Scaling new heights

Pole dancing is often associated with strip clubs and pornography, but a group of passionate dancers are hoping a new performance will prove to people that it requires as much artistic skill and athleticism as more conventional forms of dance. Chen Nan reports.

Wearing white tank tops and tight black shorts, dancers from the China Pole Dance Team climb a 3-meter steel pole. On their way up, each dancer gives a 30-second demonstration of their skills on the pole. They spin and twirl with legs straight and toes pointing to the ceiling while holding the pole. As they drop quickly and gently to the floor, the crowd gasps and applauds.

"This is art, isn't it," says Yuan Biao, clapping and standing next to the stage.

Pole dancing, long considered pornographic and associated with strip clubs, is emerging into the mainstream as an art form and a competition sport in China, thanks in large part to Yuan, a member of the World Pole Dance Federation who founded the China Pole Dance Team 10 months ago, the first team representing China to compete at the World Pole Dance Sport Fitness Championship.

Now the team, which is composed of 12 formal members and four alternate members, is going to perform a 90-minute pole dance show, Youth of Black and White, at Tianjin Haihe Theater on Sept 14 and 15, hoping to change people's impressions of pole dancing. "There is a stigma attached to pole dancing. Through drama and artistic quality, we hope to see pole dancing rid itself of the association with strippers. We want the audience to see it as any other dance form or sport," says Yuan, 33.

The show is designed to tell the story of the dancers' lives. By using four seasons to link the story, the show depicts how hard the dancers train and how much pressure they are under in the pursuit of their dreams.

"Like any other young people in China, they have a dream and stick to it. However, because their dream is pole dancing, they live a hard life, suffering from poverty and pressure from society and their families," says Yuan.

He also hopes the show can tour the country, which will help improve the living conditions of the pole dancers. "Most of the dancers make money from teaching. If the show goes well, they will gain confidence and continue to pursue their career," says Yuan. "They are just like athletes, who deserve respect."

Before getting involved in pole dancing, Yuan, who came from Henan province, was a lawyer making a good living. However, he was bored with his job and became interested in pole dancing after watching shows abroad and online.

"It's much more like acrobatics with a fun and elegant style, which is not like what I thought. It did get me thinking," says Yuan.

He started looking for skillful pole dancers in China and four people joined him. To expand the influence and call for new pole dancers in China, Yuan sold his car and house, spending more than 1 million yuan ($161,300) to organize the first China Pole Dance Championship in 2011.

Only 10 people competed in the first China Pole Dance Championship and in its second year, Yuan had to change to a smaller venue because the contest was considered "dirty".

However, what made Yuan happy was that the contest enabled him to find skilled dancers, who later became members of the China Pole Dance Team.

Meng Yifan, a 29-year-old Tianjin native and leader of the China Pole Dance Team, who represented China at the world championship in Switzerland for the first time in November 2012, was the first person to join Yuan.

In the show, she dances the winter and spring sections, which represent what the pole dancers have experienced in real life - moving from darkness to hope.

Having studied Chinese folk dancing since childhood and later trained in modern dance, Meng saw pole dancing for the first time online in early 2007. Like many people, she thought of pole dancing as being synonymous with strip clubs, however she found she was wrong.

"It was a performance from a Taiwan girl. I was amazed by her skill. It's beautiful, just like ballet," says Meng, who graduated from the choreography department at Tianjin's Nankai University. She bought a pole online and taught herself how to dance on it at home.

"I had been dancing on the floor for more than 20 years. The anti-gravity transition really excited me as a choreographer," she says. "I got addicted to it at once because it has everything I enjoy; strength, grace and flexibility."

Her parents, however, were worried when they found their daughter swirling around the pole in her room. When she told her relatives she was working as a pole dance teacher, they frowned and went silent. "I didn't care because there is nothing to be shameful about," she says.

The situation became better when Meng became the first Chinese contestant to be invited to the world championship. She now dances in a theater. "Now my family and friends are wowed by my strength and skillful moves on the pole," she says.

She also opened a studio in Tianjin to teach pole dancing. Most of her students are office ladies, who want to shape their muscles and lose weight. "Only two girls came to my first class. They didn't tell their friends that they were learning pole dancing because it's considered bad," says Meng. Now she teaches hundreds of students, female and male, and she is considering opening a new studio in Beijing.

To correct misconceptions about pole dancing, Yuan and Meng have written a book together. Titled China Pole Sport Origin, they claim pole dancing can be traced back to the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties, when pole dancing was a tournament or sport like gymnastics.

They also try to promote pole dancing as many ways as possible. Team members Song Yao and Liu Yan have appeared in 2012's China's Got Talent,where they performed on a pole. Yan Shaoxuan, a male performer in the team, also participated in The Dance and the Voice.

"I didn't want to dance for others in clubs. I want to dance for myself," says 25-year-old Yan from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. He won first prize in the first China Pole Dance Championship by practicing Shaolin kung fu on the pole.

"It's very frustrating to face discrimination, but the more we dance on the pole, the more we change people's minds," he says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.

Dancer Meng Yifan from the China Pole Dance Team practices for the upcoming pole dance performance to be held at Tianjin Haihe Theater on Sept 14 and 15. Zou Hong / China Daily