Chloe Anderson is a 2x National Champion Pole Dancer. But for her Pole Dancing is more than just a competition, it’s a way to fight back against depression. We talk pole dancing basics, strip clubs, music and more. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Unintentionally Attractive Things.

Chloe Anderson: 01:31ish

Pointless: 25:25ish

Top 5: 41:29ish

https://www.instagram.com/chloeandersonpole (Chloe Anderson Instagram)

https://www.facebook.com/chloe.anderson.923 (Chloe Anderson Facebook)

https://www.thepolelab.com (Chloe Anderson Website)

Interview with Pole Dancing Champion Chloe Anderson

Nick VinZant 0:11

Hey everybody, welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant coming up in this episode, pole dancing, and things that are accidentally attractive.

Chloe Anderson 0:23

As a female, it's very rare to find a sport that one is very sexy but two involves a lot of strength and flexibilities you need to obviously have a lot of elements to be good at pole dancing, because a kid I had depression and I really suffered with it. And then I've not had a problem with that since doing pole, it's such a good thing to do for your mental health. It's obviously your exercise as well. But also get that level of achievement that you get in pole to do something you never physically thought that your body could do. There's no feeling like it,

Nick VinZant 1:00

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, like, download, subscribe, share, we really appreciate it really helps us out. So I am fascinated by people who are really good at the thing that they do. Our first guest is a two time national champion pole dancer, who has taken this art form and really turned it into something so much more. This is Chloe Anderson. So why pole dancing, what brought you to it,

Chloe Anderson 1:35

and I used to teach English as a foreign language in Spain, and I sort of lost my passion for it. And I did some life coaching. And it came out as as learning to dance. I never wanted to learn to do ballet, or anything like that. And there was a poll studio that opened up down the road from me. So I attended a class and, and fell in love with it from from the first moment. And I think I was going about four times a week.

Nick VinZant 2:06

What was it about it?

Chloe Anderson 2:08

I think as a female, it's very rare to find a sport that one is very sexy. But two involves a lot of strength and flexibilities you need to obviously have a lot of elements to be good at at pole dancing. But also it's very empowering at the same time. And it's very rewarding. So when you get that new move that you've been trying to do or achieve that you've been working months on, and it doesn't matter what level you are, it's beginner to intermediate to advanced. It's just as rewarding at each level. And I think that you end up doing things you never thought you would possibly be able to do. Yeah, it's highly addictive.

Nick VinZant 2:50

To me. All right, Joe, as a man watching listening to you like right, you say that it's empowering. But for a man. Like I'm only thinking about one thing when I think about pole dancing necessarily. So there seems to be this kind of like, how do you explain that kind of contradiction that women feel empowered by it, but men are just leering at them while they're doing it.

Chloe Anderson 3:11

I think back in the day, it was like Polo used to be very different. Now, it seemed much more gymnastics sort of style much more technical than it used to be. So when I first started, it was 12 years ago now. And anytime I'd mention it, it would be like oh, what club Do you work in? are so you're restricted? And whereas now if you tell anybody about it, people, male, female, whatever gender they always are, Oh, I know someone who does that. Oh, you really need good upper body strength, good core strength. So I agree with you. I think back in the day as well. There were less and less variants simple. I think nowadays, there's so many avenues you can go down. So you can go down the strippers sort of more heel side of it, which is a lot sexier side, you could go the more trick heavy, which is definitely gymnastic base, and you can go down the choreo. So it's a lot for sort of gentler, more dance sort of style. So I think it's education. Now I think a lot more people see it for what it is. Rather than just being that sort of strip club pole dancing. memory that it used to be but yeah, no, it definitely when I started that was the response that I would get was very much strip club, whereas now It surprises me when I meet someone who's Oh, what club Do you work in? But it just doesn't happen as much which is why it's more surprising. Now.

Nick VinZant 4:34

Do you think that just because more people were doing it or like what do you think caused that change?

