Utilisateur:Polegeek/Brouillon/referencesAajouter
The future of pole dance
From its genesis over two decades ago in exotic dance clubs, pole dance has consciously shed its striptease origins to become a global phenomenon. This article takes Japan as a case study to explain the evolution of pole dance as both a competitive sport and as a performance art, and then proposes that Japanese pole dancers are leading the way in the latter category. The analysis is driven by the author’s personal experience as a pole dancer in Japan: an experience ineluctably marked by gender and ethnicity. As a Caucasian male, the author stands apart from Japanese pole dancers; yet, this difference also enables him to stand in for the non-Japanese audience most likely to view the new performances in Japan through the racial stereotyping that defines ‘Oriental’ fetishism. However, the psychoanalytic concept of fetishism, reformulated and depathologized in recent queer theory, also yields insights into how pole dancers across the world have developed the new pole dance around a shared, embodied experience. This article employs queer theory to analyse the new expressions of this shared experience that troupes of Japanese pole dancers are developing. The article concludes by proposing that the global pole dance community comprises the best site of resistance to the inevitable fetishization that Japanese pole dancers will face as their highly theatrical ensemble shows debut to an international audience.
The Way of the Pole
This article follows China’s accession into the sport of pole dancing. With the art gaining international acclaim as a sport rather than as a form of striptease, a select group of Chinese athletes are taking to the poles at the China Pole Dance Sports and Training Center in Tianjin. The authors watch the athletes train commenting on the impressive show. Although so far performing in underwhelming fashion on the international stage, Chinese pole dancers at the CPDSTC, led by progressive-thinking Meng Yifan, are serious about the sport with their bodies and strict training regimes testament to their dedication. Reactions to the sport in China have been mixed with many arguing that it is low-class and erotic. Pioneers of Chinese pole dancing are nevertheless optimistic about the future believing it has the potential to go to the Olympics. The author comments that this may only be possible once it has lost its “stripper” image.
Pole studios as spaces between the adult entertainment, art, fitness and sporting fields
Taking an ethnographic approach, this article examines how pole is taught and embodied within pole studios. Pole studios stand at the nexus of the expansion of pole dance from the field of adult entertainment into the fitness industry, sporting world, and more. This article argues that pole studios serve as “spaces between fields” where pole is undergoing standardisation and production as fitness activity, sport, art, and erotic dance. Although divides exist, this study illustrates ways that pole studios can serve as a bridge connecting those fields. Studios in effect produced pole as a multifaceted activity by: offering specialised courses (e.g. fitness versus erotic pole dance classes), teaching leveled classes in the basics of poling that were hybridised and built students’ bodily capital in diverse ways without stigmatising them, and being ambiguous when discussing potential audiences. Such helps explain pole’s continued development. It also demonstrates the usefulness of Eyal’s concept of spaces between fields for scholars of sports and leisure studying shifts in the nature and function of physical activities.
Pole Dancing, Empowerment and Embodiment
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230290433
- Introduction Pages 1-7
- Towards a Feminist Ethnography Pages 8-24
- From Circus and Sex .… Pages 25-42
- … to Fitness and Leisure Pages 43-59
- What is a Pole Class? Pages 60-77
- What Not to Wear Pages 78-91
- Diversity and Empowerment? Pages 92-109
- ‘A Thing of Beauty’ Pages 110-129
- The Pole Community: Opening Closed Minds Pages 130-142
- Case Study 1: ‘Empowering Women with Confidence’ Pages 143-159
- Case Study 2: Power Moves and Everyday Bodies Pages 160-176
- Conclusion: A Positive Active Identity? Pages 177-187