Mexico City, Mexico - On June 9th, pole
dancers in Mexico took to the streets to celebrate their sport and
show others the skills involved.
The Pole Dance National Day celebration saw pole
dancers gather in parks, outdoor gyms, and on streets, using street
lamps, sign posts, and other objects to put on displays across
Mexico City.
Pole dancing, or Pole Fitness, is becoming an
increasingly popular sport in Mexico, with many people seeing it as
a means to improve their strength and fitness. The Urban Dance Pole
day has now been running for three years and it aims to take away
the sleazy stigma often attached to pole dancing.
At first, there were just three places teaching pole
dancing in the city but there are now 55, according to the Mexican
press.
Yenifer Burgos, head of Pole Fitness Balance, said that
the aim of the day was to show pole dancing as a non-erotic sport:
"With this we try to make people realize that this is not just a
dance performed by exotic dancers in nightclubs, but it is a sport
that requires a high level of strength, concentration, and agility
to do the stunts."
"This certainly is a sport, it's more than a dance. It
strengthens the arms and the abdomen, and if you combine the pole
exercise with a good diet, no doubt you can have a healthy
life."
Burgos said that while the majority of Mexico's pole
dancing enthusiasts are currently women, more and more men are
participating, and the stunts they perform are extremely
demanding.
Pole fitness enthusiast Alberto Osorio said people are
starting to realize the sport is no longer exclusively related to
the sex industry and that there is already a Mexican Pole Fitness
Federation, which is looking to make it an Olympic event.
Erandi Montes, one of the organizers of the event, told
reporters that "What we show is that it is a different exercise and
is not about removing clothes in places that people associate with
pole dancing."
