Strippers! Pole fitness! Burlesque! Long ago, these communities lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the pole fit community attacked strippers by creating #NotAStripper. The Burlesque community also engaged in this attack, with comments such as “I do burlesque. It’s like stripping, but classy!!” This separation from the founders of the art of the tease/pole dancing left strippers feeling ostracised. Many years have passed, and it often feels as though strippers, pole fit and the burlesque community are at war with one another - when we should be able to coexist in peace.
So, how did we get here? Let’s unpack the history of stripping and pole fitness and why you should be proud of the stripper association instead of trying to seperate yourself from us entirely.
The Ancient Sacred Art of the Ritualistic Tease
Some of the earliest signs of the erotic art of the “tease” can be traced back to Paleolithic cave paintings in the south of France (these are more than 20,000 years old!). Erotic dance can also be linked back to the New Stone Age, where Archeologists have uncovered miniature statuettes of exotic dancers near the Black Sea regions of Bulgaria and Romania. These dances (women draped in animal fur performing sexually stimulated moves) are thought to have begun as an ancient ritual to gain the favor of the Goddesses of fertility and motherhood.
During the height of the Greek and Roman Empires, erotic and lewd strip teases were also performed by priestesses in sacred temples within the empire. They were performed in honour of the Moon, The Hunt, and the God of Wine, among many other ritualistic purposes. So when I say strippers are linked to the divine energy of old Gods and Goddesses, I mean it.
Dancing For A Profit
Many centuries later, the art of the tease as ritualistic practice evolved into a means of profit for the performers. Our strip through time now arrives in the 14th Century Middle East, where the art of belly dancing was founded. Belly dancers would dance suggestively, and spectators were encouraged to toss a coin or valuables at these performers. This Egyptian dance was a spectacle and a means of entertainment for its spectators: and this is the first known time in history where a female or male erotic dancer was known to be paid for their performance. But they never removed an item of clothing! Though nudity may have taken place in ritualistic practices of the past (as we saw in the Stone Age and Ancient Greece/Rome) adult entertainment was common practice in Ancient Indian Temples.
Fast forward again to 18th century Europe, where female courtesans were paid to erotically entertain men during big lavish celebration banquets. Humans have always loved feasts, and something - or someone - to entertain us while we eat. If you aren’t familiar with the word “courtesan”, know that these women who were hired to perform were prostitutes (so I just want to note that if you’re a stripper who thinks they’re above full service sex workers, think again! Our history is interwoven). An interesting aspect to note here is that this is a time in history where we can trace back the origins of the feathered fan: a mysterious and sensual art form that we see commonly used today by burlesque dancers.
From Banquents To Burlesque: The Modern Strip Tease
Which brings us to modern time Britain, where the burlesque scene was exploding! Burlesque is a style of performing that involves comedy, theatrics, singing, parody and of course nudity to entertain the masses. During the Victorian era, musical theater parody was a common form of entertainment for the low/working class (which is why I always have a wee giggle to myself when burlesque dancers today declare that burlesque is a “classy” form of stripping, history would strongly disagree!). Over time, it was the promise of the sexual nature of these shows that would bring in an audience.
Black Showgirls and Twerking
Around this time, we saw the introduction of the “hoochie coochie” dance. Created within the African American community during the mid to late 1800’s, “coochie” was slang for female genitalia. This style of dance evolved from belly dancing, and incorporated a lot of thrusting and gyrating. During the New Orleans bounce dance scene of the 1980’s, we saw the rise of twerking. The word “twerk” is likely a conjunction of twitch and jerk, which is the sort of movement required to pull off this style of dance.
This marriage between belly dancing, burlesque and the “hoochie coochie” resulted in many Showgirls during the early 20th Century recreating classical scenes from history: a common one was performing as Salome in the “Dance of the Seven Veils”. A prominent historical figure you may be familiar with is Josephine Baker, a versatile performer and civil rights activist. You may recognise her for her iconic “Danse Sauvage" act where she famously wore minimal clothing draped in a banana skirt.
