Pole Dance Championship 2012, New York City, United States

A growing number of men are incorporating pole dancing into their fitness programmes. In Australia, the UK and the US, dance studios are beginning to offer classes just for men. And in China, 2007's National Pole Dancing competition was won by a man. Dance instructor Zhang Peng, 23, beat a host of women dancers to the top prize.
Pole dance competitions
Although the most common pole dance competitions are still amateur nights at strip clubs, there is a growing community who are trying to get pole dancing taken seriously as a sport and art form. There are local pageants held in venues such as Australia, France, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and the UK. More recently, amateur pole dance competitions have been held. These are strictly non-nude and non-stripping, and focus on pole dance as an athletic and artistic form of dance and exercise. The first "Miss Pole Dance World" competition was held in november 2005, and Reiko Suemune from Japan won the championship.