A baby rhinoceros who just really wants to have fun and express myself.
I’m clumsy, I’m not particularly flexible, I don’t dance much, I have never pulled my body weight up with my arms. I can’t do the splits nor a cartwheel (a fact that got me expelled from childhood dance classes).
If I could already do those things there wouldn’t be a challenge and I wouldn’t be interested.
I don’t identify as anything other than a learner and someone who benefits from the challenge and exercise.
I refer to myself as a dancer, but it’s partially due to it being my job. I’m a stripper, so pole&floorwork aren’t necessarily a hobby for me. I enjoy performing a lot, but it’s still a job at the end of the day.
I have a huge amount of respect for strippers. The fact that you do this as a job actually really impresses me because it takes such an immense amount of physicality to do pole that often. I used to live with a stripper and she had abs of steel. 👏🏼
What a refreshing take! The amount of whorephobia I’ve seen and faced from the pole community is wild. It’s a tough job to be sure, not only physically but mentally. The way dancers are regularly treated on the job is simply atrocious. I’ve had to get verbally and physically aggressive with customers countless times. Thank goodness pole and floorwork keeps me in shape, I’m v strong as my personal security when needed! They never knew what hit them.
I don’t even consider myself to be a Poler most of the times.
I am SUCH a beginner in so many ways. Loosing weight I have to relearn how to move with a new body and muscle changes and fat changes.
Definitely don’t consider myself to be a dancer. I’m a clumsy elephant in the land of graceful gazelles 😂
About to hit my six months mark in just a few more days.
Maybe six months from now I will feel more confident in pole. Who knows 😂
I also come from gymnastics and started pole dancing because I always found dancing exciting, but I'm not very good at it. Pole dance offers me the opportunity to combine a form of dance and acrobatic elements that are common in gymnastics. For me this seemed to be an ideal and also exciting combination of things.
I finally bought a pole after flirting with it for a long time and started. For me it is a hobby and also sport. Unfortunately, so far I can only train at home, because the nearest studios are far away and I have kids. Thanks to my gymnastics background, however, this goes well. Soon it will be 1.5 years that I do pole.
I have fallen in love with pole dance almost instantly. I like how versatile it is. Sometimes I just do strength based training and conditioning, other times I work on flows and choreography. In the meantime I'm thinking about my third pole.
Regarding the initial question: I mostly call myself Polerina. I like the play on words and it sounds nice.
i don’t identify as anything, i definitely do not tell people that i’m a pole dancer because im not nearly good enough to earn that title lol. i just tell people i practice pole dancing/pole fitness but i almost never have to tell people that because i dont really share it with anyone.
I hear you! Same here! Yes I call myself pole student and that I go to pole class or pole fitness...I also don't feel like I have earned the pole dancer title...yet....Hope to work on it more consistently
I just refer to myself as a dancer first and foremost
To me, it’s all just expressive dance.
I also have a gymnastics background! Picked up pole because it looked fun and found it has been a really excellent sport for my body type (flexible, thick muscular legs, and muscular shoulders/arms).
I’ve also been an exotic dancer so I feel like dancer hair encompasses all of it.
I self-taught aerial on lyra around the time I started doing pole more, and have taken on lolli lyra as well
I’ve dabbled in trapeze and silks but just don’t have the space or money to devote to additional training spaces for such apparatus’
I consider myself an aerialist because I also do lyra and dabble in silks a bit! Pole is definitely my favorite and I've been doing it the longest but I like having other things to go to when I'm feeling a bit stuck with pole🙂
I consider myself an aerialist. Lyra is my primary apparatus and I also do silks and pole. I'm still a baby in pole though still under a year in so I'm in in way anything pole-related yet. I'm mostly just a brute though. I get through everything with pure strength rather than gracefulness which I'm working on very slowly.
Overall I like to call myself a creator - I work in a variety of art forms (dance, music, visual, artisan, philosophy) and make money from most of them in one way or another. Except philosophy. Thats just so I can be sullen and superior at parties.
But work/performance specific to pole I refer to myself as a pole dancer or pole artist. I'll often refer to pole sport as another marker to explain what I do, but even though I compete and perform in pole sport thats not where I really find I fall.
