Day 10 A Brief History of Pole Dancing

Article by KT Coates

Pole dancing has been around for longer than you may think......

Pole performing can be traced back thousands of years to china. The Chinese would place a wooden
pole into the ground and perform a series of acrobatic moves for the emperor, you can now see such
performance in the famous Cirque Du Soleil, but the pole dancing we are familiar with originated in the
1920's at height of the American depression. Travelling fairs would go from town to town entertaining the
crowds. As part of the fair they would many different types of sides shows in small tents surrounding the
main tent. One particular tent housed the erotic Hoochi Coochi dancers. The word Hoochi Coochi originates
from the hip movement performed by the Hoochi Coochi dancers, the equivalent of the bump and grind today
day. The girls would dance suggestively on a small stage in front of crowds of cheering. Due to size of the tent,
the tent pole would be situated at the very edge of the stage. The dancer would approach the tent pole and
begin to dance with it. The tent pole became known, as the dance pole, which still exists today, be it in a more technically advanced and socially acceptable form.


Pole dancing gradually began evolving from tents to bars as burlesque became more acceptable in 1950's,
nothing much was heard until the 1980's when pole dancing and striptease became popular in Canada and then
the USA.1990's saw Ms Fawnia Mondey (Canadian) take the art of pole dancing and begin teaching this to the
every day women. She produced the first instructional pole fitness and dance DVD.


2000 - 09 has been the most promising years. Pole dancing has evolved into different genres, exotic, empowering
and pole fitness. There is a great deal of difference between them and as the student you should try them all.

KT has made her own land marks in pole dancing history with the first pole dancing website to have video clips, online lessons, online instructor training and a totally dedicated pole fitness and exercise forum. She is also the proud owner of the first pole dance Guinness World Record helping to raise over £50,000 for charity.

Source KT Coates http://www.verticaldance.com