Miss SVG to open pole dancing school

Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines 2017 Jimelle Roberts plans to open a pole dancing school here.

Roberts, sponsored by FLOW in the 2017 pageant, took the top spot in the competition when it came off last Saturday, June 3, at Victoria Park. Apart from winning the crown and the EC$80,000 university scholarship, Roberts also won the talent category with her pole dance. The dance sought to highlight the global problem of human trafficking.

The talent began with Roberts pushing a trolley and using her smartphone to take selfies. While doing this, she was grabbed from behind, knocked out and kidnapped. Her kidnapper brought her two poles, stripped her and forced her to dance on one.

Roberts eventually overcame her attacker, kicking him over, then went to the second pole and continued dancing.  

But while her talent showed great upper body strength and put the spotlight on human trafficking, some took to social media to blast Roberts for her choice of talent, while others defended her performance.

But the new queen is not deterred and after the show told journalists that the negativity attached to pole dancing is disappearing; it is a recognized sport and people are now using the activity for exercise.

“I … started practising this talent last year January in England while I was studying, because I knew I wanted to enter the show, so I figured hard work brings success and it paid off and here I am,” Roberts told reporters, after being crowned.

She said that while the origins of pole dancing are obvious, she intends “to open a pole dancing school in St Vincent and it will be the first pole dancing school here.”

She also noted that internationally there are pole dancing competitions, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering having it as one of their competitions.

SEARCHLIGHT’s research has shown that the International Pole Sports Federation (IPSF) has applied to the IOC to be recognized as a fully-fledged sport.

When asked why, in her performance, she returned to the pole after overpowering her captor, Roberts explained, “I overpowered my captor and the idea is, this is who I am now; it’s instilled in me; it will be in me forever and unfortunately this is what happens with human trafficking. Girls are trafficked every day and although they are free mentally, they are still enslaved and held captive….”

According to the website, “Vertical Wise-All About Aerial & Pole,” pole dancing has been in cultures, including medieval Europe, Africa, India and China and while it was seen as sexual in some of these places, it was also a form of sport practised by men. The website also cites the Maypole, which dates back to the 12th century and is also practised here in SVG, as a well-known form of pole dancing.