Latest fitness trend moves pole dancing out of strip clubs
DETROIT — The women gathered in a cloistered dance studio at a Detroit gym share a sexy secret. It’s one that’s making them walk taller, prouder and with a bit more swish in their hips.
Their secret: a new form of dance that sneaks in an aerobic, flexibility and toning workout while the students focus on unleashing their inner vixens by learning routines inspired by exotic dance.
From an episode of the CBS comedy “The King of Queens,” in which Doug, disappointed when Carrie displays no aptitude for pole dancing, shows her how it’s done, to actress Sheila Kelley’s 2003 appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to promote her “S-Factor” stripping workouts, pole dancing and exotic dance-inspired exercise has permeated popular culture and moved from the strip club to the health club.
“With it being on ‘Oprah’ and getting a lot of media play, the interest is starting to grow. It’s been big for a while on the East Coast and West Coast, but we’re in the Midwest. People are conservative here,” says Kania Kennedy, 30, who teaches Detroit women to bump and grind through “Exoticise” classes.
Like Kennedy, Kari Shaver, 34, then a stay-at-home mom, heard about the trend on “Oprah” and ESPN. She was inspired to learn and eventually began teaching pole dancing through her own company, Pole Addiction, in Port Huron, Mich.
In her third week of the evening beginners’ “pole addiction” class Minnie Love’s tattoo peeked out from under pink shorts as she strained to pull herself up onto the silver pole.
“When I was growing up, this was a no-no. It wasn’t the proper thing to do. Now it seems to be nice-naughty,” says Love, a 51-year-old leasing agent who wore fuchsia polish on her toenails.
Both Kennedy and Shaver are adding classes to their schedules to meet demand.
One recent evening, Kennedy’s students strutted about, facing their reflections in the mirrored wall and fluidly followed her through a dance number that included such provocatively named moves as the “booty pop” and “thigh high.”
Medical student Temeka Fulgiam, 30, is a Detroit medical assistant who enrolled in Kennedy’s fit-tease class “for a workout and toning and for fun. I feel sexier and I’ve already noticed some toning has started. I did one dance move at home. It went well,” she says.
Despite the titillating names of some of the steps, Kennedy bristles at the notion that this form of dance is the exclusive purview of the stripper. She says her choreographers do not have special exotic dance qualifications nor, for the record, does she.
“It’s an appreciation of yourself, your body, your hips, your thighs – however you are. Especially for women, we develop osteoporosis and lose our bone density as we age,” Kennedy says.
“It’s important to keep active and stay fit.”