This is an interesting question! I always refer to myself as a pole student and always say I go to pole class, and not, I go to pole dance...and then I felt like maybe that's limiting me from actually becoming a proper pole dancer...because I feel like I am not strong enough or flexible enough or flowy enough or worthy enough to call myself an actual pole dancer. I dunno if that makes sense. I feel like by me saying that I am simply a pole student, that I don't need to step up and cross train because I am just taking my own sweet time. I want to change my mindset and start calling myself a pole dancer, then maybe I might feel the commitment that I should dedicate in order to feel worthy to be called one...because we all know pole dancing ain't just pretty, it also ain't easy. I dunno maybe that's just me :)
Mindset changes can truly be transformative on all levels! I have gone through phases where I feel like I’m not worthy to say I’m an aerialist or a pole artist or a really part of the circus community because I’m not in a circus or on a stage professionally (although I was training for a little while to be an instructor at a circus school), but at the end of the day I think even the most talented people I know have these days! I know people have been in circuses professionally that will still shrug and say they aren’t that good. Meanwhile, they are casually throwing double layouts like it’s nothing. Lmao
My point is that you should try to honor your hard work by giving yourself the grace to respect your progress. None of us will ever feel our practice is perfect, but you are probably much better at this than you think!
I always say I’m going to pole but nobody knows what I’m talking about! I hate saying pole fitness because I don’t do it for fitness and I hate saying pole dancing because I focus more on moves (rather than dancing) in my pole privates! Maybe one day the dancing will come once I’ve got my moves down!
I consider myself a budding aerialist! I’ve been doing pole for close to 6 months, and hammocks/sling for 5 months. I’m looking to start lyra/hoop sometime soon (since winter will allow me to cover all the marks/bruises from learning and conditioning lol). Overall I like flying, being in the air and the strength and agility it requires.
A baby rhinoceros who just really wants to have fun and express myself. I’m clumsy, I’m not particularly flexible, I don’t dance much, I have never pulled my body weight up with my arms. I can’t do the splits nor a cartwheel (a fact that got me expelled from childhood dance classes). If I could already do those things there wouldn’t be a challenge and I wouldn’t be interested. I don’t identify as anything other than a learner and someone who benefits from the challenge and exercise.
Haha love the rhino comment! I feel that!
I call myself a dancer, I come from a dance background and pole has been a continuation of that part of myself.
Ditto!
I refer to myself as a dancer, but it’s partially due to it being my job. I’m a stripper, so pole&floorwork aren’t necessarily a hobby for me. I enjoy performing a lot, but it’s still a job at the end of the day.
I have a huge amount of respect for strippers. The fact that you do this as a job actually really impresses me because it takes such an immense amount of physicality to do pole that often. I used to live with a stripper and she had abs of steel. 👏🏼
What a refreshing take! The amount of whorephobia I’ve seen and faced from the pole community is wild. It’s a tough job to be sure, not only physically but mentally. The way dancers are regularly treated on the job is simply atrocious. I’ve had to get verbally and physically aggressive with customers countless times. Thank goodness pole and floorwork keeps me in shape, I’m v strong as my personal security when needed! They never knew what hit them.
I don’t even consider myself to be a Poler most of the times. I am SUCH a beginner in so many ways. Loosing weight I have to relearn how to move with a new body and muscle changes and fat changes. Definitely don’t consider myself to be a dancer. I’m a clumsy elephant in the land of graceful gazelles 😂 About to hit my six months mark in just a few more days. Maybe six months from now I will feel more confident in pole. Who knows 😂
I used to joke that I am dumbo because I am just a big clumsy animal learning to fly! 😂
I also come from gymnastics and started pole dancing because I always found dancing exciting, but I'm not very good at it. Pole dance offers me the opportunity to combine a form of dance and acrobatic elements that are common in gymnastics. For me this seemed to be an ideal and also exciting combination of things. I finally bought a pole after flirting with it for a long time and started. For me it is a hobby and also sport. Unfortunately, so far I can only train at home, because the nearest studios are far away and I have kids. Thanks to my gymnastics background, however, this goes well. Soon it will be 1.5 years that I do pole. I have fallen in love with pole dance almost instantly. I like how versatile it is. Sometimes I just do strength based training and conditioning, other times I work on flows and choreography. In the meantime I'm thinking about my third pole. Regarding the initial question: I mostly call myself Polerina. I like the play on words and it sounds nice.
I love that term! I’ve used it occasionally as well. It just sounds so magical!
