California Pole Dance Championships at Highlands: Sport Says Sayonara to Strip Clubs and Sets Sights on the Olympics

George Grigorian

Anjel Dust, a dancer for more than a decade, also is an organizer of the California Pole Dance Championships.

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With her Lucite heels, cheeky schoolgirl pigtails and silky, hot pink disco shorts exposing admirable curves, the petite dancer is a textbook picture of urban eroticism.

Nimble, feminine and impressively toned, she grips the towering pole, launching her taut, muscular frame with astounding athleticism. She follows with midair splits, more twirls and acrobatics, spinning in a complete arc not once, twice, but three times with exacting finesse. Her routine, set to the haunting tones of The Dresden Dolls' "Missed Me," ends with a barrage of catcalls and the crowd in rapture -- yet not even a single crumpled dollar bill litters the stage.

No, it's not another recession-weary night at Spearmint Rhino. And Nadia Sharif is not your typical stripper, dancing to finance future tattoos or a recreational drug habit. In fact, Sharif isn't a stripper at all. She's an electrical engineer, specializing in robotics at the petroleum behemoth BP.

Photo by Alloy Images, from CPDC Facebook page

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She's here on this autumn night competing in the final round of the third annual California Pole Dance Championships. And so, unlike the average seedy strip joint in the sprawling plains of the San Fernando Valley, tonight's venue, Hollywood's Highlands nightclub, features all the trappings of a major sporting event. There's a panel of judges, a wholesome 7 p.m. start time and an audience that shows its appreciation with cheers rather than singles stuffed into outstretched G-strings.

Which suits Sharif just fine.

"I don't do it for money," she says. "It's just a leisure activity."

Over the last five years, pole dancing has become less about the male gaze and more about fitness and competitive sport. There is now a global network of official organizations and federations, as well as local, national and international competitions -- and even some organizations lobbying for pole dancing's inclusion in the 2016 Olympics.

Photo by Alloy Images, from CPDC Facebook page

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Sharif started dancing in 2007 as a hobby. After seeing videos of dancer Felix Cane on YouTube, she realized pole dancing could be a fitness alternative: "I set up a pole in my house with a rail from a closet and just started practicing the moves from the video." She then discovered a pole dance studio, advanced her skill level via lessons and started to compete.