Chloe Anderson 4:40

I think more people are doing it and I think where it's become so popular. You've had people come from different avenues. So we get a lot of dancers we get a lot of people with gymnastic background, so they're going to bring their influences into pole pole is still relatively new in terms of classes and things when I started there was no You can train to be an instructor when I started, if you wanted to teach pole, all you had to do was an exercise to music. So it was very new back then. And it was it did mainly come out of strip clubs, they were the people who were teaching. Whereas now there's so many qualifications that you can get to teach pole and you have to be able to be qualified to teach pole. But we do have people who have come from gymnastics. So they're doing all these amazing flips. They're like jumping backwards of the pole, or you've got people who've come from the circus, they're jumping pole to pole. And then you've got dancers who've come in, and then they're obviously exploring more of the dance element of pole. So I think it's branched out more that when people look at it, they go, Oh, actually, that's not very sexy. That's actually pretty impressive. And I think it's seen differently because it is there are more different styles. Now, when did you start competing, and so started competing in 2014. And that's the first competition I won my first competition. And then I've continued competing ever since. So the biggest one I won was it's a national pole dance competition called UK PPC. And I got sponsored choice for elite in that one. And then yeah, I've sort of branched out a little bit, that's very trick heavy, that's definitely more of a gymnastic sort of competition. So it's, you know, pants have to be a certain length and costumes have to be a certain style that nothing shows it's, it's definitely not the sexy side of it. Whereas now, I would say I'm enjoying more competitions that have a bit more comedy factor to them, and a bit more risque. I think, like you can express yourself a little bit more and have more fun with it. And I think the audience will hopefully the audience enjoy it. Whereas I can find like the trick heavy one is very stressful on the body. And I'm getting a bit older now. It's getting a bit more painful.

Nick VinZant 6:52

Why are you good at it? Like are you unusually strong? Are you unusually coordinated? And by unusual, I mean, like more than the average person? Like, why are you good at good at it

Chloe Anderson 7:05

Practice. So I didn't have any strength when I started. So as I said, is teach English as a foreign language. And I remember one day, I was teaching and I pointed at the board, and I saw my, my arm wobble and wobble for a while. And that was in my head, I was like, Okay, I need to change something about this. So I went to pole to get stronger. And in regards to flexibility, I've never been flexible. I couldn't do the splits when I was a child couldn't touch my toes. And I've just trained for 12 years now. And I think, like anything, the more you train, the more you throw yourself into it, the better you're going to be. But I just I loved it. I think that's it, I absolutely loved it. And for me, it's a such a, a way for dealing with mental health and things like this as well. Like as a kid, I had depression, and I really suffered with it. And then I've not had a problem with that since doing poll. It's such a good thing to do if your mental health is obviously your exercise as well. But also get that level of achievement that you get in pole to do something you never physically thought that your body could do. There's no feeling like it. So I think it has so many benefits to it. And yeah, I didn't want to do without it. I don't know how to survive lockdown without it, that's for sure.

Nick VinZant 8:25

For a competition, right, like what are they judging you on? Like what's, what's the criteria that they're looking for?

Chloe Anderson 8:33

So depending on the competition, so for the sort of trick, heavy gymnastic, sort of themed ones, you'll be judged on your costume. You'll be judged on your technique. You'll be judged on your floor work on your theme on how you incorporate your theme, obviously with the pole with the floor as well your musicality Do you hit the beats. And so there's sort of the main ones for the technical side of it. And then you've got things like Paul theater. So Paul theater is a lot more about your performance. So your story, how you've incorporated your your story into your routine, but also technique and also your it's like your tricks, but it will change in percentage, depending on which competition you enter. So for a more drama themed competition, your tricks might only be 30% of it. But then for a trick heavy competition, it might be 40% of it. So it changes depending on what's on what Yeah, what competition you enter,

Nick VinZant 9:39

which one of those disciplines is kind of like the big one?

