matic swirls reminiscent of an M. C. Escher painting, enhancing the artistic aesthetic and adding some sensory whimsy to the inevitable vertigo! And vertigo happens, because each pole spins. All of Waves’ poles are X-PERT Pros, the high-quality industry standard. Each apparatus has a ring at the bottom that lifts and twists, toggling between static and spin. The poles are between 8 and 9 feet apart, just like the ones on the PSO perfor- mance stage. PSO, or the Pole Sports Organization, hosts virtual and in-per- son competitions every year throughout the United States and Europe. The PSO performance stage has a spin pole stage-left, and a static pole stage- right, standing eight and a half feet apart from one another. These poles are both 12 feet tall. A twelve-foot pole is surprisingly hard to come by. Most in-home poles don’t go past eight feet. Even the best equipped studio poles are limited to the height of their ceiling, usually between 8 and 10 feet. That’s enough for one or two climbs, but not enough for three, or for aerial combinations where a poler loses considerable height. Like sudden drops. Or ceiling-to-floor tumbles. These are highly dra - matic showstopper moves in a competitive setting. They get high marks, they elicit loud cheers, and they’re fun to perform. But they do require practice. That’s why I go to Waves. Pole as a sport is like a tree with multiple root systems that flow to - gether. One root is the Mallakhamb, an Indian art where men perform ac- robatics on vertical wooden log. Another is Chinese pole, another vertical venture dominated by men. A third is the circus arts, a natural extension of these activities and the home of contortionists and acrobats. And the fourth and most notorious of these roots is burlesque, evolving into the “gentleman’s clubs” that most associate with pole dance today. And it is in the latter root system that modern pole has thrived. Dancers of all backgrounds, genders, and walks of life worked in these clubs, hon- ing the craft and polishing it with their sweat and blood to a high-chrome
83
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator