AND I WON.
A post about the process, the gossip, the jealousy, and a failed sabotage attempt.
Perhaps a year ago I wrote a post about the whole “I’m certified” thing, and my personal feelings about how some organizations try to separate themselves from sworkers as a way to ‘legitimize’ themselves and avoid the stigma pole has attached to it. I had also commented that I wanted to eventually participate in a competition like this, but I would only do so while being a very loud and proud stripper.
A common thing that studios do, is have ‘competition teams’. And, you know, I’m not opposed to that, if there is value provided. I was a competitive dancer for ten years so I understand the comp circuit and what it entails. What I have noticed though, is that the local studios here tend to utilize their competition teams as means to pay their overhead operational costs for the year, with no intention of their students bringing home titles.
Listen, winning is not everything, but if I’m making a large financial investment, I want to grow and develop enough to have a fighting chance of placing well. The studios say things like, “we only have 15 slots open for the team this year, it’s $1,500 to register, plus the costs of coaching, classes, costumes, music editing, mandatory rehearsals, a showcase performance, comp booking fees, and travel/hotel costs for the event.” I did the math, and these girls paid roughly $5,000 for their 3-minute routines and the joy of the PSO emblem around their insta profile picture.
The quick math on that is $60K profit for the comp team, and poof- the business breaks even in Q1 and will now profit for the remainder of the year. I don’t mind this business plan, but if I was a participant, I would expect to see some massive growth in my abilities, and some gratitude from the studio.
Call me an asshole, but I have a degree in dance performance, and a 15 year career in pole performance. I was not about to pay $5,000 for something that I could do all by myself. So I thought- how about I keep my participation on the low down, my costs to a minimum, and prove that you don’t need 3 coaches, a branded jumpsuit, and 10 people screaming for the sake of screaming to do ‘well’ in the competition.
And, because of that mentality, someone from said local studio decided that they’d like to ‘humble’ me in a way that made their comp team ‘valuable’.
Yes, a studio faculty member actively attempted to have me disqualified from PSO, and I’m going to tell you- with receipts- exactly how they tried to.
I woke up to a text message on July 1st:
“Hey lady, it’s [REDACTED] from the pole studio. Just wanted to give you the heads up that you’re currently my only signup for 2/3 tomorrow night and I may have to cancel. So sorry! 😢 Happy to help you rebook somewhere else if you like. I’ll confirm tomorrow morning either way.”
Strange, because I do not give out my phone number to anyone. And further, I am not a huge fan of this person, so the fact that they’re texting me tells me that they went into the Studio’s data system, took my phone number and used it for their personal benefit. An email would have sufficed, but once again the same person I had to remind not to give me hands-on assistance in class has invaded my personal space. This person is also restricted from my social media, if that’s any indication of how I feel about them. I take their class specifically to learn different pole tricks, and I often leave said classes feeling less than pleased with my experience.
The conversation flowed around my feeling frustrated about the studio policy, and then she pitched me private lessons, to which I said no because why would I pay 3X the price for a class I was already registered for?
Let’s fast forward to the class I did take: I mentioned that I felt uncomfortable that it was a challenge to book studio space, and each time I do so, whoever is on duty makes unsolicited comments on my routines. Most recently, someone said it was a good thing I had “plenty of time” because my routine ‘needed work”, and was “not level 4” (the level I was registered for).
Now, this faculty member is the studio’s PSO Unicorn- a title that is reserved for studio-PSO liaisons. So I felt that it was acceptable to ask her about proper level placement. Apparently, she felt that because even though I take her classes semi-regularly, I wasn’t on her Comp Team, so she didn’t have to give me accurate information.
Here are my words:
“Thanks for hearing me out yesterday. I did go back to the PSO website and while they didn’t indicate that “after dark” was a thing, they did put a few of the categories in there. The two I aligned with most- heels and sensual- were not offered. They could have made it clearer on their website, I had to dive into the Google docs to understand that “after dark” is a collection of categories rather than a separate competition.”
