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Why pole dancing makes you a better person
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Women looking to get in shape for the New Year have been urged to try a fitness craze sweeping the country – pole dancing.

The gravity-defying dancing has long been seen as seedy and sleazy through its connections with gentlemen’s clubs and strip joints.

But it has now moved out of the shadows, and is being recognised as a performance art and a fitness favourite for thousands of women nationwide.

Ladies wanting to lose a few pounds after the festive excesses have been urged to give pole dancing a go.

Performers say it is a great way to get fit for women who are bored with the gym and want a fun way of developing their body tone, confidence, suppleness and flexibility.

Pole dancing schools are cropping up across the county and the art is being taught at several leisure centres.

Emma Smith, 24, a pole dance instructor at Topnotch, said: “I have a fitness background so coming out of my comfort zone and moving into pole dancing three and a half years ago was a big step for me, nowhere at that time did any classes and I wanted to be challenged.

“Maidstone took to it really well - I went from just two classes at the beginning to seven a week teaching five different group levels.

“I’ve now taken my classes to Tunbridge Wells. People there aren’t taking to it quite as well as Maidstone, they still see it as sleazy but I’m hoping to overcome that, they’re a tougher bunch to crack but I want a challenge and want to change people’s perceptions of it.”

This fun form of performing art is proven to build muscle tone and confidence, while producing bundles of giggles along the way.

“This class is by far the most rewarding I teach, pole dancing is graceful and gymnastic. The results I have seen are amazing, some people have lost a lot of weight, others self esteem have shot up and it’s helped people overcome back problems. It’s really changed their lives,” Miss Smith added.

Pole dancing is believed to have started in clubs in Canada in the late 1980s and only over the last two or three years has it been taken out of seedy strip joints and into dance studios.

Jo Roper, from The Goddess School of Pole Dancing, said: “I have women from 16 to 60 in my classes. Almost one in three girls has tried pole dancing and many have their own poles.

“I have girls who do business dinners, wedding parties and teach other women themselves. The demand wasn’t there for pole dancing a few years ago, it is now.”

Ms Roper has 16 years of dance experience and has performed routines on Channel 5’s Trisha Goddard Show in front of celebrities and at the London launch of the Pole Dance Federation.
Women who don’t necessarily want to be taught in classes can now also do it in the privacy of their own home with a ‘Peek-a-boo pole’.

The portable pole gives girls the opportunity to try new moves and keep fit on their own. The more pole practise a girl gets, the more confident, fitter and better she will feel.

For more information about Ms Roper’s classes held at venues in Canterbury, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, visit www.cardiostriptease.co.uk, or to find out more about Miss Smith’s classes at Topnotch, in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, call 07944869698.

To see Jo in action click here

 
POSTED: 23/01/2008 08:00:00

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