JODI Gordon developed her taste for pole-dancing and strip clubs through her role on Channel 7 soap Home and Away.

The embattled starlet, exposed as a regular customer at Kings Cross strip joint Bada Bing, learned the art of pole-dancing more than two years ago when her TV character Martha took it up to impress her tough guy boyfriend.

A seven spokeswoman yesterday denied reports Gordon was leaving the network.

“Home and Away is on a production break right now and Jodi is using that time to rest and prepare for the second half of the season. She is concentrating on taking the right steps to get her life back in control,” the publicist said.

Source: Couriermail au pole dancer

Britney Spears cancelled a booking for a top Dublin hotel because they refused to co-operate with her demands for a stripper pole, it has emerged.

The 27-year-old Womanizer star requested that an exclusive hotel on the Dublin southside install a steel pole during her brief stay in the city for her sell-out Circus tour.

But when the venue declined, her minders promptly booked into the apparently more accommodating Four Seasons Hotel instead.

A source revealed the mum-of-two is a keen pole dancer, as it apparently helps her keep in shape.

The source said: “She adores working out on a pole as it helps her keep toned.

“She has had to work very hard to squeeze back into those tiny stage costumes and she knows she has to stay on top of her regime. Britney can’t let her weight creep back up as this is the most important tour of her career and she has to stay in peak physical condition.”

Pole dancing has evolved from its sleazy striptease reputation to a legitimate form of exercise that is gaining in popularity worldwide. In addition to the many private pole dancing studios, more and more health clubs and fitness centers are offering pole dancing classes as a creative form of exercise that also caters to the “sensual side.”

There are several well-known pole dancing studios in the Bay Area including Catherine Rose’s Slinky Productions which offers both private and group instruction and actress Sheila Kelley’s S Factor with multiple locations nationwide.

Where did it all begin? Probably hundreds – perhaps thousands – of years ago as some form of exotic dance. Most sources believe the earliest “recorded” pole dance was performed by Belle Jangles in 1968 at Mugwumps strip club in Oregon. Recorded by whom? Nobody seems to know. In fact, nobody seems to know anything about Belle Jangles or Mugwumps either, yet they have become part of the folklore surrounding the origins of pole dancing and, no doubt, contribute to its colorful image.

According to UK-based Polestars, the world’s largest independent pole dancing fitness school, pole dancing burns 400 calories an hour. That, too, might be dubious depending on the intensity of the workout. Still, there is no questions that pole dancing is an excellent form of progressive exercise that can present a challenging workout for persons of every fitness level.

The U.S. Pole Dancing Federation (USPDF) was founded in 2008 “to create a network for pole dancers and studio owners in the US…to provide a structured standard in the industry…to serve as a source to exchange idesas, and to give feedback among pole dance instructors.” The USPDF emphasizes that “pole dancing is not stripping. This misconception prevents pole dancing from becoming something every woman should be able to enjoy. Pole dancing is a sensual athletic dance form that demands coordination, flexibility and physical strength.”

The inaugural USPDF National Pole Dance Championships were held at Bleecker Street Theater in New York City this past March 15th where almost 300 enthusiastic pole fans from all over the US attended the show to watch the nation’s elite pole dancers live on stage. The winner – and “Miss USPDF 2009” – was Jenyne Butterfly.

What’s next? The USPDF “Rock the Pole” exhibition and showcase will take place on June 26 in Redlands, California, and will feature Sarah Cretul aka “Miss Trixter,” “Miss Sexy” Alethia Austin, and USPDF co-founder Wendy Traskos. Readers can refer to antixfitness.com for more information.

Source: Examiner

GLAMOUR girl Abi Titmus is turning her back on the image that found her fame – in a quest to be taken seriously as an actress.

The former nurse was regularly featured in lads’ mags in saucy poses and she became known as a girl who, ahem, certainly dressed down for the cameras.

Yet the newly clean-cut Abi says those days are far behind her.

However, her new theatre role is a little risqué – she plays a pole dancing teacher in comedy The Naked Truth.

But Abi is quick to add there’s no actual nudity in the play, heading to Manchester’s Opera House next week, co-starring Bury’s Lisa Riley and actress Emily Aston.

She tells me she’s spent months rehearsing: “I asked the director how good I needed to be at pole-dancing for this part, and he just looked at me and said: `extraordinary’.

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I threw myself into it and spent three months practising, before rehearsals for the play even started. It’s like an athletic sport it’s so tricky, but people just think of it with connotations of being in seedy clubs.

“I thought people might jump to conclusions with me pole dancing, so I was very aware that I needed to make it look as beautiful and graceful as possible.

“It just feels really nice to be good at something.”

Abi found fame as a glamour model after a relationship with controversial TV presenter John Leslie, but shelved the lads’ mag modelling to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an actress last year.

“I wasn’t happy,” she says. “So I decided I had to stop what I was doing, the whole celebrity side of things.

“I’ve taken a step back from all that now and want people to know I’m serious about acting. But I don’t think the world owes me a living, I auditioned for this job just like everybody else.”

And Abi has lofty acting ambitions: “I would love to do Shakespeare, to play Helena or Lady Macbeth.

“But I would also love to be involved in a TV drama – like Miss Marple or Poirot.”

Abi insists she has no regrets about her past.

“I’ve been through some huge highs and huge lows, but I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunities I have had.

“I’ve worked hard to maintain where I am. I never understood why it all happened to me, but it did and I’m very grateful for that. But I didn’t want to be famous just for being famous.”

The Naked Truth is at Manchester Opera House from June 8 to 13.

Here is a video showcasing just what you can do with your own home stripper pole kit.