Pole Icon will see Australia’s fittest compete for $10,000 on Saturday

Meet Australia’s premier pole dancing couple: Suzie Q and Toby J have been internationally representing one of the nation’s fastest growing sports for more than a decade.

Australia’s most flexible couple are gearing up to perform a routine they’ve been swinging on for a decade.

Suzie Q Corbett and Toby J Monson last attempted this high-octane blend of pole dancing, acrobatics and aerial stunts representing Australia at the International Pole Championships in 2013, when Corbett blew out her knee in a technical rehearsal.

“I needed a full knee reconstruction, but we still competed that night, which was really unpleasant,” she told The Daily Telegraph ahead of the duo’s performance at Pole Icon in Sydney next Thursday.

“Now we can give that routine the love and attention it deserves.”

“I started pole dancing in strip clubs as an exotic dancer and that’s how I met Bobbi Gold, who opened the very first pole school in Australia in 2004,” Corbett said. “I started teaching for her back then when it was all very hush hush.”

Suzie Q Corbett is back from injury to competing in Pole Icon. Picture: David Swift/The Daily Telegraph.

She is the longest running pole competitor in the world, having started in 2005.

The couple, from Lower Portland in NSW, fell in love performing aerials together in 2009.

The real-life NSW couple met when performing aerials together a decade ago. Picture: David Swift/The Daily Telegraph.

“I wanted to compete with the current male champion and Toby wanted me to be his partner in aerials, but didn’t pole dance,” Corbett said.

Monson, a US-born former cheerleader and Australian acrobatic champion, added: “We competed in the Asia Pacifics.

“So I had three months to go from no pole to international pole dancer.”

Monson has built 50 of the country’s 200-plus pole studios, and installed more than 50 poles in people’s homes, as well as performing at weddings and corporate events.

“Pole is not just a fad, it’s some people’s mental and physical wellbeing,” he said.

Monson and Corbett have developed their own style of ‘acro pole’. Picture: David Swift

Corbett and Monson were invited to compete against 20 of Australia’s best pole dancers for Pole Icon’s $10,000 prize, with drag queen royalty Spankie Jackzon, Kween Kong, and Hannah Conda guest judging.

“For women there is a big mental health component,” Corbett explained.

“Women have about 70 per cent of men’s lower body strength, but only 50 per cent of their upper strength. That’s down to boys playing pushing and pulling games as children.

“For women to do something strong is exciting and different.

“For many, putting on a pair of shorts to grip the pole with their skin is very confronting.

“It’s the moment they realise ‘I’m starting to acknowledge my body for what it can do, rather than what it looks like’ that the self-esteem comes from — more so than other sports.”