However, pole dancing is going to evolve. The sexy/artistic dancers cannot stop this evolution. I am not going to question the motives that some people use when they promote pole fitness any more than I am going to question the use of the word "Empowerment". I am simply going to dance my dances for those who appreciate my approach to pole.
I have a choice. I can work on choreography, learning new pole moves, listening to new music or I can waste my time trying to convince people that K.T. Coates is destroying an art form with the International Pole Sports Federation. The clearest statement of my commitment to the artistic side of pole dance can be found in my performances and the collaborations that I have had with my fellow dancers.
Last week I read a rather controversial article about pole dancing by Dr. Goal Auzeen Saedi, Ph.D in Psychology Today. I posted a quote from it on my Facebook page and took issue with the glaring bias in the article and her statement about rape culture. One of my friends replied, Refer to Annemarie Davies post about haters hating : "You are not the jackass whisperer."
Personally when this months blog hop topic was announced I though of a song by folk music artist John Gorka. I attended John's performance last January in Denver. He told the story behind his song, "Where the Bottles Break." He was living in the rough side of a Pennsylvania steel mill town. Big money was moving into that part of town, tearing down the biker bars and neighborhood stores. They were being replaced by corporate chain stores. In one line of the song John writes, "I just wanna make enough to buy this town and keep it rough."
I want to keep pole dance rough. I like my Scotch neat. Excessive gluteal exposure is ok with me. I have learned to dance wearing eight-inch platform heels because I wanted to feel what the other dancers feel when their heels hit the floor after a slow spin. A spin to a piece of music that expresses some emotion bubbling from deep inside themselves. A spin that says, Here I am. I am beautiful. I am sexy.
I'm not concerned about pole gymnastics becoming an Olympic sport. I'm not concerned about the mainstream or my dance getting a G-Rating. I'm just going to be a better dancer and artist tomorrow than I am today. If someone thinks that I am attractive either physically or intellectually because of my dance I'll take the compliment and run.
Where the Bottles Break
by John Gorka
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back for more
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music comes up through the floor
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music wakes me up
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious as basketball
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious
Four blocks from the steel mill blasts
I paint my claim up on the wall
Four blocks from the steel mill blasts
I paint my claim
From my end of the southside drag
It's a common thought to call the cops
Further west it's been gentrified
They turned biker bars into flower shops
I kind of miss those Harley guys
Who rarely did a body harm
They mostly liked to drink and shout
And flash the pictures on their arms
It happens when the money come
The wild and poor get pushed aside
It happens when the money come
The poor get pushed
The buyers come from somewhere else
And raise the rent so you can't hide
The buyers come from out of state
And they raise the rent
Buy low sell high
You get rich and you still die
Money talks and people jump
Ask how high low-life Donald what's-his-name
And who cares
I don't wanna know what his girlfriend doesn't wear
It's a shame that the people at work
Wanna hear about this kind of jerk
These people aren't saints
No people just are
They wanna feel like they count
They wanna ride in their own car
People aren't saints
No people just are
They wanna feel like they count
They wanna ride in their own car
I just wanna make enough
To buy this town and keep it rough
I just wanna make enough
To buy this town
Buy low sell high
You get rich and you still die
Money talks and people jump
Ask how high low-life Donald what's-his-name
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back for more
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music comes up through the floor
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music wakes me up
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious as basketball
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious
