Why are pole dancers always your backdrop? Do’s and Don’ts of hiring pole dancers for music videos

Over the past two decades, we have seen a rapid increase in the inclusion of pole dancers in music videos. We have had Dr Dre The Next Episode, Lil Kim Work the Pole, Diplo Lazerdisk Party sex, Ne-Yo She knows,  Rihanna Pour it up, Rae Sremmurd Throw Some Mo’, Lizzo Fitness, Cardi B Money, SZA Good days, Lil Nas X Montero and Sons of Kemet Pick up your burning cross, to name a few. I feel like pole dancing is currently on this journey from being something very taboo, shocking, deviant, and exclusive to sex workers who have been demonised for centuries, to something every rapper now covets for their videos. In 2021 we see that most artists, particularly those who are cishet Black men love featuring pole dancers in their music videos. This current big market for music video pole dancing hugely drives pole dance into the spotlight and makes it very popular. I do love the recognition we get as pole dancers now, because people think we’re cool, and more people recognise pole for its skill, athleticism, and artistry.

Whilst I appreciate the positive new attention, I often have an issue with how we’re presented in music videos. Why are we always a backdrop? We are rarely front and centre, with our faces on show, with nuance to our characters, there is rarely any focus on our lives and our humanity, we’re often a blur of lights and editing with no character exploration. I think the reason we’re always the backdrop and never the star player is because of misogyny. A lot of artists and productions desire to have the strip club aesthetic by replicating it in a way that places themselves as front and centre to make themselves appear more powerful, with women dancing around them vying for their attention, whilst simultaneously pushing femme presenting pole dancers into the background as less than themselves. This power dynamic and the value or lack thereof placed on pole dancers in music videos is also heavily reflected in how we’re treated when we are hired to be in these music videos.
Firstly, most of the time we’re hired by production teams with no prior knowledge of pole dancing and what it takes to give a decent performance, the equipment, warm-up time, pace etc. There is little to no research ever done in this area. They will spend months researching a Lamborghini to place in the video, and not even a minute to research how to include a pole dancer in a music video ethically. Productions expect us to rock up and be ready to go, never having measured a ceiling or sourced an appropriate pole for us to dance on. Then they try and pay us a measly amount of money because that is how little they value our work and understand our worth. I think this would be a perfect time to drop in a list of do’s and don’ts for those looking to hire a pole dancer in future:

DO

-Research different types of poles.
-Measure your venue’s ceiling as this will help determine the type of pole you’ll need to hire.
-Measure the floor space around the pole and check this is enough space and that the floor is safe and clean.
-Contact a pole dancer VIA EMAIL, as this is more professional.
-Ask them for their rate BEFORE deciding on your budget.

It looks ridiculous when you contact us with how much you think our work is worth, It’s rude. You wouldn’t go into a gallery and offer an artist your rate for a painting. We decide the value of our work, so check with us before you decide your budget.

DO NOT

-Tell us the rate you’re willing to offer us and be vague about timings.
-Tell us a rate without checking with us first.
-Expect us to source all of the equipment, especially without additional pay.
-Fail to have a plan when it comes to setting up equipment.
-Expect us to dance on a pole made of scaffolding or any other non-pole dancing pole without forewarning.
-Expect us to dance in your videos for free or payment in exposure.
-Try and hire us last minute with no prior planning or knowledge.

The increase in demand for pole dancers in music videos has unfortunately also led to an increase in the exploitation of pole dancers in music videos. Please ensure you are respecting pole dancers in the way we’re portrayed AND the way we’re treated and paid. I enjoy the increasing popularity of pole dancing as it means more value is placed on our work and therefore there is more opportunity for us as a community to accrue wealth, but I would like to see an increase in respect too.