Spokane7
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September 5, 2009 in City
No nudity required in city’s ‘high-intensity’ striptease class
This fall, the Spokane parks department has the “route to a smoking hot body.”
“Exotic Strip Tease and Fitness Conditioning,” a 12-session class for teens and women, is one of the offerings in Spokane Parks and Recreation’s fall activity guide.
“It’s a class that helps women of all ages, shapes and sizes to appreciate their bodies for what they are,” said Christine Braaten, who will teach the class. She added that the class is “fun, upbeat” and a good workout.
Clothes – or at least a layer of them – stay on.
“There’s no nudity in the class. I mean, come on, it’s a fitness class,” Braaten said. Workouts include elements that would be recognized as striptease, but, she said, “there’s also a jazz feeling.”
Braaten, who co-founded East West Fitness World, a dance and martial arts studio on North Monroe Street, said the September class will be the second time she has taught the fitness sessions for the city. The first time 18 students enrolled for what was called “Exotic Moves Fitness Conditioning.”
Kay Nickerson, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Spokane’s Logan neighborhood, took the class earlier this year. She said the artistic element made the course more fun than other fitness courses she’s taken, and there also was a greater sense of camaraderie.
“I would love to do it again,” Nickerson said, adding there was little in the way of clothing removal in the course.
The fact that the class is open to girls as young as 16 might raise some eyebrows – especially because those who sign up for the parks department’s “Italian for the Traveler” class must be two years older. But Nickerson said she wouldn’t have a problem with older teens taking the class.
“I don’t see a problem with it at all,” she said. “I think it would be beautiful.”
Mimicking dance popularized in cabarets and strip clubs for fitness isn’t a new phenomenon. Pole dancing sans nudity also has become a popular activity for exercise and its artistic flair.
Park Director Barry Russell said it’s not unusual for recreation programs in other cities to schedule fitness classes such as striptease or belly dancing. He added that he’s heard no complaints about the offering in Spokane.
The class’s description in the parks catalog stresses the exotic nature of the activity: “Dangerous curves ahead! Want results you can see and feel? The route to a smoking hot body starts here. This class begins with an exotic warm up routine that includes strip tease choreography, followed by a high-intensity training routine, and finishes with a sensual stretch sequence.”
Braaten said her goal with the description was to “get people to understand it’s going to be fun and exciting without saying, ‘This is going to be fun and exciting.’ ”
MAC faces angry crowd 
shelby82 on September 05 at 8:33 a.m.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this on the cover of SR this morning!
A striptease class offered for teens by the city of Spokane!!!
What next…my daughter asking for a strip pole for Christmas. I am shocked and appalled that this is offered by the city…but then again this city is known as the “city of free handouts” and “the city that caters to sex offenders”! Maybe the city’s parks and rec dept. will offer a class on how to be a successful prostitute next.
lewis8457 on September 05 at 9:46 a.m.
who thought up the name of the class? apparently someone who frequents strip bars.
How many parents are going to enroll their 16 year old daughters into a street tease class?
how is it someone in the city hall never thought twice about the name of the class.
it could simply be named intense work out for women.
SharonG on September 05 at 11:45 a.m.
This is what I said in an e-mail to the head of Parks & recreation:
SERIOUSLY?????????? What are we, Sodom & Gomorrah, or training to be? Oh—let’s allow 16 & 17 year olds to learn to be strippers? Why not just offer How to Be a Ho-bag classes? What ever happened to teaching young woman dignity and to how to be respected as more than just the object of men’s sexual lust? Women have struggled to be respected by their male counterparts for centuries; this class sets that struggle back 50 years.
This is unconscionable. I can’t believe this is the crap my tax dollars pay for.
opiemuyo on September 05 at 12:20 p.m.
Glad I am not paying for it, Oh, wait, I am a taxpayer, I am!
I concur, the word unconscionable is very aproperate word choice.
revivalman on September 05 at 1:08 p.m.
America has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world with 35% of teenage girls getting pregnant at least once prior to the age of 20 and over 850,000 teen pregnancies per year. And the U.S. has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases with 3 million teens infected with an STD each year.
Park Director Barry Russell said that he’s heard no complaints about the offering in Spokane. Well Barry Russell, we don’t need our city offering a class that endorses the sexualization of young women, or women of any age for that matter. There is a reason why the above statistics exist.
This class is described in the article by saying, “I don’t see a problem with it at all,” she said. “I think it would be beautiful.”
I’ll tell you what the problem is. There is nothing beautiful about teaching teens how to move and dance like strippers. In fact it is sick, twisted and perverted.
