Back to school!!!!!!!!!!

Ok people, it's time to get down to the serious stuff. Project time.

So it's been a lovely few months chillaxing and not doing anything that involves the word 'project' or 'proposal' however now I feel it's time to get a move on. I have been putting off doing anything because of the pressure I feel to do well. I have high expectations of myself and I dont think this has helped the situation.

However, I have been busy with some basic foundations to my project. I have landed myself some more pole teaching work. I now work for three pole dancing company's.

1. Pole Confessions http://www.poleconfessions.co.uk

2. Northern Pole Divas http://www.northernpoledivas.co.uk

3. Poletastic http://www.poletastic.com

So, I have been busy, busy, busy. What’s great about my new jobs is I get the opportunity to work with girls aged 14-16 and get them interested in vertical pole training, because if Pole dancing does become a future Olympic sport they will need to be trained from a young age. At Poletastic It's great as I get to access the latter age group that I want my project to be focused on the 30-35 bracket.

I get booked for regular work with Poletastic and mainly Pole parties. Pole parties are commonly for lady’s hen nights or women’s birthdays that want to see what it’s like. They are great fun, the women get a great experience, gain some confidence by being surrounded by their friends and get an idea what it's all about.

The access to these women will benefit my project as I can get my questionnaires filled out by plenty of women, some who will want to experience the fun of the lesson, some who are there because they have to. It will also be a good way to meet people and invite them to my focus group.

So, Although I have not yet started anything on paper for my project I have been busy laying the foundations. So watch this space................................................

Literature

Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:02 pm EST

Will pole dancing be the newest Olympic sport?

By Chris Chase

If the founder of the International Pole Dance Fitness Association has her way, an activity popularized by strippers will one day become a medal sport in the Summer Games.

Although such an event would make rappers, athletes, and bachelor-party guests very, very happy, there's no chance it will ever happen.

As the Associated Press reported Monday, some members of the pole-dancing community (yes, there's a pole-dancing community) are dreaming of one day showcasing their ability to hang upside-down on a metal pole in the Olympic Games.

To call their pursuit an uphill climb would only suffice if said hill was Mt. Everest. Pole dancing isn't recognized as a sport by the IOC, doesn't have any uniform judging regulations, and, most important, is pole dancing.

This doesn't stop IPDFA founder Ania Przeplasko fromdeluding herself hoping that the sport could get into the Summer Games as soon as possible. "There will be a day when the Olympics see pole dancing as a sport," she told the AP. "The Olympic community needs to acknowledge the number of people doing pole fitness now. We're shooting for 2012."

That the schedule for the 2012 Olympics has already been set is only the first of thousands of things wrong with this statement. The next three that come to mind are: A lot of people do yoga for fitness and you don't see Denise Austin lobbying the IOC; it may be tough to envision Olympics where Derek Jeter can't participate but Savannah can; and, again, pole dancing.

How would you even judge such an event? Would there be a compulsory routine set to "Pour Some Sugar On Me"? Could competitors earn deductions for not getting a tip from the creepy guy with the mustache? Will the U.S. trials be held at Crazy Girls? And would Pacman Jones be allowed to judge?

We appreciate all that pole dancers do and respect the moxie of its community to set such lofty goals for itself. But we sadly don't ever see the activity in the Olympics. Unless, of course, Scotty Lago ever gets put in charge.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Will-pole-dancing-be-the-newest-Olympic-sport-?urn=oly,221369

Research Methods Things to Focus on

So after a long debate with myself about whether or not I should focus my project on pole dancing I have to say I’m really excited about starting it. I have told so many people about it and they are all interested to find out what the outcome of my project will be. I have been playing around with a few ways to word my title here are some examples,

• Pole dancing to keep fit and increase confidence has become hugely popular in many gyms and dance studios all across the world. I want to know how the public perceive pole dancing and their thoughts about pole dancing as a future event at the Olympics games.

• Pole dancing is now advertised as a new way to keep fit. Do the public agree or do they still think of it as degrading? What would they think if it was considered as Olympic sport?

• Pole dancing understandably is seen as degrading for women, however times have changed and Pole dancing is an increasingly popular way to keep fit. Do the public see this as acceptable or still for what they hear and possibly have seen in men’s clubs? What are the public’s thoughts about pole dancing as a future event in the Olympics?

• Pole dancing is an increasingly popular way to keep fit, what are the public’s thoughts about pole dancing and would they support pole dancing as a future event at the Olympic games?

My thoughts are with the first bullet however I would like to get some feedback on these as I am interested to hear which one other people like.