Here are her words, (which I’m pretty sure ChatGPT wrote for her):
“IF you want a more exotic category, I’d send an email and ask—can let them know you tried but had an issue with selecting it on the portal*. Also depends on whether you want to dance in heels, they’re not very common in championship.**
Especially for your first PSO, there’s no need to push up to level 4! I think level 3 would be great.“
*That was a lie
**I saw plenty of people wearing heels in the championship category.
My response:
“Thank you, that's helpful insight. Through a google search, I saw [another student’s] 2nd place L4 performance from last year and feel like my abilities and the choreo I already have would be a good fit for the category and level. I’m concerned pso would consider me sandbagging if I went to L3, but again, they don’t do a very good job outlining things clearly.
Her Response:
“So the sandbagging rules really only apply if you’re capable of moves two levels above your competition level. For instance, it’s okay to be a level 3 competitor who’s able to handspring. If you were competing at level 3 but could do a fonji or a flickflack, that would be sandbagging. That said, it is completely up to your discretion. Just trying to provide more insight.”
So, I emailed PSO, asked to be moved to L3, and they did. And then I continued my training, which included sharing a video of my routine with a friend for some feedback. She said it in a voice memo, so apologies for no screen grabs, but here’s what my FRIEND said:
“Most of the elements in your routine are level 4- if you do those in competition you will receive a 25pt deduction per judge per move. There are three judges so that’s 75pts per move, times 3-4 moves. Babe, you’re going to be disqualified.”
I really did not want to believe that. I asked another trusted friend:
“do you think that [REDACTED] would every purposely give me bad information to hinder my success?"
Dear reader, she all but said a flat and bold yes.
oooof.
Okay, so here I go again, emailing PSO. The cutoff date to change things has come and passed, I now need direct permission. PSO asks me for video with each questioned move timestamped. I get this email response:
“Hi Courtney!
Thank you for sending that!
Princess grip shoulder mount at 1:16: Allowed in level 3
Forearm ayesha at 1:26: NOT allowed in level 3 (that is an ayesha and those are only allowed in level 4 and above)
Brass monkey variation at 1:35: NOT allowed in level 3, you only have two points of contact which is not allowed in level 3.
Shoulder dismount at 3:16: Allowed in level 3
Elbow grip Ayesha at 4:00: NOT allowed in level 3 (that is an ayesha and those are only allowed in level 4 and above)
Let me know if you have any other questions!”
Now, this is all happening at the same time as the comp schedule is being released, and here’s what I noticed, the L3 category I was registered for has 5 participants, and 3 of them are [REDACTED]’s students. Did she really actively persuade me to make changes so that I would be disqualified in front of her students ON the PSO stage??? Wow.. okay, I mean this is low.
PSO kindly moves me to L4, and I move on with my prep. Although, this is where the second shoe falls. My friend who confirmed that there may have been Mal intent, she tells me:
“Ahhh well, ook, here's the thing. [REDACTED] did PSO once and she actually got disqualified for doing a trick that was considered level 4 when she was doing level 3”
OH. I DID NOT KNOW THIS.
So not only did this person- the LIAISON for PSO- attempt to have me disqualified in front of of her students, in a category she persuaded me to perform in, at a level she insisted was appropriate. She attempted to set me up for the failure, embarrassment, and shame she experienced HERSELF not even two years prior. And she did it with a fucking SMILE OF ENCOURAGEMENT. Almost as if to say ‘if you were on the comp team, this wouldn’t have happened’.
About a week after this, the same instructor asked me if I had heard from PSO and whether it was good or bad.
“I prefer to keep it to myself” I told her, and then left the studio to scream in the privacy of my own car.
How someone can so actively misalign their words and actions is beyond me, and honestly, there’s nothing I can do other than to remove myself from the situation, and announce their bad behavior to others. Because if she didn't want everyone to know that she is a mean girl, she shouldn't have behaved like a mean girl.
I did email the studio owners about this, and I got their blanket response a week later. Enough to protect themselves, but not address anything. Stealing my information through the studio data system? Not mentioned. Because they know very well that that’s a lawsuit… What was mentioned was how “it’s clear we may not have been the right long-term fit”, and “Wishing you the very best in your continued pole journey.”