Chloe Anderson 9:43

Depends on the pole dancer. I think everyone's so different. Now I have some students who aren't interested in tricks in the slightest and they just want to learn choreography or they want to learn heels. They want to learn how to dance around the pole. And then I have some students who absolutely do buys all choreography and couldn't think of anything worse and only want to learn all the big tricks and all the transitions and basically just wants to stay up the pole. So I think it all depends on the pole dancer, I'd say I'm more known for my low pole stuff, I'm probably better down on the like, base work and floor work and choreography, which is why I like to enter competitions as well, because it makes me do more at the pole, it makes me climate and do some tricks up there, which probably should do a bit more often. But I didn't think that you could really say one was better than the other. I think at the minute, it just depends on the person.

Nick VinZant 10:37

Do you have to do any kind of outside training, right? Or do you sit basically, you want to get better at pole dancing, you just pull dance? Do you have to like, go running or lift weights or stuff like that.

Chloe Anderson 10:50

So I hate running, which is good, because you don't need to do that. And so cross training is really important as it is with any sport. So for example, with pole dancing, flexibility, big one. So things like yoga or attending stretch classes does flex classes designed for pole as well, most pole studios offer those. And also with cross training, like strength. So yeah, the gym is really good. CrossFit, anything like gymnastics is really good as well. The issues that we have with pole is even though we train both sides, we can be one side dominant. So it tends to be that we have one side quite overdeveloped. So if we do go to the gym and do CrossFit, and are all these sort of different activities that are much more leveled, it's going to really help us in our body and also reduce the risk of injury as well. Same thing with the flexibility, if you're not flexible enough to get into a move again, you're higher risk in your injury. So the more you can cross train, the better you're going to do at pole dancing.

Nick VinZant 11:49

Okay, let me think of the way to ask you this question without coming off a certain way. Um, when you look at other people who are really good, like elite level pole dancers like yourself, is there a certain size, right? Like, are people who are five, two generally better than people who are like six foot or like, Is there a special size that a pole dancer usually is.

Chloe Anderson 12:14

So I say, men are particularly amazing at it, because they've got very small hips and good strong upper bodies. So men tend to pick it up very quickly and very easily. And women, we do tend to carry heavier weight in our lower area, so in our bombs, so it can be harder for us to lift. And also, we don't tend to be very strong on top. So that can be harder for us as well. In terms of body wise, yes, it definitely plays a part in it. And if you're shorter, then it's definitely easy. You've got less to lift. So for example, one of my instructors, she's got very, very long legs, which are absolutely beautiful. But it's taken her so much longer to be able to get like straight leg, invert straight leg shoulder mounts, because obviously the lever is much longer so it's harder to lift. So yeah, so it definitely plays a part in it being shorter, being smaller, makes it easier.

Nick VinZant 13:04

Are there a lot of men who do it? Like if you put a percentage on it? Like how, how many how many people in a class of yours are in a competition or like men?

Chloe Anderson 13:13

So we don't have masses amount, we probably only about 10% in competitions quite often you have female category and male categories. But I think now they are tending tatsoi they have the tendency to mix them more now.

Nick VinZant 13:28

But predominantly women so far.

Chloe Anderson 13:30

Yes. Yeah. I think it's changing a lot more. Now. I think I don't if you see on social media and stuff, the guys in New York City who were on the trans and everything during these crazy poll moves. And I think for certain men, they prefer to see it more like a Chinese poll, which is still very similar, but obviously a Chinese poll, you can do it and close. It's silicon based. And so yeah, I think it's transitioning a lot more. We're definitely seeing more men and more interest through men.

Nick VinZant 14:00

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yes, I think what is the hardest pole dancing move?

Chloe Anderson 14:11

Oh, good question. I think there are many, many difficult policies. I probably say the hardest one that I personally can think of would be a move called rainbow Marchenko. So if you were to imagine someone was sat in the splits on the floor, and then was to reach backwards, bending their back and grabbing their foot behind their leg behind their head and lying almost flat to their leg backwards, and then flip them upside down and stick them on the pole. Yeah. So it's called a rainbow Marchenko how someone even thought that move up. I cannot begin to imagine.

Nick VinZant 14:49

I don't think that I could do that like in a pool. Right? Like with no body weight, like if somebody put a pole in a pool, I couldn't. I could not do that. figure out a way to do that. With no bodyweight, the level of flexibility it involves is immense. What is the best pole dancing move,

Chloe Anderson 15:08

though? Oh, I think there's too many. I mean, everyone has their signature moves. I'm quite bad with names in pole moves. So I tend to just make names up. And the one that I do a lot, which I know the name of is called olivi. Lula. I don't know who names him normally the person who creates some names. And as I said, Paul is still a relatively sort of new sport. So we have some interesting names in pole dancing still. And but yes, Liverpool is probably my favorite one. It goes in most of my routines, but there's too many. I love combos as well. And I think Paul's not just about the move, it's about how you get in and out of moves and make things look interesting.

Nick VinZant 15:49

This kind of segues a little bit into our The next question, which is what is the best named move? Just the name in and of itself? We like who I like saying that?

Chloe Anderson 15:59

I mean, I can tell you my least favorite one, but I don't think I have. This is a very nice move, and it looks lovely. But it's called scooter Boyd.

Nick VinZant 16:13

That's terrible.

Chloe Anderson 16:16

And it's a beautiful move. And I think I know who made it. I'm not going to call her out on it. Because she's one of my favorite products is but the move itself is stunning. But what name was it mean? Do you know?

Nick VinZant 16:29

The first thing that I think of is a dog like scooting it's bought on? That's what I think of what is what do you do in the actual move.

Chloe Anderson 16:40

And it's, I can explain it as a as an instructor you go you hook in inside legs, you're upside down, you come into a straddle, invert and you took an inside leg. And then the inside arm comes off and holds the pole. And you've basically got a leg hooked over the arm. And another leg. Like a poem is very hard to explain to pole dancers, let alone to people who don't pull right.

Nick VinZant 17:02

Yeah, it's kind of like writing Twister, so to speak. Right? Like Yes.

Chloe Anderson 17:08

And I'm a very visual person. I work better by watching.

Nick VinZant 17:13

Yeah, I know what you mean. Um, our strip club dancers generally good at pole dancing.

Chloe Anderson 17:22

Whoo. I think it depends on the pole dance. It depends on the country. And it depends on the club. And there's a lot of factors. And in Brighton, for example, which is where I live. I know. I know, some who really love pole dancing and like are incredible. And I know some who aren't interested in doing the big tricks. I think in strip clubs, it's more about the chat than it is the pole dancing. However, I believe in this only what I've heard of I've not been yet. And America and Australia I heard that the the level of pole dancing in strip clubs is pretty high. And in London as well, I hear it's more of a show rather than just just dancing the pole like they do have performers as well as the girls who work in the strip club as

Nick VinZant 18:08

well. I have been to a strip club in the United States. So I can comment on this. I remember going to one and seeing one woman that it was he was physically impressive what she was able to do. I was like, Oh my god, and everybody was watching her not because they for the her athletic ability. In doing it. It was really impressive. She's doing like pull ups and all kinds of stuff is amazing. Yeah,

good. Best Song. And,

Chloe Anderson 18:39

again, depends so if I do slower routines or more technical routines, I really like glass animals, they have some really good music and two feet as well. They're excellent. And then faster. And I really like kvp V and it's the song coop problems. It's like my favorite song for heels dancing at the minute so it changes weekly but yeah, that's that's my go to at the minute some repeat. What's the most overused one like you're at a competition or you're at a class you know like oh, and sale sale? Yeah, so you know it Yeah, that was used a lot what was the other one? rag and bone man did one that was used a lot. I Imagine Dragons there was one by Imagine Dragons that got used a lot as well. Yeah, they tend to come out and then everybody uses it and then everyone's sick of it. A river as well river by as it Bishop, something Bishop,

Nick VinZant 19:43

but who is like the Michael Jordan of pole dancing. Oh, okay. That's, that's the best.