The areas I need to research would be,

• Pole dancing as a way to keep fit and increase confidence, I would need to have evidence that pole dancing does support these statements.

• That it is popular in many studios and gyms worldwide, I am going to look into classes available in certain major cities such as NYC, London and Australia to back this up.

• The public’s thoughts, this could be positive comments about pole dancing or negative comments about pole dancing.

• The Olympic games, I would gather some research about the history of the Olympic games, events, criteria’s and recent modern sports that have become globally recognised sports that have a place in the Olympics.


I need to research these areas as I have made statements that need to be supported with evidence and the evidence I will use will come from those who pole dance already whether they are the people I teach, the people I know that pole dance for fitness, people who are part of Pole dancing organisations not to mention my own personal experience. I will have to do some thorough research on access to pole dancing classes/lessons worldwide to prove that it is popular through interviews with people who run and organise pole dancing classes around the UK. As for the public’s thoughts I would use interviews, questionnaires and surveys to gather this evidence. As for the Olympic Games extensive research and my own knowledge of the Olympic Games through doing A-Level PE will be important as this is the main area that I would like to publicise and bring attention to. The evidence that I recover will be summarised in my conclusion in my project.

The areas I would like to investigate and include are,

• My thoughts on pole dancing before I became interested in it and my thoughts now I pole dance

• Why I want to make people aware that pole dancing is not how its perceived in men’s clubs

• I want to know more about pole dancing in clubs and understand why people might think of it as degrading

• The positive outcomes and physical changes to people that take part in pole dancing

• Statements and proof that pole dancing is a sport that’s demanding physically and mentally

• If Pole dancing is seen as a sport similar to gymnastics?

• If it would be considered as a Olympic sport what a criteria would be ie, Dress, moves and music

• If it’s not considered as a sport for the Olympics why?

I feel that I have a range of things I want to unfold and areas I know I have to research. I now have to continue to discover and understand all the ways to research so that I can understand what will help me answer the questions I want to know.

I am going to do some in depth research on Primary and secondary research, Qualitative and Quantitative data, Casual, Exploratory and descriptive research, Validity and reliability. Then i can relate if any of these areas will be helpful for me to complete my project.

Research Methods Learning diary 3

And then there was light!!!!
After many sleepless nights and driving myself mad about a title/subject for my project I can proudly say after much deliberation and a little help from my friends I have finally decided to go with my initial thoughts about the subject of Pole Dancing.

I have decided to base my project around Pole Dancing as I have been Pole dancing since April 2009 at Radcliffe Civic Hall and have just finished my training to teach the beginners class on Tuesday nights and I love it. I used to be a gymnast and was always intrigued with how the body is physically capable of holding lines and shapes whilst suspended in the air and now I am re-living my childhood passion just on a vertical bar not at horizontal one!

The first time I Pole Danced was for a hen party and it was so much fun. It was great for my friend who lacks a lot in confidence over her body and not to mention a great way to get the girls together and do something new. I loved it and of course being a trained dancer had its advantages not only making it look nice but been musical and confident. It was months later when I came across a poster about a taster lesson for Pole Confessions Pole classes where you could have a spin, a climb and sign up for a 6 week course which was great as after a nasty fall on my wrist that lead to surgery where I now consequently have screws in my wrist was the ideal fun way to get my strength back in my arms and upper body.

Claire my instructor/manager is great and advertises her classes as a way for women to come and keep fit the fun way, build confidence, make friends in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. I have enjoyed every moment of it and from a physical side it has changed the strength of my body dramatically over the last 9 months and since teaching it I have enjoyed the class go home happy when they have had a good class.

So, to the nitty gritty bit. The reason I want to research Pole Dancing is because as a dancer I have no problem letting people know I teach people to Pole dance or that I Pole dance at home/in work however, those who don’t know me and a small percentage of those who do always lift their eyebrow or look at me with an “Oh really” face. I know what they think and I always feel like I have to justify it or explain that my class is in a civic hall not a club and that I teach it to all ages of women to keep fit and build confidence. Why should I explain these facts? Because some of the general public believe that Pole dancing is a disgrace and that it’s degrading to women. Yes its seen in men’s clubs and it has sexual connotations and I understand that naturally people would think that Pole Dancing for a man in a sexual manner is a nasty degrading thing to do HOWEVER personally I think that this is slightly unfair as come on its the 21st century and it’s become a new modern way to keep fit and increase strength.

Something that has interested me more is it has triggered a petition to give Pole Dancing a place in the Olympics. Yes I said Olympics!! I’m unsure how I feel about it personally however one thing I am sure about is don’t judge something until you have tried it because it really isn’t as easy as it looks or as degrading as you might think.