{"id":16764,"date":"2018-11-21T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T17:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16764"},"modified":"2018-11-19T11:52:31","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T19:52:31","slug":"local-company-sets-new-stage-for-pole-dancing-in-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/11\/21\/local-company-sets-new-stage-for-pole-dancing-in-victoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Local company sets new stage for pole dancing in Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a busy and fast-moving world out there; it feels like there is always somewhere to go and that there\u2019s always something that has to get done. Often, we look around and wonder if life will slow down enough for us to take a breath. When Electra Productions co-founder Jane Bull decided that it was time for life to take a different direction, she did not take a vacation. Bull discovered pole art.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think specifically with dance, it\u2019s hard because we train in high school as if we are going to a professional ballet company, or a professional modern dance company,\u201d says Bull. \u201cThen we reach that turning point when we graduate [and have to decide] whether we are going to go into the professional world and leave the dance world behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Electra Productions\u2019 Jane Bull (left) and Linley Faulkner (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bull then went to law school and worked in Vancouver; one day, she tried a pole-dancing class and, she says, it completely blew her mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not expect it to be what it was,\u201d she says. \u201cIt filled that piece of me that had been missing since I had left dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bull says she then saw an opportunity after fusing her own style of contemporary dance with ballet and pole dancing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI moved back to Victoria in 2015,\u201d she says, \u201cand I found there was no real pole-dancing community here. After competing and instructing while I was in Vancouver, I decided to make it my mission to form a pole community here. I had just re-connected with Linley [Faulkner, co-founder of Electra], and we both saw an opportunity together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bull says that there has been a trend of moving pole-dancing out of the strip clubs and into the studios and competitions since the late \u201990s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I noticed was that there were these people with amazing talent and artistry, but that there was no real place to perform just for the sake of performing,\u201d says Bull, \u201cfor the sake of pole art as art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bull says she knew that there was something that the pole community itself needed\u2014the opportunity to perform as an art. She also wanted audiences to be able to see what these dancers could do. So, in 2018, the two formed Electra Productions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mandate has four key pillars,\u201d she says. \u201cThe main one is to promote pole as a performance art. Another main one is to promote local island talent, with high-quality performance-art shows for local audiences; [the third is] trying to move pole into a similar genre as ballet, theatre productions, and contemporary dance. The last thing is to start stimulating the discussion around the stigma that still purveys pole dancing and the pole world.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bull says there are certain things every woman feels when she tries pole dancing; one of the most important ones is the celebration of female fortitude and physical and emotional strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a high and heavy focus in North American culture on our female bodies and what we are supposed to look like,\u201d says Bull. \u201cWe are generally encouraged to stay small. Then, when we start pole dancing, there is focus that is away from stereotypes. The focus is on building your physical strength in order to complete a certain trick. Our bodies start to change; we do get stronger, with more muscle mass. Pole studios are a place women get to celebrate the strength that each other are building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bull says there is something magical that happens when a person finds out what their body is able to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you realize that you can climb up a pole,\u201d she says, \u201cwith the women all around you lifting themselves as well, no matter what their body type, or how old they are, it is that moment that you realize you can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eclipse Pole Art and Aerial Theatre
\n7 pm Saturday, November 24
\n$35, Metro Studio Theatre
\npoleart.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a busy and fast-moving world out there; it feels like there is always somewhere to go and that there\u2019s always something that has to get done. Often, we look around and wonder if life will slow down enough for us to take a breath. When Electra Productions co-founder Jane Bull decided that it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-november-21-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16766,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions\/16766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}