Endings and beginnings

The jig is up!! I will be taking the next 5 months to a year travelling the world! I have few expectations and plans, save for reconnecting with friends, refining my French, learning a bit of Arabic and Tagalog, and pole. I will be visiting pole studios all over the world, learning new tricks and conducting research/creating a database about “polers” through surveys and personal interviews with instructors, students and professionals: why pole dance? What injuries have we incurred or exacerbated? What is our pain tolerance before and after starting pole? And so much more. I seek to quantify and qualify this movement in its nascent stages.

I started this blog because I wanted to document my exploration into what it is to be a woman in different parts of the world, an open, liberated, unhinged, unedited and unabashed woman. How does this type of woman develop in different environments? Are we appreciated? What is this journey like? Why pole? What is it about this object that evokes both shame and satisfaction for both the viewer (and performer?)?

Is the pole the new symbol of feminism?

Over the coarse of the next few weeks, I will be developing this site, publishing my thesis, literature review and methods.

Come join me! I promise it won’t be a bunch of boring statistics, definitely some pictures and maybe even include a video or two…