First visit to a sport club: Studio Move - Pole dancing

Finnish students wished to get acquainted with a completely new sport: Pole dance. So 20.4.2021 Erasmus group had a distance visit to Studio Move, which offers pole dance lessons and its students take part in national and international competitions.

Here is a synopsis from the visit made by Aaro and Roni:

Pole dancing is a new sport that is popular among youngsters. The goal is to do different dancing moves on the pole. 

It takes a whole lot of muscle and strength to be able to do the moves on the pole. Coordination is also key in the sport. In the practises you pretty much only train on the pole but there’s also muscle training.

Since it’s a new sport, the competitions are not so well-known, but they do arrange championships for at least FinlandTankotanssi. Depends on the competition whether the judging is strict or not, and what exactly the judges are looking for.  For example, in some competitions you get more points for your technique than for the moves you do on the pole.

In order to go in for pole dance, you’ll need at least the following equipment: a short top for females (naked belly), males use a tank top. Shorts and some kinds of grips are also needed. It’s good to always have a small towel with you when training, so you can clean the pole of your dead skin and sweat.

The sport itself is evolving all the time. The more people knew exactly what pole dance is about, the more people would be interested in it. Most people tend to think that it’s just some kind of stripping and not really a sport, meanwhile it’s one of the most difficult sports out there.