Not A History, But An Introduction to Pole Dancing for Men

This particular entry has taken me forever to work on. I guess it's a little overwhelming to find such great male pole dancers/artists/athletes, and then choose which to reference for this post.

Let's start with what most of us know when we hear the words "male" and "pole dancing." For someone completely new to pole dancing, you may very well have limited references, relying mostly on mainstream media. I'm guessing that the most televised demonstration of male pole dancing would have to come from Season 6 of America's Got Talent, in 2011: Steven Retchless.

Now let me first start off by saying, nothing he just did was easy, and he did it in heels on top of that. Retchless presented a mix of strength, agility, flexibility, and grace. I commend him for presenting something new to a show that gets a lot of viewership. That alone was a brave step in the right direction towards the awareness of pole fitness and dancing. I would like to, however, make a statement to those of you who are new to pole, which is: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WEAR HEELS to pole dance. Heels are completely a personalized style, and nothing required for what you may want to do... neither are the shiny hot pants.

Before you click that BACK button, Steven also does routines without heels, just sayin:

Amazing, isn't he?

Let me repeat: HEELS ARE OPTIONAL, NOT REQUIRED!


How about we find something older than 2011. Here is a video of Dave Kahl, the Male Division Ultimate Pole Champion, at the International Pole Dance Fitness Championship - Tokyo 2009:

Notice the different styles between Retchless and Kahl. That's the amazing thing about pole dancing: it's so dynamic in the sense that you get to mold it to your own personality.


On that note, I leave you with one final video for this post, my personal favorite, Josiah "BAd AZZ" Grant:

 He's definitely a force to be reckoned with. Expect me to post more of his work in the future.

There are so many amazing and brilliant pole dancers/artists/athletes around, and I this post can only go for so long. I know I've left out some amazing people, but trust me, I'll definitely be writing about them in the future.