Pole dancing class for kids raising eyebrows

A business owner in British Columbia is under fire for fitness classes she’s offering.(www.twistedgrip.ca)

The teacher of a pole dancing class in Duncan, British Columbia is catching some heat. It’s not that the moves she’s teaching her women students are too sexy, but that her most recent students happen to be children.

Kristy Craig, the owner of Twisted Grip Dance & Fitness, said that she decided to offer the class after an woman inquired for her little girl.

“I’m finding that people against it don’t understand the nature of the class,” Craig told the Dori Monson Show.

Children’s faces light up in Craig’s studio when they come in for their class. Kids climb a pole like they climb a tree and they love the crash mats that make it safer than the average tree climb.

It’s a fitness class, and according to Craig “pole fitness” has changed so much in the past 10 to 15 years, it doesn’t have the same stigma once attached to the hustle of the strip club.

“It’s just another form of dance.”

Craig asked Dori what hip-hop dance has over jazz dance or swimming over gymnastics; pole dancing is just another work out that she says works posture, strength, and grip.

Her youngest student is a 5-year-old girl. And Craig explained that the majority of students have parents who have taken the adult classes and they saw their own bodies change. At some point, they may have a pole of their own in the home, so the kids are already exposed.

While it may seem innocent enough, like playing around on a tether ball pole on the playground, Dori isn’t convinced the stigma will ever change.

“There are a lot of ways for kids to get fit without spinning around on a stripper pole,” Dori said. “Don’t give me this ‘it’s just another way to get fit and have fun.’ It’s a stripper pole.”

Stephanie Klein and Alyssa Kleven have contributed to this report.