So I don’t know how you spent your Saturday night, but I’m going to tell you how I spent mine, because it was positively spectacular.  First, I went to see The Vagina Monologues.  I know, it came out in the 90’s and where have I BEEN?  But for those of you who have never seen it, it’s worth going. The Vagina Monologues is made up of a varying number of monologues read by a varying number of women.  Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality (courtesy of Wikipedia).  The play does a nice job of making you feel good about your vagina, if you have one.  I do, however, wish it included the more positive aspects of heterosexual relationships.   While I understand that one of the goals of the play is to raise awareness about violence against women, there were parts of the play that felt like flat-out man bashing, which I don’t particularly agree with.

The Vagina Monologues is the cornerstone of the V-Day movement, whose participants stage benefit performances of the show and/or host other related events in their communities. Such events take place worldwide each year between February 1 and April 30. The performances generally benefit rape crisis centers and similar resource centers for women.  This year in Santa Monica, V-Day benefitted Peace Over Violence, an LA based charity that helps women who have been physically and sexually assaulted.  A portion of the proceeds also went to women and girls in Haiti who are launching a campaign to end violence in their country with the help of sponsors and activists.

Following the play, there was a lovely after party with food, drinks and…pole dancing! A group of women known as The Flying Vs performed on two freestanding poles smack dab in the middle of the after party.  The Flying Vs are made up of four women: Tracy Mueller, Christina Grance, Rie Katagiri and Katy Kamen.  All four women have an S Factor background, and three of the four teach pole dancing at S Factor.  Rie teaches at Movement Studio LA.  Their first performance was a celebration of the transition from girl to woman.  The dancers started off in tutus and tank tops and as the song progressed, they shed their layers of girlish clothing to reveal womanly curves and lingerie.  The second performance was an erotic dance to Moulin Rouge’s “Roxanne”.  The message was: I’m unapologetically sexy.  Now watch me and worship.  In both performances, the dancers moved slowly, deliberately and extremelysensually.   While there were some beautiful pole tricks, the focus was just as much on the floor as it was on the pole.  The dancers were in almost constant eye contact with one another, feeding off one another’s energy, which heightened the eroticism of the performance.

I think the presence of pole dancing, especially an incredibly sensual form of pole dancing at this particular charity event, is significant for three reasons.  First, it shows the spirit of the pole dance community in a positive light.  It is possible to be sensual and celebrate the beauty of the female body without denigrating or objectifying it.  Second, it reinforces the idea that ending violence against women (which is the driving force behind all the V Day celebrations) does not mean erasing or hiding or restricting their sexuality.  On the contrary.   The end of violence against women, in a certain way, means that women can fully own and express their sexuality and its power without fear of attack, judgment or any other negative repercussions.  And this is precisely what happened on Saturday night.  Finally, pole dancing for a charitable cause shows that women can choose to dance, they can dance for reasons that are positive, and that the pole dance community is devoted to helping those in need.  In other words, we have heart.  And if you have any doubt about that, then check out Anjel Dust’s latest pole fundraiser for Japan on April 16^th and Emilee Wilson’s fundraiser, also for Japan, at The Good Hurt on April 4^th.  We love to dance, but we love it even more if it’s for a good cause!

At the end of their last performance, The Flying V’s walked into their audience, who had formed a circle around them, and pulled women out onto the floor to dance with them.  It was a symbolic move, one that communicated that the dance was for all women.  I cannot begin to express to you the joy of looking around at a sea of women, all moving sensually on the floor, on the poles, all celebrating their bodies and their sexuality, all blissfully uninhibited and feeling safe and celebrated.  It was…awesome.  And it made me want to be a Flying V!

For more information on The Flying V’s go to: www.theflyingvs.com

For more information on V Day go to: www.vday.org

To get on board with Peace Over Violence check out: www.peaceoverviolence.org

I know you were all wondering what happened!  Well I’m officially certified to teach levels 1 – 4 for pole dancing.  Our last day was short but sweet.  I perfected my caterpillar climb, got into Aisha (with Collette holding my butt up) and learned how to spot perfectly for inversions and climbs.  Which, by the way, is not as obvious as you might think.

For some reason I also thought that my last day would be an excellent time to take a Chinese Splits class.  And actually, it was!  The class was a bit like Yoga, and we used mats and blocks to gently stretch and elongate our muscles.  There was seventy-two–year-old student named Lynn who put us all to shame by performing full Chinese Splits on an armchair.  Talk about inspirational!

Speaking of inspirational, Celeste Ayers (pronounced AIRS) modeled many of the advanced moves for us in teacher training the last day and WOW!  Her movement is amazing to watch.  She is gracious, fluid, sensual, flexible and has nearly flawless technique.  Celeste was a competitor in this year’s California Pole Dance Championships.  If you have not seen her dance yet, check her out here.

I was extremely pleased with the level of professionalism, the attention to detail and the amount of fun and connection I had with the other students in my Teacher Training Class.  Collette offers the perfect blend of technical skill and sensuality to her teacher trainees and she breaks down the art of pole dancing into easily digestible, clear instructions.  Collette also trains her teachers to have an incredibly good eye for correcting mistakes in their students’ movements.  “I created this program by applying how I was trained in my academic and consulting careers to study a craft and organize information.  It was tedious and meticulous, but so necessary given the huge responsibility we take on in training others.”  In the future, I would love to see this training expanded into a week-long or ten-day endeavor (as would Collette!), because there is an enormous amount of material to cover.  It would also be wonderful to see this program expand its floor work training and dive into the emotionality of pole dancing in greater depth.  Of course, those are my biases!

I want to thank Collette, Natalie, Felicia and OC Pole Fitness for putting together a very comprehensive and positive training programthat offers its trainees the flexibility to create their own curriculum while maintaining rigorous safety standards.  I also want to thank my amazing co-trainees, who made the experience fun, exciting, supportive and very positive.   Can’t wait to train for the upper levels!