Definition of pole dancer

The term "pole dancer" was originally used to describe women who worked in seedy nightclubs or strip bars, dressing up in skimpy outfits and performing sensuous and exotic dance routines around a vertical dance pole. The moves they executed, which included spins, climbs, and rolls, were commonly associated with striptease and lap dancing. The term "pole dancing" gained notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the popularity of strip clubs grew. However, the negative and derogatory connotations of the term led to a pushback from pole dance enthusiasts, who sought to reclaim the term and promote it as a legitimate form of fitness and dance. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, pole dance began to emerge as a sports and fitness discipline, with women and men participating in pole dancing competitions around the world. Pole dancing studios began to pop up in major cities, and the discipline gained recognition as a form of aerobic exercise, with participants claiming that it offered numerous health benefits, including increased upper body strength, flexibility, and coordination. Today, "pole dancer" is no longer synonymous with the seedy world of strip clubs. It now describes a diverse group of people, ranging from amateur enthusiasts to award-winning professional performers, who practice a wide range of pole dance styles, from traditional pole to contortion, aerial, and acrobatic pole dance. Despite this, some negative associations persist, and it is not uncommon for pole dancing to be stigmatized as a sexually explicit form of entertainment, rather than a legitimate art form and fitness discipline.