What is the definition of pole dance?
Pole dancing is an intense, all-around sport that allows you to burn calories and tone your entire body: find out what it is and its benefits here
- Pole dancing: the origins
- What it takes to do pole dancing
- Slimming down with pole dancing
- The physique before and after
- Valentina Ferragni and pole dancing
Pole dancing is a mix of gymnastics and pole dancing, not to be confused with pole dancing, another activity that involves the use of a pole but is not sporty, but rather playful entertainment and practiced in strip clubs.
Pole dancing is based on the performance of acrobatic figures, requiring considerable strength, fluency, coordination, agility, flexibility and endurance.
Having become a real sport, pole dance saw the first Italian Championship held in Rome in 2010, sponsored by the Italian Pole Dance Federation, while the first World Championship was held in 2005 in Amsterdam.
Pole dance: the origins
According to historical sources, pole dancing originated in circuses, and developed in North America during the depression years of the 1920s. Circus performers apparently used tent poles to carry out real performances during traveling shows.
Other sources, however, indicate pole dancing as a sport derived directly from Mallakhamb, a practice using a wooden pole on which men usually performed, which originated in 12th century India.
Pole dancing then gradually began to evolve from a traveling show to a regular fixture in bars around the 1950s, at the same time as Burlesque.
What it takes to do pole dancing
To practice pole dancing you need one and only one pole. But not all are the same. Pole sizes-which affect performances-vary from diameters of 50mm, to the smallest of 38mm.
The main materials used for poles are stainless steel, electrolysis chrome-plated steel, or brass round bars.
The different surface finishes of the material have unique gripping properties: polished steel is one of the most slippery of the materials listed therefore suitable for figures requiring less grip (anchoring), and allows for a faster, more fluid dance, while brass poles provide more friction, allowing a firmer grip of the hands and other body parts that allows for the realization of a slow, sinuous dance or sudden clamping by tightening of the legs or arms during fast descent. If you are intrigued by the practice and want to get started, all you have to do is grab a bag, throw in a coulottes and tank top, and look for the nearest school to try a class. Accomplice to the boom in recent years, you won't struggle to find a serious facility where you can test yourself.
Slimming down with pole dancing
Pole dancing is an intense and comprehensive sport-as well as fun-that requires commitment, dedication and the right physical training to increase strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination.
All this allows you to burn calories while toning your entire body. Slimming down with pole dancing, therefore, is possible: in one hour of activity you burn about 500-600 kcal. With this sport you work evenly over the whole body, both upper and lower, also thanks to the initial preparation exercises to be performed without the pole (such as planks and crunches).
The physique before and after
Already in the first three months of training you will be able to notice the first results: the shoulders are shaped, the back and arms are firmed, the waistline is thinned, legs and buttocks are sculpted and simultaneously become stronger and more resilient.
Valentina Ferragni and pole dancing
Among the VIPs who practice pole dancing is Valentina Ferragni, sister of super influencer Chiara. Valentina has been doing this activity for more than three years, and if at first, as is normal, the movements were clumsy (she shared falls and bruises with her fans, without embarrassment), now the influencer has become a true expert. This is evidenced by the videos she often uploads to her Instagram page, where she shows quite difficult stunts and poses.
