For the second consecutive year, the Pin Up Girls Academy will put on “Miss Pole Dance Colombia” in the country’s second largest city Medellin.
Participants will compete to demonstrate the renowned discipline of pole dancing from September 26 to 28 in Medellin’s commercial park “El Tesoro,” where for three nights audiences can appreciate the intricate routines of athletes in youth, beginner, intermediate, and professional categories.
The event shows that pole dancing is more than just a sexy form of entertainment, it is an exercise demanding the highest physical performance. Viewers can witness the athletes’ commitment as well as the enormous technical, gymnastic, and artistic demands of the discipline.
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Though it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of pole dancing, the discipline is actually more comparable to acrobatics and aerobic movements than it is to night shows.
“The event is important for the city because it supports a discipline requiring physical demands, showing the country that it is a discipline in which athletes need to concentrate every day. The show has always been taboo, it is necessary to break these stereotypes of pole dancing and demonstrate that it is a totally acrobatic gymnastics,” a representative of the Pin Up Girls Academy told Colombia Reports Thursday.
The art of pole dancing dates far back with roots in gymnastics used to increase strength and muscle volume. Its history has evolved from its origin of women dancing in street fairs in a suggestive manner. Due to the limited amount of space the dancers resorted to using the present tent poles as an instrument to dance, and eventually moved out of tents and into bars where women would put on burlesque shows that were hugely popular in the 1950’s.
“In the first championship we had 15 competitors and this year 30 qualified, showing that more people practice this as a serious sport…the public has very much changed its perception of pole dancing,” said the Pin Up Girls Academy.
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Since the 90’s, the discipline has become more and more accepted as a form of physical training with its practice developing resistance, cardiovascular, strength, control, flexibility, balance, coordination and skill. The dance component of the sport has given the practice an artistic side as well.
The winner of Miss Pole Dance Colombia will travel to the next championship that takes place in Argentina in November where participants will represent their countries to compete with the best pole dancers of South America.
The time for routines during the competition varies per category, with beginners at a 2:15 maximum, while professionals realize routines of 4:15 including at least one minute performing on a rotating pole.
The event is free with passes courtesy of the academy. For more information, see here.