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What comes to mind right away when you hear "Pole Dancing" is scantily clothed women dancing around a pole in nightclubs. But in fact it is a form of performance art, which requires a great deal of flexibility, strength and endurance, and is contested competitively.

As part of the move away from the negative perception of pole dancing, you will find it referred to pole sport or vertical dance.

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In competitions, participants perform various types of acrobatic moves like spins, climbs, twists and body inversions. There are both, events where participants contest individually and events where participants compete as a team. All routines performed are judged based on the types of moves and the degree of difficulty. There are however no universally codified rules for judging routines and it varies based on the event organizers.

Pole dancing as a competitive sport is currently practiced in many countries like the United States, the UK and Australia, all of which host national level "Miss Pole Dance" competitions. There are also major international competitions conducted under the banner of "Miss Pole Dance World" and “World Pole Sport & Fitness".

Pole dancing, which has long been regarded mostly as an activity for women, is slowly gaining popularity among men also. Some prestigious competitions like the PoleArt and World Pole Sports Championship have opened up separate events where men compete.

In 2017, the International Pole Sports Federation was given 'observer status' by the Global Association of International Sports Federations, paving the way for it to be considered officially a sport, though we are not sure we will be seeing it at the Olympics any time soon.

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Similar Sports

• Dancesport — Dancesport is the competitive form of Ballroom and Latin Dancing, in which contestants perform dances before judges.
• Sport Aerobics — the objective is to perform high-intensity gymnastic moves in sync with background music.
• Cheerleading — a dubious sport in which groups of cheerleaders do routines that are subjectively assessed.
• Acrobatic Gymnastics — team of gymnasts work together to perform acrobatic moves in combination with dance moves.
• Pole Climbing — involves climbing very high wooden poles.

Related Pages

• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports