Late Spring 2009 Pole Dancing Competitions - Olympic Sport?

Vegas Woman Wins Miss U.S. Pole Dance Federation 2009! 2009 US Pole Dance champion: Jenyne Butterfly [ctrl-click for video]. Image Credit: U.S. Pole Dance Federation

Late Spring 2009 Pole Dancing Competitions - Olympic Sport?

There is a whole wold of organized gymnastic and athletic competition that has taken place over the last full month and few people really are aware of it taking place.

Sure, there was a little write up in SI.com, but nothing really on a mainstream media scale that would bring serious attention to the art and athletic competition and the serious nature on which the progressive structure (regionals, nationals, then international) of the competition takes in which a world champion is decided.

The competition is Pole Dancing. Ok, so the art and athletic form got its start as a method by which female entertainers, who took off their clothes, could separate men from their money.

In the United States, there is a formal association set up to bring standards and an official program of competition to the process named the US Pole Dance Federation or USPDF.

2009 US Pole Dance Federation Competition

2009 Pole Dance World Finals Competition Winner

This excerpted and edited from an internet PDF version of SI.com -

A live report from the US Pole Dance Championship
Monday March 16, 2009 10:07AM; Updated: Monday March 16, 2009 3:12PM
By Jacob E. Osterhout

While most sports fans eagerly awaited the NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday, I headed over to the Bleeker Street Theatre in New York City for a very different sort of Selection Sunday.

The US Pole Dance Federation, better known to acronym lovers as the USPDF, was hosting the first annual US Pole Dance Championship. Twelve female contestants, chosen from more than 50 applicants, would be competing for the honor of representing the United States at Miss Pole Dance Australia 2009 and for a spot on the cover of next month's Pole2Pole Magazine.
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The dress code from the USPDF rulebook states, "No nudity, no G-strings or thongs. Violation of this requirement leads to immediate disqualification."

As contestant Denise Brown a happily married mother of two from Tennessee said, "We are not strippers and it is not a stripper pole unless someone is taking off their clothes. Sure, a form of pole dancing is exotic, but that's not all there is to it. Pole dancing is really about fitness, athleticism and artistic design."
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But while pole dancing has certainly gone from erotic to aerobic, not all the sensuality has been lost. At the championship, five-inch heels, belly-button rings and tattoos were just as prevalent as washboard abs, well-toned biceps and calves the size of peaches.
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According to competition rules, contestants compete in two rounds: a 60-90 second compulsory round with required elements, and a 3-5 minute optional round in which competitors choreograph their own routine. A panel of three judges then selects the winner based on execution, transition, originality, difficulty, flexibility, and sex appeal.
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The favorite entering Sunday's championship, at least according to the contestants, seemed to be Jenyne Butterfly, a petite blonde from Eastern Washington. Despite her diminutive stature, Butterfly had already won pole dance competitions across the nation, including the highly regarded Pole-a-palooza in Las Vegas, which she has won three years in a row.
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But catching a butterfly is a tricky task. The favorite took the stage as the night's second to last performance and showed why she truly is "The Pole Queen." Dressed in a white two-piece outfit and veil, Butterfly lived up to her name. She defied gravity. At times, one arm supported the entire weight of her outstretched body. Her moves were elegant, her transitions seamless. By the time Butterfly capped off her performance with her signature "flag move" -- think of her as the flag on a flagpole -- the capacity crowd was on its feet.

And while the judges took 10 minutes to give the appearance of a formal debate, everyone knew the winner had already been decided. Jenyne Butterfly was the 2009 US Pole Dance Champion.

"It feels really good," Butterfly said afterwords as the crowd streamed out the theater. "I've never won a medal for pole dancing before. Normally, they just hand me an envelope of money."

And with a slight smile, the champ sauntered away from the stage to find her boyfriend and grab a bite to eat.

After all, a girl can work up quite an appetite winning a national championship.
Reference Here>>

Can you see this as an Olympic event? The competitors would have to wear a unitard or the like.

My wife just asked me ... What?! Did you write about ... Pole Dancing?

As I told her, this was actually and interesting topic given the fact that the competitors actually take the performance as a serious enterprise and athletic art expression.

She chilled after she saw the video examples. I guess one needs the 6" heels just to get a "leg-up" as it were - sorry, couldn't resist.

NYPC – The Lily Livered Response Of The Big Apple

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles as he leaves the parliament in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday. Image Credit: Vahid Salemi, AP

NYPC – The Lily Livered Response Of The Big Apple

News Item:

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, requests to visit Ground Zero next week when he attends the United Nations' General Assembly meeting.

His reason for the request was that he wanted to place of a wreath on and pay his respects to the site where terrorists toppled the twin World Trade Center tower buildings and killed over 3,000 innocent people.

NYPD Response:

After a meeting to review the Iranian President’s request, New York Police Department, the Secret Service and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, “Construction is underway at the site and no visitors are allowed because of safety concerns.”

"He wanted to go into the pit and lay a wreath," Browne continued. Even if Ahmadinejad had asked to visit the area near Ground Zero, that "would also be opposed by NYPD on security grounds," he said.

Ground Zero - September 11, 2001. A day that will forever be remembered. - Let it not be remembered for the evil acts of violence targeted at fear, panic and death. But remember the human spirit, the brotherhood of mankind, and the goodness that not only New Yorkers but Americans and the world over have dedicated to saving our most precious resource: life. For this is the only way to stand up to those wish to fight from shadows, or are rabid enough to believe it is worth their own life to see so many others end. - May God bless our Ground Heros. Caption Credit: World Trade Center Memorial Fund - Image Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The “View” From MAXINE:

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has recently been quoted in statements questioning whether six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis and calling for the state of Israel to be "wiped off the map." Further, he has vehemently defended Iran's right to develop nuclear power while denying that it seeks to additionally develop nuclear weapons of which he has stated that he intends to use to carry out his threat on Israel.

Why can’t the NYPD (New York Police Department) be less NYPC (New York Politically Correct) in their response to Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s request?

Truthfully, the NYPD, New York Mayor Bloomberg, and all other people in authority should have been completely clear and unified in their response.

Reasoning:

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, request should have been rejected on the grounds that as one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism, the NYPD would find it inappropriate to allow his official and escorted visit to this hallowed ground ... NOT, that this site is a construction zone and general safety is in peril.

The cynicism of this request to lay a wreath where Islamo-Fascists terrorists killed so many innocents and destroyed so much property in the name of what Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stands for, should have been met with an outright rejection ... not a capitulation based upon site security restrictions.

The Correct Response:

The NYPD, the Borough of Manhattan, the City of New York, the State of New York and the nation of the United States does not cater to the requests of terrorists and the states that sponsor them. Request Denied!

Image Credit: World Trade Center Memorial Fund

Question(s):

Based upon the many statements of hostility toward humanity and the outright destruction of one segment of our world in humanity (Jews), why would the United States issue this guy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a visa in the first place?

Where are the levels of enforceable standards in this situation?

UPDATE: The Iranian leader plans to go to Ground Zero on Monday at 10 AM with a Secret Service escort - over NYPD objections. (WABC-TV)

Also: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney requested that the UN indict Ahmadinejad under the Genocide Convention instead of having him as a speaker.

With these updates, the title of this post should be:

The Lily Livered Response Of The Bush Administration (sorry, W)

Additional developments and blogger community reaction HERE>>