This workshop explores pole dancing as an act of resistance, reclamation, and body liberation. Rooted in sex worker artistry, pole has often been erased or rebranded as “fitness” to appease capitalism, patriarchy, and respectability politics.
Together we will examine how capitalism profits from women, trans and non-binary people feeling disconnected from our bodies, and how pole challenges this by centering pleasure, strength, and embodiment. We will discuss the divide between pole “fitness” and pole “dance,” the importance of honouring sex worker history, and how movement can be a site of healing and defiance. Participants will be invited into accessible, non-pole movement practices that resist shame and reclaim joy in our bodies.
The intention of this workshop is to reclaim pole dancing as a practice of resistance, liberation, and body connection. It challenges capitalist, patriarchal, and ableist narratives that disconnect us from our bodies and erases sex worker contributions to art and movement. Beginning: We open with a grounding exercise and an introduction to the radical history of pole, centring sex worker origins. Middle: Through discussion and reflection, we explore how capitalism profits from body disconnection, the divide between pole “fitness” and pole “dance,” and the importance of honouring sex worker creativity. An accessible movement invitation will allow participants to experience embodied resistance without needing a pole. Ending: We close with group reflection, resource sharing, and a collective affirmation of bodies as sites of power, joy and resistance.
With Ella Riley (She/They)
I am a pole dance instructor, performer, studio owner and Managing Director of The Studio NE CIC, a community interest company dedicated to improving mental wellbeing for marginalised communities in the North East through accessible pole dance. I am also co-founder of the North East Sex Workers Collective, which offers free self-care workshops for current and former sex workers, alongside allyship and education around sex worker rights and legislation. My practice is guided by trauma-informed, anti-capitalist and community-led values, shaped by lived experience of navigating marginalisation and systemic barriers. I believe in using movement, creativity and collective care as acts of resistance and liberation, while honouring the sex worker roots of pole dance.
