The Olympics already have pole vaulting, so why not pole dancing?
With the Winter Olympics in full swing, a group of pole dance enthusiasts from Miami are pushing to make the seductive art part of the Olympiad.
After all, gyrating up, down and around the pole has as much fierce competition, powerful athleticism and skillful routines as any other Olympic sport, right?
"Pole Dancing does have a lot of fitness associated with it, a lot of athleticism associated with it," said Gwendy Andrade, co-owner of Pole Dance Miami. "But I also know that there's a major taboo against it. And we fight through that every single day."
Andrade teaches more than forty classes per week in the Magic City. She said pole dancing is not just for fun and hardly recreation.
"Internationally, they've had many years of competitions," Andrade said. "The United States, thank God, last year was our first year."
And we all know South Florida has some of the best in the business when it comes to the pole dance.
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So far, pole-dancing organizations across the country have collected about 150,000 signatures to petition the Olympic Committee to make Pole Dancing an Olympic event.
The entertaining art of dance alongside a vertical pole can be challenging. Experts claim it requires serious upper body strength and skill.
"There is a common denominator that if you did have gymnastics somewhere in your background some of the moves will just become easier for you," said Andrade.
With a background in gymnastics, newcomer Courtney Keenan hopes to climb to the top and compete with the best of the best.
"Hopefully after another year or two under my belt, I will be able to advance and go to maybe the National Competition," Keenan said.
Andrade still has Olympic dreams for pole dancing.
"We can make it to the Olympics, it's just gonna be a journey," she said.
