Pole Dance Competition Musings
So, I’ve been thinking …
Given all the pole dance competitions going on, I’ve been thinking a lot on how we rank pole dancing. At the amateur levels, it’s split in the usual manner: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
We value dance ability, but we also value gymnastic skill. So it makes sense to me that the people who excel at both would be the most advanced. Yet the result of this is a trend towards pole dance being pushed towards more and more aerial work.
And I have no quarrel with that.
Except …
The thing is, I’m wondering how that will continue to work as pole dance divides into different styles. It seems to me that pole dancing with an emphasis on dancing would look very different at the advanced level than pole dancing with an emphasis on aerial work.
Think about it: what about a superb performance that does spins and some inverts, but doesn’t really stay purely on the pole the way, say, Jenyne or Felix do? Could that performer never be considered “advanced?” Would they always be beaten by someone who dances beautifully but stays predominantly on the pole?
I really wonder about that, because that steers pole in a particular direction, while leaving other paths off to the side.
An idea
It’s not like I have this idea well thought out, but it seems to me that we might need different styles of pole dancing to have their own divisions at competitions, and have beginner, intermediate, and advanced categories within them.
I don’t know what the terms would be, so, for the sake of clarity, let me just divide things into pole dancing and pole acrobatics. Both would require stage presence and skill, but pole dancing would be more of a cabaret-style performance – lots of dancing, lots of theater. Pole acrobatics, on the other hand, would emphasize the dramatic moves and aerial skills.
To me, both approaches to pole have great artistic and creative potential, and I would like to recognize great pole dancers of both styles. Letting pole dancers compete within their chosen division could encourage creativity in a wider variety of directions, and allow more pole dancers to participate in the competitions.
What are your thoughts?
I’m still toying with this idea. Tell me, what do you think? Would it help to have different pole divisions? Is there a place for fantastic pole dancing that isn’t purely aerial? (And would that place necessarily need to be in a competition?) Or am I just missing some major point?
I agree – when I make up routines in my head, at LEAST a third of the song is taken up by non-pole stuff. Usually I’m imaging a beautiful combinations of jazz, ballet and some impressive gymnastics (back flips, walkovers, etc).
In Australia we just held our first annual Australian Pole Dance Championship (soon to be Australasian I believe) and we had a ‘freestyle’ category and a ‘pure pole’ category. Freestyle was NOT improvisation, but it allowed for performing, costuming, dancing etc over 3 poles (some static, some spinning). Pure pole had required pole moves, and was limited to classical music, black croptop + shorts and only 1 static pole. So that’s a start in the direction you’re talking about, I think.
In many respects I think that pole dancing and figure skating (on ice) are very similar in both physical demands and esthetics. Both require great physical strength and there is an emphasis on both the dancing part and the technical tricks. I watched a lot of figure skating as a child and when I stated watching all mayor competitions were won by a German girl who danced like and elf. She was very graceful and elegant. The technical tricks were of cause there but they were secondary to the dancing. All her competitors tried to emulate her with more or less success. When she stopped there was a short period with no dominating trend in the performances but then a small American or Canadian girl started winning. She was anything but graceful but she was very powerful and could do some of the tricks that up until then only the male figure skaters could do. Now everybody scrambled to do the tricks she could do and figure skating became for a while all about who could do the Triple Axel. I didn’t find this particularly interesting so I stopped watching figure skating.
My point, however, is that I think (and hope) that right now we are in the mist of such an “arms race” of difficult tricks between the top dancers. Who can do the Triple Axel flawlessly and how many time can you do it? At some point everyone can do it and it becomes less important.
I do find one aspect of figure skating very applicable to pole dancing: the judging. In figure skating you get two point: one for the dancing part and one for the technical part. In this way it becomes difficult to win if you can only do one of them. You need both and I think this goes double for pole dancing. Otherwise I fear that we will end up with two different styles that have nothing to do with each other: the burlesque/performance/edgy style and the pure cirques acts. Some might see this as a good thing. I would see it as a loss, since to me, pole dance done right really should be about both.
Yes, Yannori gives faith to a lot of us!
Thank you! So glad someone else thinks about it too! I woke up today and thought about it actually and then came across your post. I was thinking “OK, Felix is a great pole acrobat, but do I view her as a pole dancer?” Please, don’t throw tomatoes at me lol I know she is phenomenal, but I miss something. And when I read your post it hit me. To me, she is POLE ACROBAT. That’s what it is. The element that I was looking for is good old pole dance, womanly, with hip movements that drive men nuts. That’s just me. Thanks for helping me clarifying it in my head. Yep, there is a difference in those 2 types of performances. Seems like pole acrobatics take over and pole dance is a dying art.
((( But then again, I watch Yannori move and have faith pole dancing is doing fine. Makes me happy 
@svarri – I hadn’t known that about the UKAPP comp – thanks for sharing that!
The one competition that actually does something like what you suggested is the http://www.ukamateurpoleperformer.com/
They have a ‘performer’ category. From the info they sent out they marked this category on: Costume, Theme, Fluidity, Spin Smoothness, Dance Routine, Crowd interaction, Fun Factor. The moves that were legal for that category were Basic Invert, Climb, pole sit, cross ankle/knee release, transitions, splits on the floor only, any basic spin
There are some people who are very strong dancers but find tricks more challenging. It’s not fair that they get edged out as some of the amazing performances I’ve seen have involved only spins, dance, floorwork and transitions.
However, there is the fact that pole, rather than most other forms of dance has exciting upside down things you can do. It feels odd to leave that all out.
I think it ties in with how accessible pole is. If all people do see is Felix and Jenyne level stuff I think that can actually be a little off-putting as it is a very difficult standard to strive for. The early appeal of pole as I understand it was that (almost) anyone could learn it.