New short film explains ‘Why I Dance’
SIXTEEN women have banded together to let the world know exactly how pole dancing makes them feel - and it’s being applauded for being “a celebration of all women everywhere”.
PUTTING the negative stigmas associated with pole dancing well behind them, a group of sixteen women have banded together to let the world know exactly how pole dancing makes them feel.
In new short film Why I Dance, the funds for which were raised through a Kickstarter campaign, women of all shapes, ages and nationalities are seen doing the same routine in a pole dancing studio. They periodically hold up signs displaying their “outside title” - everything from “Raw Vegan Chef” to “Little Sister” to “Free Spirit” — and why they dance — “Because it fills me up”, “Because it expresses my truth, fire and love” and “Because it healed what they tried to break”.
Filmed over several days last year, Why I Dance has clocked up over 110, 000 views since being released last week, and is being applauded for “empowering women in their bodies and their femininity” and for being “a celebration of all women everywhere”.
“Pole dancing is so often associated with stripping, which isn’t always true,” Julia Roth, one of the video’s producers, told BuzzFeed.
“This is an empowering movement for so many people. This is about celebrating women and their relationships with their bodies.
“The battle for women and loving themselves is constant. Pictures, words, the internet, it’s never-ending. Loving yourself and being cool with yourself, that’s how it should be. This shouldn’t be a shocking thing. This should be the norm,” she said.
#poledancing can be #empowering. http://t.co/vlVTbBvhoP #whyidancefilm challenges the stigma and misconception of pole dancing
— Seema B. (@subtlehipster) February 18, 2015My inner #feminist was skeptical. But #poledancing can be truly #empowering. So glad @whyidancefilm is happening! http://t.co/aTQpJb4KBa
— Kimiko Martinez (@kimikokopuffs) October 3, 2014@BuzzFeed @whyIdancefilm Thx 4 showing power & beauty of women. We r changing the world w/#bodylove.#1BillionRising http://t.co/qWGzFbeqvA
— Dwana White (@YouwantDwana) February 18, 2015Amazing: "Because my body is mine." @melaniezoey @whyIdancefilm
— Aron A. Moe Macarow (@aronmoshe_m) February 13, 2015“Pole dancing has changed my life,” writes Amy Main, another of the video’s producers, on her blog.
“From the outside, this may sound like an exaggerated claim, or a preposterous one, or a shallow one. But it is anything but.
“My initial encounter with pole allowed me to explore and appreciate my sexuality and sensuality as a woman in a way I never had before. It felt like I was shedding my dry, scaly, battered skin, and emerging as a soft, strong, beautiful, feminine creature. My old belief system had constantly been focused on what was wrong with my body- the missing gap between my thighs, my too small breasts, my shapeless hips. But through [pole dancing] I began to see what was right. Which was, quite simply, me. I was already enough as I was.
“As soon as I became comfortable enough in my own skin to look out across the dark room and see the other women owning themselves, I experienced another wave of shock. One that literally sent chills through my entire body. My long held belief that only women who looked like Giselle and Miranda Kerr and Megan Fox were sexy evaporated before my eyes. Here were women of all shapes and sizes, from all different backgrounds, from ivory skin to ebony, whose beauty literally made me cry. I wanted to hug and praise each and every one of them for just being who they were and sharing their most intimate selves with me week after week ... Which was why I made a film about it.”
The film — which is beautifully shot but is probably not safe for work — can be seen here.