Stripper No Be Work O!

Some time ago, Sheila Kelly of S Factor was on Oprah talking about a new workout that combines striptease and pole dancing techniques. It seemed like fun but I didn't think it would be something I could do. A few months later, a friend of mine asked me if I would join her and a group of her other friends in taking a similar class. I cleverly replied that I didn't need to; in fact, I could teach the teacher a few tricks myself. As time went on, I started thinking more and more about it. I spoke to one of my close pals about it and she encouraged me to go for it. In fact, to make it binding, we each put it on our individual lists of 30 things to do before we turn 30. A few weeks ago, I discovered a place that offered the classes but we ended up not going there because the setup was dodgy. Shortly thereafter, she forwarded me an email from DailyCandy about a new studio in town that offers pole fitness classes. I kept coming up with excuses not to go until she jacked me up on IM and made me commit to a date and time.

Today, I am happy to say that I have finally taken a pole fitness class. And boy was it fun! I'll say one thing, stripping ain't for babies. Getting up on that pole is not as easy as it looks. My first attempt was pitiful. The second time around, I decided not to think about it and just did it. That was my last successful attempt. All the same, I learnt some new moves that I won't soon forget. More importantly, I discovered new things about women in general. Many women are afraid yet curious about their 'sexiness'. One of the exercises involved walking, plain and simple walking. The instructor said every woman should have a signature walk and showed us examples and had each person come out and display her walk. Man, you should have seen the shaky steps that people were taking. It was sad. Just the other day I saw transvestites on Tyra and honey, the twenty-plus women in the room today could have taken lessons from them. What is it that prevents women from owning themselves, sex appeal included? What are we afraid of? What is it that prevents us from being truly phenomenal women like the woman in Maya Angelou's poem? For sure, society conditions most women to repress their sexuality. However, in a supportive environment, it was difficult to get women to really let out their inner strippers. Even behind closed doors, not too many displayed risqué moves. When asked why we were there, most people, myself included, said for fitness. I did add that I was there for the 'performance art' as well but most people cited fitness-related reasons. Yeah right, since when did we start wearing heels to the gym?