Just because, “it’s not unusual for recreation programs in other cities to schedule fitness classes such as striptease or belly dancing”, doesn’t mean our city should follow suit. If you follow that line of reasoning you could justify just about anything.
We need to teach our women that they are more than just sexual objects and beings. What’s next? Do we offer pole dancing classes? Maybe that could become a part of our selective classes in our high schools.We don’t want this in our city.
RachelSuzanneAnderson on September 05 at 2:09 p.m.
IS THIS WHAT WE’RE WORTH?
Did you see the article “No Nudity Required in City’s ‘High-Intensity’ Striptease Class” being offered through Spokane Parks and Rec. for teens and women? Is this really what young women who are already dealing with their sexuality need? Is THIS what we want to teach and give to an emerging generation of young ladies who will be Spokane’s future leaders? Was raunchy sexuality what you had in mind? Everywhere we turn we are already bombarded with sexual images—the average teen sees more than 14,000 sexual images per year in TV alone: not including what’s seen in theatres, on magazine racks, on the internet, billboards, and now, even in city-sponsored fitness classes! We agree: “Dangerous curves ahead!” Come on, city of Spokane, our generation deserves something better then this!
Rachel Anderson, 16
Micaiah Green, 16
Maggie Anderson, 14
Ellie Roberts, 16
polegoddess on September 06 at 7:33 p.m.
What I have to add may surprise some. As you can see, my username is ‘polegoddess’. I am actually the founder and owner of the first REAL Professional Pole & Aerial Acrobatics School in the Inland NW Region-Goddess Arts Academy. Many of you have heard of me and my business and even seen me perform in various events around town. I opened my Pole Dancing for Fitness Studio nearly 2 years ago, with a great deal of controversy about what I was bringing to the community. After seeing what I ACTUALLy do-most people now understand that what I offer is Sport and Fitness-and nothing short of extreme acrobatics and strength training. Yes, we add the elements of sexiness and fun to some of our additional classes-such as Burlesque and Chair-and in some of our choreography. What I have NEVER added to any of my classes-even in naming them or joking playfully about them-is Sleeze. The words ‘Nudity’ and ‘Strip’ have intentionally been left coompletely out of my class names and definitely out of instruction. I was actually appalled when I read the title alone of the story-and even moreso the name of the class….how totally sleezy and taste-less do we really need to be? If those are the only words you can think of to describe the class offering-then it truly must live up to its title. Teaching Pole and Exotic Dance is actually an art form that not only requires professional skill, but taste and class. I have spent the past 2 years building up the true art of REAL pole and exotic-style dance in a classy, well-mannered way that NEVER includes the ‘stripping’ off or removing of anything-and definitely not when teen girls are in the room! I am offended that the parks department would ride the free wave of exposure Ive given them for the past 2 years and then down-grade it back to what they originally criticized me for and accused me of when I introduced the idea to the Inland NW…They should be ashamed to take advantage of trying to make a quick buck by jumping on the ‘striptease’ band-wagon-and doing it with such a lack of class. The goal of my business-Goddess Arts Academy-was not to make a quick buck-but to bring together my 20+ years of ballet, dance and gymnastics expertise and offer a new, unique, quality-driven fitness form to the Spokane Community. I’ve worked hard to maintain its’ true ‘cirque du soleil’ style history and roots and build honest confidence in my students through actual fitness elements such as strength, grace, technique, muscle, tone, flexibility and classy choreography. It’s sad to see someone with no experience or background in the performance arts try to take something beautiful and glamorize it for their gain-just because they can. If you’re not sure about it all-go ahead and take the class-then do some research on true World Pole Sport & Fitness and find out what its really all about. Decide for yourself what you think. I will offer this much: When you want to learn the art without the smut-ALL clothes ON….look me up. Heres a few links for your research:
www.myspace.com/goddessartsnw
www.formatpixel.com/poledanceintternational
www.misspoledance.com
www.worldpoledance.com
or google any of the following key words: Goddess Arts Academy, NW, Spokane Pole Dancing, Chastitie Pole Dancing, Cirque du Soleil, World Pole, Pole Fitness Association, Olympic Pole Petition
I am just hoping to continue to educate. There IS a difference between sleezy and classy, and it should be recognized, taught and marketed with discretion. Thanks for reading….
gonzopancho on September 08 at 1:40 a.m.
Even in Spokane, success at parenting a daughter means keeping her off the pole. (Yes, its a Chris Rock joke, not that anyone in Spokane would listen to a (oh gosh!) *black* comic.
With luck, *your* daughter won’t be one of the three ugly ones at Deja Vu.