Chloe Anderson 19:50

And so there's a few Janine butterflies one of them so she's American bass. She used to work for Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas, and she did the pilot Dancing for them for quite a few years. She's incredible. UK bass we've got bendy Kate she's probably the most well known and just spectacular in her movements if you ever get time watch some of our competitions. The one that she did too too big to boots by stormzy is my absolute favorite competition piece of all time. And that was by ben de Kate and then people are popping up now it since lockdown people who've never competed, folks, that's how people get their name out is through competitions. Whereas now because of lockdown, everyone's gone through social media. So we've there's a new goal, or she's not no she's been doing Paul for years called gab Araya. And she just superhuman, like the things that people are able to do I never thought was possible. So I would say now, there's so many so many artists out there that just blow me away. But yeah, they're the three that comes to the top of my head.

Nick VinZant 20:56

Are there different kinds of polls? Like is there an industry standard? Like this is the poll you have to use?

Chloe Anderson 21:04

No, it's you don't have to use certain polls. And I use Expo and I also I work I do instructor training for expert, which is part of Expo as well, and Expo worldwide. So that I would In my opinion, I'd say the probably the most popular one. And you also have different ones like loopup poll. They've got free standing polls as well, which have loads of different companies as well. But yeah, as far as far as I'm aware, I would say expos probably the most renowned one. But I would say if you do buy a poll, always check one that is no plastic part two, that's reputable, reputable, and make sure you've read any reviews as well, especially if it's from a brand that you've never heard of, or, or people don't know too much about. Definitely check out your safety. At the end of the day, you don't want to buy a pole which is going to fall over all the time. So

Nick VinZant 21:58

I do always laugh at those videos, though when somebody like gets on the pole and it collapses.

Chloe Anderson 22:03

See, most of the time when this happens is what what they've done is they've gone around to their partner and they'd be like, can you set this up for me is that I don't need the instructions. I know what I'm doing. And then they set it up without reading the instructions. And then the whole foods falls down. So normally, it's been set up badly or someone's bought a knockoff pole on eBay, which cost them 50 quid and it's full of plastic parts. That tends to be what hat but I've been doing it 12 years and I've not had a pole fall down on me yet.

Nick VinZant 22:32

What country like what's the dominant country in terms of like interest like goo, the Bolivians, they love it, or what country is kind of the preeminent pole dancing country?

Chloe Anderson 22:44

See, I think the Australians because they're just next level, like the just the energy that they have in a dance, I think as English poet says we're very interesting in our dance. And I think we were more maybe a bit more creative with our movement. But the Australians that don't know what's in their water, but one their abs are insane. And two, they're just so fast. And they're clean lines, and there's tricks are strong. And they're just amazing. The Yeah, another level. So I'd say Australia,

Nick VinZant 23:17

I guess where do you what do you think the future is?

Chloe Anderson 23:21

And good question. I think I'd like to think that there's going to be even more diversity through poll, I think, sadly, there's been maybe a few issues with with certain parts of pole, like some people have problems with the fact it comes from sort of a stripper background, some people think it comes from different background. And I think once hopefully the pole community comes together and realizes that it's okay, that we can have all these different variants of pole, and they're all as amazing as each other, then hopefully, poll will progress in a really positive way. Because when I started it was such a supportive environment. I think it lost its way a little bit recently, but it's coming back to it again. So I hope that again, more creativity, I hope, you know, it becomes even more popular. And even more people see it for what it is and how you can be so creative and how amazing is for mental health. And I'd like to see, like other genders come in. Like it doesn't need to be female or into orientated. I think it's now time that more people get into it. But Fingers crossed. Let's see.

Nick VinZant 24:35

That's pretty much all the questions that I have. Is there anything you think that we missed or what's kind of coming up next for you?

Chloe Anderson 24:41

And so next for me, I've been performing again, which has been lovely, and it's nice to be back perform again. I was on my fly pole at the Fringe Festival in Brighton last week. most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life isn't scared of heights, but it's good fun. And But yeah, I think hopefully We can all get back to a bit of normality. We can open our studio, stop performing again and push pole dancing bit more.