With no auditions, no experience necessary and no strict commitment, Pole Posse is not like other dance groups on campus. Whether a beginner or a pro, all aspiring pole performers are welcome.
“If you could do a pole walk, you could perform. Pole walk is [when] you stand and you walk around the pole,” said Jacqueline Bass ’27, the vice president of Pole Posse. “We like to be very level-friendly, and we like to get [beginners] involved, and we make it easier for people who have never performed before.”
In addition to holding weekly pole dancing classes, the organization has expanded its outreach to a larger mission — fostering a safe space for anyone to pole dance. Even experienced dancers like Co-President Yang Gao, a graduate student, say they continue to learn from other dancers.
“We all help each other out, we teach each other moves and I just love seeing the diversity,” Gao said. “It’s not about like, ‘Oh, I have the most years of experience.’ It doesn’t mean that I know all these moves that other people [don’t]. Everybody has moves that suit them and they do better.”
With its origins in sex work, pole dancing often holds negative stereotypes that extend to its performers, Bass said.
“People with less knowledge immediately associate [pole dancing] with sex work and stripping, which is understandable because its roots are in stripping and sex work,” Bass said.
However, Pole Posse’s goal is to challenge this stereotype and honor the multitudes of expressions within pole dancing.
Recently, the club has hosted workshops for affinity groups including trans/non-binary and plus-size dancers, according to Social Chair Tiernan Tobin ’25.
“People think pole is [for] a very narrow group of people. A lot of people assume that men can’t do pole [or that] it’s a woman-only sport. No, that’s not true,” Tobin said. “We do a lot of these different kinds of events in the hope of being able to expand and show people that pole is not just this one thing. Anyone can do pole, and anyone can enjoy pole.”
Pole Posse hosts two showcases every semester. Part of the proceeds go to support marginalized groups. Last year, the club donated to Women for Women International’s Gaza Winter Relief Fund.
Pole Posse’s most recent showcase, the Oct. 26 “POLTERGEIST,” was, evidently, Halloween-themed. Its next showcase, which will take on the theme of classic literature, will be on Dec. 7. Tobin said the themes are designed to be “out-of-the-box” to allow people to express themselves in any way.
Bass reiterated the club’s commitment to openness in both accepting performers and letting them express themselves.
“You could be sexy, but you could also be anything you want with it,” Bass said.
Update, Nov. 20, 10:30 p.m.: This story has been updated to include the name of the organization Pole Posse donated to last year.