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Religious Pole
Check out this story! http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/22/pole-dancing-for-jesus/?hpt=T2
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39 Replies
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Well all I can say is "Oh Lord". My second statement whie the page was loading was "hmm… wonder if this is in Texas".. and then I saw it. LOL
Spring is an awesome place. Close enough to Houston to be fun and unstuffy, but rural enough to be pleasant and charming.
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Oh… you can also be the Temple's Booty (hee hee) that centrai Texas wouldn't be that liberal. (How I miss my ex homes in Houston/ Dallas/Austin) :(:(
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BET… bet the temple's booty.. (duh, me typo)
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OMG I just watched this on perezhilton.com! Part of me thinks, huh, weird. The other half of me thinks, You just rock on that pole with Jesus! I guess whatever floats your boat and keeps you dancin right?
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My husband called me last night because he heard Fox was going to run a story called Pole with Prayer. At first I thought of Jungle Cat and all that he has been through with dancing and putting up videos to gospel music. I was impatient and decided to google the story.
And not to be horrible but did any one else cringe when watching their form?
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I thought of Jungle Cat too…but I wish it was more like what he does.
I really respect JC and I think he presents his faith through dancing very well. Somehow this came across cheesy. I think it was the heels that threw me off!
First I don't get studios that teach new moves in heels – the excuse that it tones muscle is not good enough for preventing injuries when learning something new when you can acheive the same effect standing on the balls of your feet.
Second, I just don't see the heels as fitting in the the religious theme. I really like the idea of liturgical music pole classes but the heels just seem to not go with it.
But then maybe I'm being as hypocritical as those who think the pole doesn't go with liturgical songs either.
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Hmmmm, why does it have to be call Pole Fitness for jesus. lol Can't you just pole dance cuz you like it? Not sure what jesus has to do with it if they are not using class time to spread the word of "god" ect.
I agree Empy about both points on wearing the heels!
I feel anyone regardless of size, race, faith can pole. I think you can dance to whatever music expresses what your feeling or what you want others to feel. But calling a studio Pole Fitness for jesus is just odd.
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Veena…if i understood what I read about it when I looked up more on the studio it's the class name and it's a Sunday class which they encourage people to come in after church to dance to liturgical songs.
I think the studio is called "the best shape of your life" or something like that?
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Veena…if i understood what I read about it when I looked up more on the studio it's the class name and it's a Sunday class which they encourage people to come in after church to dance to liturgical songs.
I think the studio is called "the best shape of your life" or something like that?
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Veena…if i understood what I read about it when I looked up more on the studio it's the class name and it's a Sunday class which they encourage people to come in after church to dance to liturgical songs.
I think the studio is called "the best shape of your life" or something like that?
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I think this is a great thing for women of faith who also want to pole dance for whatever their personal reasons are and be able to feel safe in that they are not doing anything wrong. Dance can be used in religions as a way to worship and praise God, so why not pole dance in reverence to God? It's no different than Christian themed yoga classes. As a christian (while not as practicing as I would like to be) we are asked to give glory to God in all that we do. So I think this is a good thing for women who might not otherwise know the benefits of a good swing around the pole 🙂
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ahhhh….. the video made it sound like the name of the studio was Pole fitness for Jesus LOL I was like how odd. This is why I dislike media, always making things look a bit askew….
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I see nothing wierd about this except their from maybee, but mine is not perfect, so, go Ladies! Do yo thang. To me, it is fine.
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I tend to avoid news stories and videos about stuff like this because sometimes I can't help but be annoyed despite however neutral the program tries to seem, and I think like the negitivity I feel towards some of the comments made in the video is largely due to media spin and editing. For example, when one woman in the video said "Are you doing it for sex in exhange for money, you know, what are you doing it for?" my initial thought was, what?! why would you think that?? you're obviously super ignorant if you don't think that hanging upside down from a pole isn't a workout – that's what they're doing it for, not sex trafficking! And then I thought, well she could have easily been saying "I think it's a great idea but some people might have this misconception…" in the part that was cut out. I think even when the news program wants to appear neutral, they probably cut things together in a way that will polarize viewers and fuel debate on both sides… which seems a little underhanded if you ask me.
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I just hate that they feel they have to bring religion into it in order to not be judged harshly for doing it. I have my pole right in the middle of my living room and I know I am judged quite harshly for it when my religious in laws come over. In fact I'm sure most people that walk into my house judge me but it's just a piece of exercise equipment to me. So I don't see anything inappropriate about it being out there for everyone to see. If all those judgemental people only knew what fun exercise they were missing out on!!
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Guys, here is a better video on what they do (what the class it about)….the first vid was kinda unclear and I assumed the studio was called "pole fitness for jesus" I thought that was so odd, because it really limits who may want to dance in that studio. But this vid explains it better. I do agree Jesses that we don't need to justify pole dance by using religion or calling it fitness. This class could be a good option for those who would feel uncomfortable in a "secular" pole setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jwEdRV5h-60
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In addition to what Veena has said about this being a way to make more conventional christians feel more comfortable, it sounds like the "Pole for Jesus" class is also being used as a way to worship and meditate which is a wonderful thing. No matter what your beliefs are we all feel like dance is a great way to express and work through emotions and thoughts – even on a spiritual level. So it's not like they're just learning to pole dance, it sounds like it's a way to also honor God – especially with the christian music – it's more than just a gimmick to get christian women in the door.
