It’s always a pleasure receiving a press release from Scores, but it wasn’t until I got this one with pole-dancing safety tips courtesy of “Lux,” a professional dancer at Scores who is also a competitive pole dancer, that I felt the need to pass it along. In light of a New York City woman filing a lawsuit against a gym for shoulder injuries sustained while reportedly doing an ill-spotted “upside-down maneuver” in its pole-dancing class, “Lux” offers the following advice, quoted verbatim, because it doesn’t get any better than this:
1) Apply a chalky powder to your hands to keep you from slipping (i.e. “Pole Grip”)
2) Wear stilettos with grips to generate some friction (i.e. “Adore” by the brand Pleasers)
3) Stretch — you will pull a muscle if you don’t. Pole dancing is like any other athletic activity
4) Never go upside down on the pole until you are comfortable with your upper body strength
5) To protect from germs, BYO cloth to wipe down the pole before each use.
Though I did once road test the Showgirls V.I.P. edition DVD for EW, I have not yet taken to the pole. Any of you?
Photo credit: John Gress/Reuters/Corbis
