Over the last two years, Pole2Pole Magazine has launched two pole dancing competitions called ‘The Pole2Pole Amateur Cup’ and ‘The Pole2Pole Professional Cup’. The competitions were set up after Pole2Pole received lots of emails from pole dancers that had entered other amateur and professional pole dancing competitions around the United Kingdom.
After entering these competitions, some of the contestants were finding that they were competing against other dancers that, they felt, were too advanced to be competing in the amateur category (many of whom had only been pole dancing for around 6 months). When the amateur contestants pointed this out to the competition organizers, they just made comments like ‘They may be more advanced amateurs, but the contestants are not earning any money from pole dancing or doing any instructing and therefore are allowed to enter the competition as an amateur.’
Many amateur pole dancers wanted to enter a pole dancing competition but not be up against advanced amateur contestants. Pole2Pole Magazine felt that these contestants were being misled and also taken advantage of by some of the competition organizers, as the contestants not only had to compete against advanced amateurs, but also had to pay an entry fee. There were also more complaints about the competition organizers always using the same judges at their competitions time after time, and the same contestants were winning each competition. It was discovered that one of the judges had fallen off the pole not once but twice at a pole dancing competition and has not tried to enter a competition since.
Pole2Pole Magazine took note of all this and so The Pole2Pole Amateur Cup was launched, however, with this competition there was a safety net put into place where any contestant wanting to enter The Pole2Pole Amateur Cup could not let their head drop below their backside. This has become a big success among amateur pole dancers since it assures that the competitions remain as amateur competitions only, and it has now set the foundation for an amateur pole dancing competition. The amateur contestants now have the enter benefit to know that there are boundaries in place and what to expect, which makes it a level playing field competition.
The Pole2Pole Professional Cup also launched after Pole2Pole Magazine received emails from professional pole dancers saying that the same kind of thing was happening at competitions they were entering – that the competition organizers were letting professional pole dancers, who had already won first place titles from other pole dancing competitions, enter. When launching The Pole2Pole Professional Cup there was also a safety net added for the contestants: any pole dancer wanting to enter professional category pole dancing competitions must not have won any first place title/s at any pole dancing competition to create, once more, a level playing field competition.
The way The Pole2Pole Amateur & Professional Cup competitions work is by holding five or six heats each year around the UK before the grand final. This enables pole dancers to enter and try to win a place at The Pole2Pole Amateur & Professional Cup Grand Finals held in Essex each October. Each heat lets the winner and runner-up move forward to the grand finals.
Another great bonus for the two contestants from each heat being at the grand final is that they also have the opportunity of winning a place at the British Isles Pole Dance Champion competition, which is one of the biggest prize pay-out pole dancing competitions held each year in the UK, other than the Intercontinental Pole Dance Champion competition.
Each competition winner of The Pole2Pole Amateur & Professional Cup competitions also get to grace the cover of Pole2Pole Magazine with a two page pull-out pole move photo of themselves, plus a pole dancer’s story review to add to their portfolio.
The Pole2Pole Amateur & Professional 2013 Cup competitions application forms will be available in January 2013.
