- Okay, that's a myth.
Have you ever seen a porno?
- My name is Victor.
- My name is Nadia.
- My name is Candace Cane.
- My name is Alik Tsiupa.
- My name is Mary Caryl,
and I've been pole dancing for eight and a half years.
- Three years.
- Seven years.
- Nine years.
- 12 years.
- Myth.
- That's really a myth.
- First of all, there's nothing wrong with stripping,
that's a legit career choice.
Mostly it stems from ignorance,
I think until you actually walk into a class,
it's really hard to expect people to understand
the magic that happens in those walls.
- We come from many, many backgrounds,
just every background you can imagine,
we have teachers, we have mothers,
we have attorneys, we have doctors.
- People who take classes who'll learn pole,
are kind of doing it the same reason I do it,
it's for exercise, or for self expression,
for dance or whatnot, you know,
not everyone who takes a dance class wants to be a dancer.
- In the pole dance community,
there are a few of those who like to mention
that they're not a stripper,
and while that is true,
that doesn't mean that we should exclude strippers
from the conversation.
A lot of pole dancing is first witnessed
in an exotic club or in TV,
usually in a nightclub setting.
That's only one facet of pole dancing.
- That's a myth.
- It's a myth.
Because I am pole dancer.
- It's a really archaic stereotype
that was placed on it and it's not accurate.
- We have tons of males, straight and gay, transgender.
We have so many different people that come through
the pole dancing doors
and are 100% welcomed and encouraged.
- A lot of people are surprised when I tell them
that my husband's a pole dancer,
because they believe that all male pole dancers are gay,
and so they think, is he bi, is he what,
why does he like to dance?
I'm like, nah, he just likes to pole dance
and he likes to love me, so.
Having a pole at my wedding was the best decision
I could have ever made,
because not only did we get to use it for our first dance,
we have photos of all our friends and family
doing their own pole tricks on it too,
which is really great.
- Okay, that's a myth.
Have you ever seen a porno?
- That is a myth.
- Anybody that says that pole isn't a real sport
probably is not an athlete,
but most of the time athletes
and people that do any sort of movement,
they're usually mind-blown,
because when you know about movement
and you see pole dancing,
you just automatically know the amount of hours
and training that go in are extreme.
To me, it's definitely a creative process,
so it's for sure art.
- We work really hard at creating characters,
costumes, backgrounds, musicality,
and it can be comedic, it can be dramatic,
it can tell a story of your own heart,
it is truly, truly a beautiful art form.
- Absolutely a myth.
- Myth.
- That's a myth.
And that's also true, so...
- In all honesty, we wear skimpy stuff,
because it's a practical thing.
You can't stick to the pole if you're wearing a jumpsuit.
- We do have to wear really small clothing
the more crazy our skillset becomes,
because we use our flesh as friction and contact points
to make sure that we don't fall,
but also I do like wearing sexy outfits,
'cause I feel better and when I feel better,
I dance better.
- However, there are different types of pole dancing,
i.e., Chinese pole, or silicone poles
that you can, and it's actually encouraged, to wear clothes.
- That's a myth. Oh my gosh.
- That is a myth.
- I was not fit,
I was weak, I was much larger,
and by accident, I went with a friend
to a pole studio.
I sucked at it but it stuck
and eventually the weight came off,
and I got athletic, I got strong.
I lost over 45 pounds and I realized that this was my gym.
- The purpose of pole, for some, is to get fit,
to gain strength, to gain flexibility.
- I actually think that there is a body type
that is really ideal for the type of pole dancing I like,
which is thick thighs, thick hips.
It just look so nice,
and there's some super plus sized
that just super kill it and just have that body awareness
and confidence, and I love a full figure.
- That is a myth.
You are never too old to pole dance.
I'm 65.
I've been doing this for eight and a half years
with very, very little background coming into it,
so I had to work on the strength,
which was a little harder, but I can say I've done it.
- Being in the competitive industry,
we actually have full categories
dedicated to people over 50
and those women are mind-blowing
and doing all of the skills that 18 year olds are doing,
so it's for all ages.
- I think that a lot of times,
women are shamed into thinking that after a certain age
or maybe after you have a baby, or whatever the reason is,
that you are out of touch with your sensuality,
and it's not necessary.
And I think that pole dancing is a nice relief for that,
I think it's a place to find your center again,
to find the beauty that is yours,
find it again, it's there.
- That's a myth.
- That's absolutely a myth.
- I did not have a background of dance or gymnastics before.
- Pole dancers come from all walks of life,
some of them do come from the circus
and from a highly trained background,
but some of them are just soccer moms
that just get on stage and start killing it.
- I didn't have much of a background,
it's just a matter of your desire to do it, and attitude.
- That is a myth.
- I'll give this a half myth.
I teach people movement or how to dance in alluring manner.
They're like, oh my gosh, I don't know how to be sexy,
yadda yadda, neither do I, look at me,
I'm a moron.
And stop thinking sex, think about what I do,
I'm thinking ice-cream or burgers or my favorite beer.
All of a sudden I'm like,
why does he look so aroused?
I'm not, I'm just hungry.
- When I started pole dancing,
I was a very kind of nerdy 21 year old,
and I think gaining confidence in general,
definitely comes from pole.
- You can explore and find your sensuality if you want to.
There's a lot of movement that we do,
we move our hips, we move everything,
and you can find the beauty in it
and really discover that there's a whole you inside of there
that maybe got buried over the course
of the events of your life
and now it's time to uncover it.
- Through pole dancing and through practice,
you gain confidence and you gain the skills
to make you feel empowered, and I think that
that's really the feeling on the inside
that emanates out and makes other people say,
"Wow, damn, that's hot."
- It's whatever move that is challenging me that week
that I'm working on, that I'm using to improve myself.
- I love the basic pole moves like flag or starfish.
- My favorite pole move is the Cane split that I created.
Not that many people could do it,
because you have to have long arms
and extreme hamstring flexibility.
- Some of the best images I've ever taken
have been in a handspring,
and so it's always like my go-to.
- One of them is spatchcock,
I've always loved doing that one,
and then the new blacksun split is another one.
- The part that really got me hooked on it
is the community.
The community is what keeps you there,
because you're so exposed, here you are,
you're in your bathing suit, basically,
in front of strangers,
and whatever body shape you're in.
It's a really beautiful and unique thing to pole,
because they're so extra supportive.
- When you get in, you never wanna leave.
You just end up feeling this sense of home
that you can't find anywhere else,
consider it like a gateway drug into
a lot of other really dope stuff like high confidence,
epic clothing, wanting to make videos,
wanting to do photo shoots, getting too many shoes.
Yeah, we're a cult and you should join us.
- Hi, everyone, I'm Samara,
one of the creators of Truth or Myth.
I have been pole dancing for six years,
so I really wanted to make this video,
because pole dancing has just become
one of the loves of my life,
between the community and just the feeling of being free,
and letting loose,
it really is a very addicting way to express yourself.
So, I hope you feel like you've learned something new
about pole dancing.
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Thanks.
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