When I arrived to the competition, I was uncomfortable. I was first off, alone. My support squad wasn’t arriving until the following day. And of course, the first person I saw was one of the last people I wanted to see. The studio owners made a point to be overtly ‘nice’ to me, and honestly, I would have preferred they just not approach me to begin with. Nothing like fake “omg when do you perform?! Can’t wait to watch” behind forced smiles to appear kind when we both knew the truth…. I also noticed that each of the studios ‘competition team’ members were in very small categories, (no more than 3 people) some of them being the only competitor- this was a very convenient way to ensure the students won medals- each category awarding 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and the studio to tout multiple winners. Not that the competitors didn’t deserve it, but more so that it was ‘good for business’ and drove the perceived value of their ‘team’. Notably, the studio didn’t have a single competitor enrolled in the “Championship” category- the most sought after title with almost 20 competitors.
When it was my time to go backstage, the person who attempted to sabotage me was there waiting. I rolled my shoulders down and back, chin high, and walked right past her, no eye contact, no acknowledgement. I was going to let my art do the talking. I don’t need to know whether she watched my routine or not, because I believe she didn’t, and I didn’t want her to, either.
The local studio team made a point to befriend my category’s competitor- and they cheered and screamed loudly for her. She deserved their flowers and energy, and I cheered for her too, but it was very obvious that it was more about hurting me, than it was about supporting her. Which honestly, is unfair to her. They did the same thing during the awards ceremony. When they called her name for the silver medal, they cheered for her, ringing cowbells and applauding. And then when they called my name- silence.
As per my experience with the Pole Sport Organization, I am pleased to say that they were incredibly helpful and communicative throughout the entire process. I do wish that they were more SWorker friendly- although their actions have proven that they’re actively trying to be, and many of their restrictions that would appear unfriendly to SWorkers are restrictions enforced by the performance venues, not PSO themselves.
I think that as the organization develops, they might find themselves organizing level placement differently, by categorizing tricks with more detail, and creating more defined category styles. Most of the categories I experienced in my years of competitive dance were jazz, ballet, lyrical, modern, hiphop, tap and musical theatre. Nowadays, we see lyrical and modern replaced with contemporary, and not so many ballet routines. Dancers who compete in ballet compete at the Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP) rather than circuit comps.
PSO has two separate main categories: trick-based; Championship, Dramatic, Entertainment, and club-inspired; Heels, Sensual, Down to Flow, and Hardstyle, which they call After Dark categories. I imagine as time goes on, we might see PSO take the YAGP route and stay close to the technical aspect, whereas After Dark may turn into its own separate entity in more SWork friendly venues. At least, thats my opinion after having experience with both.
The overall experience was a positive one. I won’t lie that I was prepared to not place well or even be well received. I had just come off of some very low scores for a performance opportunity and I felt like I was in for a repeat of that feedback. In watching the other performers, I noticed very clearly who did and did not have dance and performance backgrounds, and who may or may not have swork experience. I enjoyed watching the variety of performances, even if it did feel frustrating to see an overwhelming amount of things that weren’t in alignment with the PSO rules. For a whole lot of “no thongs allowed” and needing to have my outfit approved by PSO themselves, I sure did see a lot of thongs. But ultimately, I did enjoy myself and I would like to participate again.
I do want to leave you with a gentle reminder that you do not need to spend thousands of dollars to be on a ‘competition team’, you can register for PSO for roughly $150. The most expensive costs I incurred were the rented studio space ($270) the hotel room ($450) and sending my dog to ‘camp’ for the weekend ($300). Thankfully, my badgirlpage subscribers sponsored my outfit options, and video/photo packages, and that saved me about $350. Those items weren’t necessary but they were nice to have. I did not have a coach, which probably saved me the most money, but it did get me feeling even more strongly about the affordable coaching options I offer through my digital dance studio- The Feature Factory. There, you can get feedback on a run through of your show for the same price as a group class. And if you want 1:1 choreography and real time training, you can get three one hour sessions for under $200 and keep a recording of them. You shouldn’t have to pay a premium to be included in a community that is projecting inclusivity but practicing exclusivity. But maybe that’s just how I feel…
xo,c