Pole Superstar is a pole dance competition to raise money for Single Parents in Need. Barbara Dial was the winner! Read on to get the scoop from Diane, creator of Pole Superstar.

The PoleSuperStar competition was held October 1, 2009, with people texting in their votes. How did the event go? Give us all the details!

The show exceeded my expectations! I was impressed with how creative the finalists got with their routines. I’m aware of how talented the girls are, and they really seemed to push their creative boundaries while showing the audience what they’re about. I was also overwhelmed with the audience turnout including a sold-out VIP section and capacity crowd, plus our webcast demographics show viewers in 22 countries! I was also very pleased that the show ran smoothly and all of our celebrity guests have expressed interest in participating again.

PoleSuperStar was a fundraiser for SPIN (Single Parents in Need). What was the amount raised and how will it be used? Will you be raising more money for this charity with future competitions?

We did reach our monetary goal for this event, and S.P.I.N. plans to donate $25,000 of the total proceeds to NYC’s Single Parent Resource Center to fund their programs, which include Youth Leadership, summer camp, and more. A lot of the children who visit the SPRC facilities do not have proper care at home, so I’m happy to help this organization specifically. S.P.I.N. will have more traditional fundraisers coming up, and we are planning another Pole Superstar competition as well.

How many pole dancers were competing and what were the final scores?

We had six finalists who competed at the show, and the winner was determined through audience & webcast viewer voting, via text message.

Finalists: Alethea Austin, Marlo, Becca Butcher, Sarah Cretul, Mina, Barbara Dial

Barbara Dial won the competition. What set her pole dance performance apart?

Well, ultimately it was the audience that chose her as the winner. In my opinion though, she mentioned in her video interview that she has a background in ballet and that was clear to me when I saw her performance. All of the finalists moved fluidly, and her fluid movement was very graceful and controlled like a ballerina. She also was the only competitor to dance barefoot and had extreme pointed toes at all times, which may have added to the ballet-like quality of her performance.

See Barbara Dial’s winning performance:

How can people find out about the next PoleSuperStar competition?

We have an opt-in newsletter that you can sign up for on our website www.polesuperstar.com. We also keep our Facebook, Twitter and Myspace up-to-date.

Favorite moment of the competition:

Too many to choose from! Each finalist had at least one show-stopping element in their performance, and those were my favorite moments.

Opening number by Diane Passage, Stephanie Vera, and Noelle Wood.

Three things that made the competition so much fun:

Again, too many to list, but my top three might be:

1) The finalists. Not only are they extremely talented, but they are all lovely & stunning women and great representatives of pole dancing.

2) Getting mainstream local & national recognition for pole dance, and having the finalists participate in the publicity. I had Becca, Mina and Sarah with me on the CW11 morning show, and they received a standing ovation from the newsroom & crew and had fans waiting outside the studio. Before the out-of-town finalists arrived, I had the NY girls do a photo shoot and interview with the NY Post and the story was picked up on Regis & Kelly, Fox News, Conan O’Brien, and more. I also enjoyed Becca’s reaction when I told her to watch TMZ and she got to witness the cast analyzing one of her moves! The media was impressed by the performances, and reported very positively on Pole Superstar and pole dancing in general. We had a lot of media covering the show – everywhere from bloggers such as the Huffington Post to newspapers to tv shows! Even HBO was there with a camera crew!

3) Crowd reaction. I am still receiving phone calls & emails from people who were in the audience that night and couldn’t believe what they saw. David Blaine & his fiance Alizee were in the audience with the world’s strongest man Dennis Rogers, and David mentioned to my husband that this type of pole dancing is another form of magic. I have also heard from a lot of women AND men that were inspired to take pole dance classes!

One thing you learned that surprised you:

That Bob Gruen was in the audience! He’s the photographer that took the famous picture of John Lennon in NYC. I didn’t get to meet him. Maybe next time!

Anything else you’d like to share:

As with all first time events, there are some things about the competition that we want to change for next year. I will post details on the Pole Superstar website in the next several months, but you can expect to see changes in how the winner is determined, as well as an increase in prizes. Please also check in with our website and social networks or sign up for our newsletter, as we have some exciting announcements coming up!

This post was a follow-up to an earlier interview with Pole Superstar. For more information, visit their site: Pole Superstar.

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