Happy Mothers Day (and pole dancing)

It's nothing new to hear that all sorts of women pole dance so of course there are plenty of mums in the mix too. At Altitude Pole in Christchurch several of our instructors are mums and across our Auckland and Christchurch studios many of our awesome hard working students are mums too. We love providing our poling mums a a special space for some 'me' time....we reckon it beats the mall, cafe or beauty salon any time. With Mothers Day on the horizon, it got us thinking about the world of pole dancing and motherhood.

Says this fab article where some international 'yummy mummies' are interviewed on pole dance, motherhood and all things in between. In fact, two of New Zealand's highly successful pole dancers are also mums -

• Karry Summers (owner of Altitude Pole and a million winning pole titles, most recently the Arnold Classic in Australia)

• Ryoko Ibaraki (owner of Swing 360 in Auckland and soon to be competitor (once again) in the 2017 Masters 40+ category of the World Pole Sport Championships).

Evidently having entered into motherhood doesn't mean you can't start up something new and exciting like pole dancing, nor does having a child mean you can't get back into it if you've already started!

Pole dancing while pregnant has made the headlines plenty of times (such as this one, recently) and while it might sound incompatible, for women who have already been pole dancing and become pregnant, stopping entirely also sounds pretty incompatible! Well known Aussie pole dancer Cleo the Hurricane blogged on the ups and downs of her pregnant pole journey but concluded that "Yes, what I do is still considered "taboo" to some people who don't know any better, but to me, it is strength and my passion and that is all that matters".

Christchurch Altitude Pole instructor Michelle similarly remained active through both her pregnancies - performing, competing, teaching, MC'ing pole shows and generally refusing to remove herself from the pole scene; "I've been pole dancing for eight years, my body knows the pole, I know my body and my limits and so long as you listen to your body and exercise some sensibilities I think it's fine" she says.

...and actually Karry was the tiniest bit pregnant when she performed this outstanding (and of course winning) pole routine back in 2013.

And then there are pole mums - your first instructor, or the instructor you instantly clicked with, the one who took you upside down for the first time, or battled your doubts with a 'you've got this'. Pole mums are definitely present in our studios and help contribute to the warm, supportive environment that so many of our students love about our studio. Pole clothing brand Bad Kitty wrote this beaut piece on pole mums that is definitely worth a read.

Pole dancers who become mums, who might have poled through pregnancy, mums who become pole dancers later on and pole mums...there is plenty to be said in the space of pole dancing and motherhood. If one thing is clear, pole dancing and mumming doesn't have to be incompatible....so if your not already upside down with us, grab a bunch of mum friends and have a girls night out with us, or get in touch to find out about starting your potential pole journey (mum or not) :)