The YouTube video opens on a darkened stage. Facing away from the audience, a woman clad in a bejewelled black and mesh leotard raises her arms over her head. As Bishop Briggs’s Never Tear Us Apart begins to play, she reaches out and grabs hold of a pole (unusually, suspended from the ceiling). With an unfathomable tolerance for the pain of skin grazing metal, she gracefully contorts her body, twirling around and up and down the pole as her sky-high heels slice the air – a perfect study in strength and sensuality.
As the last notes of the song fade, the dancer assumes a fierce stance next to the pole, then melts into a wilting flower – leaning forward, head bowed. The crowd roars off-camera, and she casually saunters off the stage.
The dancer is Kathy Lee – founder of pole-dancing studio The Pole Project in Woodstock, Cape Town. And she is changing the strip-club-only reputation of pole dancing in South Africa.
‘I used to be a lawyer for a big corporate firm in London,’ says the 36-year-old entrepreneur. As a child growing up in Singapore, Kathy never wanted anything more than to be a successful lawyer. ‘I’ve always been argumentative and I thought it would be cool to get paid to do that,’ she says. ‘I dreamed of studying law at one of the big universities in the UK, which is exactly what I did.’
At 16, Kathy packed up her life in Singapore to complete her A-Levels at an international college in the UK. She went on to get a bachelor’s degree at King’s College London, before earning her master’s at Oxford University. Afterwards, she joined a large corporate law firm, where she worked for five years.
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Fairlady.
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Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Fairlady.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
'DESIRE IS NOT WHAT MATTERS'
Emily Nagoski wrote the book on women and desire - literally. And then her own sex life dried up. Here's what a prolonged sex drought (and a load of research) taught her about maintaining intimacy in a long-term relationship.
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TREATMENT PLAN ON YOUR MARKS
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BIG SKY Country
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IS YOUR HOME MAKING YOU SICK?
Leaks, damp and poor ventilation in old or poorly built new homes are being fingered for a growing health concern: mould.
HOW TO REALLY GET TO KNOW SOMEONE
The Korean word 'nunchi' describes 'the ability to be sensitive to other people's moods and thoughts'. It's an underrated skill that we seem to have lost.
How to write a memoir
Whether you want to share your experiences and insights with the world, leave a legacy or track pivotal experiences for yourself, writing your memoir can be a grand and worthwhile adventure. Here's some advice on how and where to begin.
