When Nada, a 28-year-old yoga instructor, started pole dancing a few years ago, the reaction in conservative Saudi society was very harsh, but it didn’t stop.
For years, her family members and friends have heard that this strenuous sport that requires physical strength and coordination of acrobatic movements on a pole is “very wrong”, as society often associates pole dancing with the dances that appear in Hollywood films inside strip clubs and in some Dance performances that contain sexual overtones.
But despite the criticism and the negative view of this sport, which is unpopular in the Arab world in general, the young Saudi woman continued her training in a sports hall in Riyadh, defying her critics.
Today, she says, she believes that she has made progress in convincing people of the benefit of this sport, which also depends on the element of fitness, at least among her friends.
“At first, my friends said it was inappropriate and wrong. Now they say, ‘We want to try it,'” she told AFP, preferring to use only her first name for fear of any negative reaction to her.
For decades, Saudi women suffered from strict social restrictions that limited their role in the labor market and their ability to practice a large number of sports, and this was accompanied by the obligatory wearing of the black abaya and the veil.
But the promotion of women’s sports has recently begun to escalate as part of an unprecedented campaign to achieve social openness and change the Kingdom’s image in the outside world from strictness to softness, despite the continued repression of female activists and opponents.
Great physical effort
Last month, the Saudi women’s football team played its first home match once morest Bhutan, and work is underway to launch the Women’s Premier League.
Officials also aim to have more women participate in golf, a traditionally male-dominated sport popular locally.
While changes are accelerating in the mostly young Saudi society, at least three gyms in Saudi Arabia have launched pole dance training courses, AFP noted.
“I feel that pole dancing (also called pole dancing) is getting more attention, because it’s something new that girls like to try,” says Mai Al-Yousef, the manager of one of these halls in Riyadh.
A former pole dance trainee in Riyadh asserts that she was not “at all” ashamed to try it, explaining, “This is my personality. I will not be ashamed (…) of my femininity. I am not ashamed of anything as long as I do not harm others.”
But she acknowledged that others may not feel the same degree of comfort, noting that she agreed to talk regarding her experience to AFP on condition of anonymity.
She pointed out that the only reason she stopped practicing this sport is that pole dancing is a matter that requires great physical effort, and it is more difficult than it appears on TV.
“I realized it wasn’t for me,” she says. “I need a lot of muscle and a lot of strength to be able to do this.”
As for Youssef, she hopes that the photos and videos she publishes to her followers on the “Instagram” application, will show how much effort it takes to dance on the pole.
According to the gym manager, her clients started talking regarding physical changes for the better following exercising, and that they “become loving themselves more”.
