Teens Taught to Pole Dance at UK School; Teachers Outraged

More than 1,000 students at South Devon College in Paignton, England were taught how to pole dance at school. The school invited a pole dancing company, The Art of Dance, to give lessons to students during lunchtime as a part of the school's "Be Healthy Week".

1,000 students aged 14 to 19 packed in the main public area of the school for the first performance by company owner Sam Remmer.

A number of teachers complained about the pole-dancing.

Remmer told the Daily Mail, "When we returned after the first performance we were asked to display in a different area as we were told there had been complaints. On querying the nature of the complaints I was told that most of them had come from members of staff who had not actually seen our displays but had just assumed that they were inappropriate for their students."

According to Remmer, many students recorded video of the performance on their mobile phones. Staff complained that after the performance, students were more interested in watching videos of it on their phones than in paying attention in class.

When Remmer returned two days later for another performance, she was asked to move the show into the sports hall and away from the main public area due to the complains.

Thus far, the school has refused to comment on the issue. Vice Principal Pat Denham, however did say that there was a "pole fitness demonstration but no pole dancing", and that the school had received no "official" complaints.

Remmer conducted the sessions at no cost to the school, provided that they allow her to post videos of the performances online. After receiving complaints, however, the school back-stepped and requested she remove the videos and not make the event public.

'I received an email from South Devon College asking me to remove the videos, I consented to removing the videos that had students in them as they had not signed any consent forms, but I refused to remove the videos filmed in the sports hall as they did not feature any students or references to the college.

'The college are trying to distance themselves from the display as much as possible. I was contacted by the vice principal who argued that I should not be making the event public," said Remmer.

Remmer is outraged at the treatment by the school, saying that unless people are educated about the differences between modern fitness pole dancing and lap dancing, then "negative stereotypes will not go away." Furthermore, she explained that pole dancing is perfectly appropriate for young teenagers at school as it mixes dance moves with gymnastics and is good fitness:

"I am really angry that bad pole dancing stereotypes are being thrown in my face, I am annoyed to think that many mainstream pop groups seem to promote inappropriate behaviour far more than my pole dancing classes.

'If anything my classes empower women and therefore encourage them to be in control of their bodies."