SEXY FITNESS

Pole and burlesque dancing have many benefits. Get into shape, boost your self-confidence, accept yourself, reclaim your sexuality and express yourself.

- SHANNON MANUEL

POLE DANCING

We started thinking of pole dancing as a legit skill long before the movie Hustlers hit the big screen. It’s moved away from its association with drug-addicted strippers, women with daddy issues and entertainment for men, and is now an art form that empowers women.

Kathy Lee decided to share its benefits with other people by opening a studio, The Pole Project, when she moved to Cape Town in 2012. It’s one of many pole-dancing studios that have opened across the country in response to the sport’s growing popularity.

She was working as a lawyer in London when a friend asked her if she wanted to ‘acquire’ her pole – she’d been trying pole dancing out as a form of alternative fitness, but was emigrating to Germany and didn’t want to take her pole with her.

“I’d heard so many great things about the art form, like what an amazing workout it is, and I’d watched YouTube videos. I became obsessed with it at my first class, enthralled by the dancers’ grace, strength and sensuality. I picked it up quickly because I’ve been blessed with natural upper-body strength, and I already had a background in dance. It was challenging, but also a lot of fun. I remember thinking I’d finally found the perfect hobby.”

What are the benefits?

I love combining impressive tricks that showcase unfathomable strength with sensuality and artistic movement because it allows me to embrace my fierce femininity, and be unapologetic about it.

Pole dancing increases your confidence and self esteem because you focus more on what your body can do than what it looks like. When you discover you can do more than what you thought you were capable of, this way of thinking shifts to all aspects of your life.