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This story got a lot of buzz around here because they talked about it on the radio this morning. I agree with all of Charley's comments. I think that this is great that Christian women would get together and do this. Like Empyrean stated, I don't know if the heels fit into the theme of the class. However, I don't see anything inherently wrong with it either. Maybe it just helps the women when they go home and want to switch from being meditative to being sensual for their husbands https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif.
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Here's my thought on this. First let me tell you that I am a Christian woman, it's not just a lable for me, I walk the Christian life and honestly feel that my poling doesn't make me in any way shape or form wordly or secular, but to be honest does anyone from my church (which also happens to be my kids private school) know that I pole, NO WAY! Why? Bedcause yep, I would be judged there. Do all Christians judge pole dancing, no! But just like with anyone else who doesnt really respect the art, technique and so on about pole, its very misunderstood. I actually read once that Ballet was once thought to be very permiscous and daring and was thought to be trashy, it wasnt appreciated at first either and now look how well respected ballet has become! Anyways back to what I was saying, I don't hide who i am for anyone…if you know me and we hang out you also know I have a pole in my bedroom! lmao I am not ashmaed of it, my mom is one of my biggest supporters and I have a lot of Christian friends who pole dance too. I have often pondred dancing to my collection of Christian music, which Jungle Cat was the inspiration behind thinking of that. I even have songs that are from Christian singers but not about God, like Flyleaf has a cover song to NIN's Something I Can Never Have, So I have danced to the Flyleaf version and they are a Christian group, now I havent yet gotten comfortable dancing to worship only because a lot of my dance is very sexual, as well as emotional but I dont know how to leave the sexulaity out……..
WITH ALL THAT SAID i would actually like to attend a class like this to help me incorportae a diffrent style of dance. i am already pretty expressive in my dancing but wouldn't know how to do it in a way to give God praises. So I say its a good thing, I like the vid that Veena put up b/c it def explains it better! Its a class give every other Sunday in a Pole dance Studio that happens to be owned by a Christian woman, thats all. I think its a great idea and would hope that the idea spreads.
I read an articel a while ago, im gonna dig it up…its about a church that has poles in it so people can dance during worship, for me, that was over the top! It seemed to be more of a shock value thing, and for me that wuld be too weird. I believe that God gave us these bodies, and even in sexual form, it can be artsy and beatiful but swinging a pole in front of people who see the art behind it is totally diff then going up to the alter and swinging a pole in front of people that (like any human) that might be aroused by it, you feel what i am trying to say?? Im gonna look for that article n post the link for u guys if anyone wants to read it lol
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Ok this isnt the exact article but this was the Church I was talking about http://www.alittleleaven.com/2007/08/pole-dancing-mi.html Mind you this was in 2008
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I am still trying to figure out how the two correlates with each other. what does one have to do with the other. I didn't hear her say we go over the sermon and talk about what we got out of it or anything like that. So what your listening to christian music, I could listen to monks chanting on my I tunes does that mean im praising buda. heck no just means im one with my mantra and my pole or what ever they say. I just do not see how it is praising God. but hey thats just my opinion
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My sister lives in Houston, when she came to visit me last week I dragged her back to Texaswith me to attend a pole graduation. She was so inspired when she returned to Houston she started loking for local classes to attend, and her coworker told her about the pole for jesus ad she heard on the radio. When she called to tell me about it yesterday, I didn't believe it. Too see it here today I am uber shocked lol.
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I agree with what @charley has said – using dance as a form of religious expression enables them to feel okay about what they are doing. The comments in that article link you posted @mrsbaybeegurl just about made me scream with frustration some of them were so bigoted – I couldn't read anymore. At least these women are feeling okay, no matter how strange the justification seems to us!
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Am I missing something? The article MrsBaybeegurl posted is a satire…it's fabricated by the author to make fun of pole…but there isnt' really a church claiming to do this.
The second link on PDFJ which Veena posted was quite a bit better than some of the edited interviews I've seen. I still don't see the concept of the heels being necessary but then I'm quite opposed to anyone to who has students learn new stuff in heels anyway. Of course maybe they don't "teach new" at the Sunday classes.
The owner of the studio has a healthy attitude in my opinion and I have to say that this idea is brilliant. Many people are very moved by their Christian and liturgical music and I like how they use a Sunday where these woman have already been to church and are more or less in a spiritual mood to start with. I can see this working very well with some of my clients!
Jungle Cat has been a major influence on this type of dancing and he definitely dances to express his spirituality when he dances to praise. His Easter dancing last year was great!
Just like we are all moved by different types of music. I would be very interested to see how some students would respond to this type of pole session and how much they would open up when they dance!
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I think the Fox News story might have come off a bit silly but I still think this is great and that everyone should have a voice in pole dancing. We do have many Christian pole dancers so I think it's great there is a place for Christian pole dancers to go. It's no different than sexy dancers taking floor classes and fitness dancers taking fitness themed pole classes.
Mrsmaybeegurl – thanks for sharing your story. I used to have a really hard time with the sexuality and being a christian but over time the two merged together and I think for you they will too. We might move in a provacative way at times but what I find interesting about pole dancing is that we do it for ourselves and other women, so while the dances may be sexual in nature because we're women and wired differently – we just enjoy the beauty that is woman 🙂
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