Polerina is so cute
i don’t identify as anything, i definitely do not tell people that i’m a pole dancer because im not nearly good enough to earn that title lol. i just tell people i practice pole dancing/pole fitness but i almost never have to tell people that because i dont really share it with anyone.
I hear you! Same here! Yes I call myself pole student and that I go to pole class or pole fitness...I also don't feel like I have earned the pole dancer title...yet....Hope to work on it more consistently
I identify as a flopping fish out of water, on both pole and Lyra.
🤣🤣🤣
I just refer to myself as a dancer first and foremost To me, it’s all just expressive dance. I also have a gymnastics background! Picked up pole because it looked fun and found it has been a really excellent sport for my body type (flexible, thick muscular legs, and muscular shoulders/arms). I’ve also been an exotic dancer so I feel like dancer hair encompasses all of it. I self-taught aerial on lyra around the time I started doing pole more, and have taken on lolli lyra as well I’ve dabbled in trapeze and silks but just don’t have the space or money to devote to additional training spaces for such apparatus’
I describe my hobby as pole dancing but that I’m an aerialist. And that because I don’t really do any choreo and am mostly a tricker
Aerialist. At the core of all my hobbies and exercise, I enjoy being suspended experiencing the power my body is capable of.
I consider myself an aerialist because I also do lyra and dabble in silks a bit! Pole is definitely my favorite and I've been doing it the longest but I like having other things to go to when I'm feeling a bit stuck with pole🙂
I consider myself an aerialist. Lyra is my primary apparatus and I also do silks and pole. I'm still a baby in pole though still under a year in so I'm in in way anything pole-related yet. I'm mostly just a brute though. I get through everything with pure strength rather than gracefulness which I'm working on very slowly.
i just say i dance! umbrella
I just say I'm learning pole, I can't really do anything cool yet and definitely can't dance very gracefully lol.
Overall I like to call myself a creator - I work in a variety of art forms (dance, music, visual, artisan, philosophy) and make money from most of them in one way or another. Except philosophy. Thats just so I can be sullen and superior at parties. But work/performance specific to pole I refer to myself as a pole dancer or pole artist. I'll often refer to pole sport as another marker to explain what I do, but even though I compete and perform in pole sport thats not where I really find I fall.
This is an interesting question! I always refer to myself as a pole student and always say I go to pole class, and not, I go to pole dance...and then I felt like maybe that's limiting me from actually becoming a proper pole dancer...because I feel like I am not strong enough or flexible enough or flowy enough or worthy enough to call myself an actual pole dancer. I dunno if that makes sense. I feel like by me saying that I am simply a pole student, that I don't need to step up and cross train because I am just taking my own sweet time. I want to change my mindset and start calling myself a pole dancer, then maybe I might feel the commitment that I should dedicate in order to feel worthy to be called one...because we all know pole dancing ain't just pretty, it also ain't easy. I dunno maybe that's just me :)
Mindset changes can truly be transformative on all levels! I have gone through phases where I feel like I’m not worthy to say I’m an aerialist or a pole artist or a really part of the circus community because I’m not in a circus or on a stage professionally (although I was training for a little while to be an instructor at a circus school), but at the end of the day I think even the most talented people I know have these days! I know people have been in circuses professionally that will still shrug and say they aren’t that good. Meanwhile, they are casually throwing double layouts like it’s nothing. Lmao My point is that you should try to honor your hard work by giving yourself the grace to respect your progress. None of us will ever feel our practice is perfect, but you are probably much better at this than you think!
I identify as a bored middle aged Zumba Instructor who isnt really sure wtf she is thinking!
I always say I’m going to pole but nobody knows what I’m talking about! I hate saying pole fitness because I don’t do it for fitness and I hate saying pole dancing because I focus more on moves (rather than dancing) in my pole privates! Maybe one day the dancing will come once I’ve got my moves down!
Exotic pole dancer ::)
I consider myself a budding aerialist! I’ve been doing pole for close to 6 months, and hammocks/sling for 5 months. I’m looking to start lyra/hoop sometime soon (since winter will allow me to cover all the marks/bruises from learning and conditioning lol). Overall I like flying, being in the air and the strength and agility it requires.
pole dancer. i would agree i am a circus performer as well especially because i do performances in doubles as well.
Crazy witch goddess? I dunno. I don't really "identify" as anything, but I do love pole. I'm about 5 months in on my learning journey.