When Saudi Arabian yoga instructor, Nada, boldly rejected the stigma that her country and society attach to pole dancing and took up the ‘controversial’ activity, she initially had to face a lot of backlash. Later on, she made a progress by discarding the tainted image of it within her circle of friends.
Pole dancing as a form of exercise has been marred by its association with the shady strip clubs and burlesque houses in the West.
Undeterred, Nada courageous stuck with the course she had enrolled in a few years ago at a local gym. The 28-year-old believes she has made progress, at least within her own circle of friends.
She told AFP, “At first, they said this is inappropriate and a mistake, Now they say ‘We want to try it”.
Nada’s persistence in being identified by her first name only indicates that she and other Saudi pole dancers still have some work to do.
Now after the change in context and growing women empowerment in the country, at least three gyms in Saudi Arabia have begun offering pole dancing courses.
One of the owners in Riyadh, May al-Youssef, said, “I feel that pole dancing has been given more attention because it’s something new and girls love to try it,”
A pole dancing student in Riyadh claimed that she “wasn’t ashamed at all” to give it a try, and said,
That’s my personality, I would say. I’m not ashamed to embrace my sensuality, my femininity. I’m not ashamed of anything, as long as I’m not hurting other people.
She did acknowledge that not everyone would be so comfortable with it and agreed to describe her experience only if she could remain anonymous.
The only reason she stopped, she said, was because pole dancing turned out to be more physically demanding and difficult than it looks onscreen.
She explained, “I realized it’s not my thing. It needs a lot of muscles, a lot of strength to be able to do it”.
Gym manager al-Youssef said that she hopes the physical demands of pole dancing are evident in the pictures and videos that she posts on Instagram. She believes that enthralling evidence of its benefits can be found in the change her clients experienced.
What do you think of this daring and bold new step by Saudi Arabian women? Let us know in the comments below.
