All Star Stages were/are confronted with over the years. Not to mention the youth who now is 25 years young– were only 5 when we started in the industry.
If I’m a parent reading this, should i allow or praise my kid for considering pole classes?
Idk.
It depends on how you’ve raised your children, what type of people they are, where they are at in life and whom they surround themselves with i.e. their friend groups and their interests/hobbies.
Ask yourself these questions:
Will this help or hurt over the long term?
Will this lead to destruction?
Will this lead to empowerment?
It really all depends on the person. If they have a knack for promiscuity, drugs and the dark underground vs. valedictorian and heading to Yale w/ a 4.0 GPA, then I think you could probably guess who’s gonna prevail in a positive way and who may ultimately jump on the front row seat w/ their foot pressed on the gas towards the downward spiral.
Then of course we also have the polar opposites. The unassuming. The anomalies. The Vale-D’s who trade-in 4.0’s for 9″ stiletto’s (Elizabeth Berkley from Saved by the Bell anyone?) or the underground girl that ultimately got her act together and turned her pole tendencies to entrepreneur gold and positivity for women empowerment.
These are just 2 types of totally different people examples. Obviously we all could be sprinkled w/ good and bad all over the spectrum.
One thing to remember after all, this is not your life. Of course if you are legal guardian then you have final say but you’ll never have legal guardian over [their] thoughts, dreams, inspirations, wants and wishes.
As parents, you hope for the best outcomes based on your shared DNA younger-selves decisions.
Maybe back-off a little bit and see if they prevail.
It’s fitness. It’s art. It’s not going anywhere but up in acceptance, popularity & competition over the next decade.
Check out the original article as it was written 9 yrs ago below. Feel free to throw your 2 cents in the comment section below on what you think about today’s pole dance world vs a decade ago. Do we still need to convince parents that pole fitness is good exercise or you think we’ve passed that point?
Happy [Pole] Dancing ~
May 2010
While shuffling around the internet I found a cute little relationship blog that I felt the need to comment on. The title of the post was “Can I convince my parents pole dancing is good exercise?”.
Great topic.
I couldn’t resist leaving a comment (which you may do so below as well), but rather than bore you w/ the simplistic comment that I made, I thought that I’d just elaborate a little.
First off; the United States is a couple of years behind Europe and the rest of the world that embraces pole dancing. You figure on t.v. commercials over there, they show nipple. Red light districts and strippers are everywhere. And weed too.
But we’re a little more up-tight in America and won’t put up w/ that.
Unfortunately though, pole dancing, which is derived from the stripper world, has the black market effect on society when it should be considered more of a black tie event on society.
There is a tremendous amount of upper body strength needed to pull off some of the moves you see these acrobatic artists do on the pole.
Will your parents buy it for the art of pole dance???
Currently, I don’t think so. There are too many PSA’s (public service announcements) and after-school specials, that somehow pole dancing gets mixed up w/ all that and receives negative attention.
When the news at night goes into uproar about Miley Cyrus gripping a stripper pole on stage at her latest concert and Lindsay Lohan using a stripper pole to hold herself up after a hard night of drinking… No wonder the media propaganda bulls**t that is delivered to the masses will have negative appeal attached to it.
What else do you see on the news??? Who was shot, who got be-headed today, why we should blow up that other country–etc.. etc…
Do you think that you’d ever hear anything good about pole dancing??
Course not.
Then along came the Olympics. Finally a more positive approach towards the art of pole dance….errrrrr……nope. The F’in media turned that one around on us too.
We blogged about pole dancing to the Olympics and everyone else did as well… Then the media started doing the stories–and for the record, pole dancing in the Olympics might turn out to be like Skateboarding in the Olympics. Yah, remember that?
Only time can tell though. I would assume that another couple of years and all the adult cry-babies out there thinking their little babies are going to grow up to be strippers–I have news for them:
Watch Oprah. She’s done 8 episodes on pole dancing for fitness.
And for all the studios out there: If you want to show the empowerment of women and the positive influence that pole dancing brings to the mental and physical world–maybe you should stop w/ the “Lap Dance” classes, as they don’t have anything to do with the art of pole dance.
Remember folks, the kiddies are watching.
…and here’s your pole dance trick video tip from those we luv at youtube:
How to Do Pole Dancing Leg Hook Moves : Reverse Roll Pole Dancing Double Hook Dismount