All Eyes On Me, In The Centre of the Ring, Just Like a Circus!
I’m sure we are all familiar with the great depression of the 1920’s/30’s. Believe it or not, this is where pole dancing as a means of profit started to blossom. Sideshow attractions were common during this era in American history, and during the height of the great depression: performers experienced an economic drop. Theatres were forced to close, and in order to make ends meet entertainers took to sideshow attractions.
Many of these sideshow attractions took place in tents. And what holds up tents? Poles! That’s right, a literal tent pole was used to arouse male spectators. Dancers would strip, incorporating the tent pole into their performances. They would climb the pole, spin around it, or grind against it to simulate a penis. It seems that throughout history; adult entertainers were well aware that if you simulate thrusting on anything that resembles cishet male genitalia, the men will give you anything you want! And we want their money, so grab that tent pole and thrust!
The Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s, Police Raids and Trans Activism
During the 1950’s and 60’s we saw a rise of burlesque lounges and cabaret bars being a common form of entertainment, and the poles founded in sideshow tents were incorporated into these burlesque lounges. In Aotearoa, many of these burlesque lounges hired trans women and drag queens as entertainers. A notable performer of this time was Carmen Rupe: a trans woman, sex worker and social rights activist.
In America during the 1960’s/70’s, strip clubs were frequently raided and shut down by police for clashing with “decency laws''. Before online censorship, strippers were being censored in real life. But as we saw with alcohol during the prohibition, the demand for strip clubs and adult entertainment was too popular to ignore. With the end of the Hays code in 1968 and the introduction of contraception in pill form: the rise of the sexual revolution called for decency laws to be re-examined. Society was slowly moving away from the conservative lifestyle that 1950’s America upheld and starting to move towards more liberal ideologies.
Unfortunately, police raids in adult entertainment establishments are still common practise in many parts of the world where sex work is still criminalised. These raids often result in police brutality and sexual assaults that go unreported due the power imbalance between the police and sex workers. And it’s trans sex workers of colour bare the brunt of that violence. ACAB! ACAB! ACAB!
80’s Fitness Frenzy! The Invention of Pole Fitness
We have finally reached the point in our strip through time journey where we have the launch of pole fitness! With all of this history in mind, I am sure it will come as no surprise to you when I say that pole fitness was founded by strippers. During the 1980’s, a Canadian strip club opened up a pole studio in order to teach their dancers pole moves for the clubs. Similar to many pole studios today, they taught polework as well as floorwork, incorporating many styles of dance founded in Black communities. A young Canadian woman named Fawnia was hired as a stripper during the 1990’s, and she has been credited as being the first person to branch out and start teaching civilians how to use the pole. She was also the first to create and distribute an instructional pole video which had worldwide success.
Over time, as this craze swept the world and more pole studios popped up, pole became recognised as a sport and a form of fitness. Because of this, many pole fit dancers are trying to separate themselves from strippers. Playing devil's advocate for a moment, I can see why: when you want to be taken seriously as a athlete in a world that demonises sex workers and sexuality, it’s no wonder that the pole fit community have internalised puritanical beliefs. However, if you’ve learnt anything from this strip through time, it’s that without strippers, you would not have pole fit as we know it today.
Can’t we all just get along?
You don’t have to be a stripper to appreciate pole fit: but if you're not a stripper and you do pole fit or burlesque (especially if you’re an instructor who profits from it), there can be no room in your heart to look down on strippers, or sex workers for that matter, when you are essentially cosplaying as us for sport or a hobby. Sex workers are already a heavily marginalised community, and the last thing we need are the people who are borrowing moves from our industry to feed into the negative stigma we have to combat on a day to day basis. The pole fit community are using moves created by strippers (more specifically, Black strippers) and by trying to create this separation; strippers don’t feel welcome in a community that would not even exist if it weren’t for strippers.
Now that you’re aware of the history of stripping and pole fit, you are fully equipped with the knowledge needed to call out pole fit dancers or burlesque performers when they try to separate themselves from strippers. Instead, let us come together and celebrate that our history is interwoven! #StrippersInventedPoleFit
