How to Honour Strippers in Your Pole Studio (For Students & Instructors)

15 Aug

From www.sextember.com.au by Ally Cat - view original post here

Pole dance wouldn’t exist without strippers. Full stop. The movement vocabulary, the aesthetic, the unapologetic power of owning your body on a vertical pole—all of it comes from the strip club.

So if you’re a pole dancer who doesn’t work in the sex industry, but you’re spinning in heels and loving every body roll… how do you show respect? How do you celebrate the roots without crossing into appropriation?

Let’s talk about it.

🎶 Know Where It Came From

The sexy style of pole that many dancers love—the heel clacks, the floorwork, the slow grinds and seductive transitions—was born in the club. Strippers built this artform in spaces that weren’t always safe or celebrated. They innovated moves, created style, and brought pole into public consciousness through pure hustle, creativity, and resilience.

Honouring that legacy starts with knowing it. If your pole journey didn’t start in the club, take the time to learn about how pole dance evolved—from burlesque tents, to strip clubs, to studios. Acknowledge the roots out loud. Share them with others in your studio. Knowledge is power, and it’s also respect.

🫶 Credit the Creators

If you’re dancing in a style that comes from the club, name that. If you’re teaching it, especially. It doesn’t mean you need a disclaimer before every class—but weaving stripper history into your studio culture helps set the tone.

Say things like:

💬 “This style is inspired by strippers”

💬 “These moves came from sex workers, they were created to look hot and get tips.”

Credit doesn’t take away from your dance. It adds meaning, depth, and authenticity.

💸 Support Sex Workers—On Purpose

Honouring the community means supporting the community. You don’t have to be in the industry to show up for it. Here’s how:

Attend workshops taught by current or former sex industry workers
Follow and amplify sex worker voices online
Buy from businesses owned by sex workers
Speak out when people shame strippers or erase their contributions

And yes—tip your performers if you go to the club. Always.

💃 Check Your Vibes (and Your Studio’s)

It’s one thing to do sexy pole. It’s another to glamorise “stripper style” while distancing yourself from strippers. Studios sometimes make this mistake—using stripper language or imagery while telling students “don’t worry, it’s not that kind of pole.” That’s not a compliment. It’s erasure.

Be proud of your pole practice and be proud of the women and workers who built it. Even if your studio is predominantly focused on ‘sporty’ pole, there are many ways the studio can acknowledge the roots of pole and be allies to the sex industry.

❤️ Celebrate Without Costume

Honouring stripper history doesn’t mean pretending to be one. You don’t need to cosplay a fantasy version of the club to appreciate where pole came from. Wearing heels and tiny outfits, dancing sexy, or learning sensual movement is not the issue—pretending to embody a lived experience that isn’t yours is where it gets murky.

Ask yourself: Am I celebrating, respecting and honouring the style, or borrowing an identity? One uplifts. The other takes.

🌈 It’s Not About Guilt—It’s About Gratitude

You don’t need to feel bad for not being a stripper. But if you benefit from an art form that strippers created—through movement, community, confidence, or career—it’s powerful (and necessary) to acknowledge that legacy. Respect isn’t performative, it’s active. It shows up in how we teach, talk, train, and treat each other.

When we honour strippers, we honour the soul of pole. We say: your work matters. Your art matters. You matter.

And in our studios, we never forget whose heels we’re dancing in 💋