Pole Dancing Is Entering a New Era—And Empowering a Generation Along the Way

The first time I took a pole class in late 2024, I jumped at the steel rod like I was Spider-Man, expecting to swing gracefully like many dancers I’d seen before. Instead, I fell right off. Looking back, it was essential that first moment was humbling. The rest of the journey would be, too. (Is there a word for someone who wants to instantly be good at anything they try?) But ultimately, I’ve fallen in love with pole over the past couple of years, and I’m far from the only one. 

Right now, it feels like there’s a seismic shift in pole dance’s presence on the ground and in pop culture. More studios are opening doors, and pole is more visible today. Pole was created in clubs, and in decades past, its image has been married to stripping and related establishments. In the 2000s and 2010s, it got a sanitized fitness treatment, where many tried divorcing it from its roots while doing it to work out. Today, there’s a new wave of dancers discovering the movement and making it their own, while still honoring its roots. 

“The main reason that I started the studio is that it has changed my life getting into pole. I had two children, and I wanted to get back in touch with myself as an artist,” art entrepreneur Tze Chun tells Byrdie of her own pole journey. Pole, she says, changed her life and led her to open Goodside Studios, a pole dance space in New York City’s Nolita neighborhood, in 2025: “I wanted to create a space that nurtured dancers from their very first class and could serve the pole community at the highest level.”

Pole dance’s moment in culture right now is an inherently political reclamation of power, amid rising conservatism and an age where women’s and LGBTQ+ rights are under attack. Ahead, discover more about where pole dance started, the momentum it’s been having in pop culture over the past few years, and what’s different about pole dancing’s visibility today.

The Roots of Pole Dance

Stripping goes back to ancient times, but the earliest iterations of pole-based movements stem from practices in India and China. Modern pole dance as we know it, however, has much fresher roots from sources including Moulin Rouge and circuses in the late 1800s, “hoochie coochie” dancers, burlesque, stripping, and North American bars and establishments starting in the 1950s.

Today, pole dance has expanded into a vast range of styles and outlets. “It’s so beautiful and incredible to see pole enter the mainstream, but pole dancing is not separate from stripping and sex work,” says dancer Cami Árboles. The Yale graduate has a dance background and discovered pole through peers before dedicating her social media pages to pole movements, creating a collective, and choreographing for celebrities like SZA. She’s firm in remembering pole dance’s roots as it gets more eyes. “All these big moments you see in mainstream media and popular culture come from the fact that pole dancing has its roots in the strip club and in sex work,” the Los Angeles-based creative adds.

Pole’s Cultural Moment in 2026

It feels like pole is everywhere in pop culture lately. It’s in ads (like Jaded London and Fenty), TV (think about Euphoria Season 3, or Olandria Carthen’s pole moment in a Love Island challenge), fashion (see Stella McCartney’s fall 2025 runway show that had a pole dancer performing), sports (Jennifer Lopez pole danced at the 2020 Super Bowl, and Usher featured dancers in his 2024 show), movies (notably Anora), and music (from SZA’s 2021 “Good Days” video to Megan Thee Stallion sharing her pole journey in 2026). 

FKA Twigs’ 2019 “Cellophane” video feels seminal to the current scene. In it, the English singer performs on a pole that gets more artistic as the video progresses. The video’s influence on the current wave is undeniable: For one, Lil Nas X’s 2021 video for “Montero” took inspiration from “Cellophane.” On her recently finished Body High tour, Twigs continued performing pole alongside dancers in her crew, like Maya Luna and Juliette Schultz.

Beyond celebrity influence, Chun attributes the growth in pole dancing to something political. “What is really contributing to the boom right now is that there is a move generally in many cities towards body positivity, sex positivity, and an understanding around sex workers’ rights,” Chun says. Anora, for example, may have faced backlash, but it still sparked conversation. “[In our current political climate], these kinds of safe spaces are that much more important,” she tells us. “It’s political to have a space that is LGBTQ-friendly, [for example]. It’s not only important, but something that people want.”

Mariah Flowers started teaching pole by accident in 2023. She was at Sweet ‘N Sultry, a pole studio founded in 2022 by her mom, in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood when an instructor was running late. They had joked about her teaching before, so in a pinch, Flowers stepped up—and she hasn’t stopped teaching since. “Having my dance background helps me understand movement and break down shapes,” Flowers, who is trained in ballet, jazz, majorette, and hip-hop, tells Byrdie. For her, it’s important to recognize that Sweet ‘N Sultry isn’t just a pole studio, but a Black-owned space dedicated to “creating a safe space for [Black people and people of color] to learn and to feel comfortable,” whether they’re new or seasoned performers.

There’s a similarly community-focused ethos at Goodside Studios, Chun says. The studio features a community lounge, rental space for those training to perform, community events, and donations to sex worker organizations and other groups that share studio values. “We want to make sure that we’re not only advocating, but also directly contributing monetarily,” the studio founder says. She’s also been able to tap some high-profile names, like Anora choreographer Kennady Schneider, to come in and teach.

The Modern Approach to Pole

There’s no question that pole dancing is still happening in the clubs where it started, but there’s a newer wave of dancers discovering it as well as posting and talking about it. “It’s so much more fun than taking a Pilates class, yoga class, or barre class,” Chun says. “There is this self-expression aspect, and you’re building strength and flexibility. You’re moving, and there’s cardio.”

It’s hard to imagine pole dancing being at the level it is today without social media. After all, Chun says, “You used to have to go to a strip club in order to see pole.” Now, it’s on our TikTok and Instagram feeds, be it through pop culture moments or organically through a friend starting their pole journey.

For Árboles, who built her platform posting videos on both, that accessibility has been everything. “I view social media and content creation as its own artistic medium. It is constantly shifting and evolving in response to an algorithm that is also constantly shifting and evolving,” Árboles says. “I view Instagram as my digital museum. It’s a way for me to share my pole dancing, but also pictures of my travels, collages that I make with my body, and collaborations with other artists and photographers.”

What Pole Helps Dancers Discover

There’s no question that for many, pole is strengthening, empowering, and liberating. Flowers says that, generally, people are familiar with pole’s origins in clubs and sex work: Most have seen images of strippers, shows like P-Valley, and movies like Showgirls and Hustlers. But as an instructor, she likes showing her dancers a more expansive version of the art form, highlighting things like pole sport and competitions. “It doesn’t always have to be sexualized. There are so many different realms to it, and that’s why I try and push my students,” the Brooklyn-based instructor says.

Most of the time new students come in, Flowers says, it’s to get in touch with their body and sensuality. Keeping this in mind is paramount as she teaches. After all, as Árboles tells Byrdie, pole dancing is a strong medium for getting in touch with your body and “building this muscle in your brain that you can do hard things.”

Flowers says there’s a misconception that people pole dance for attention, including when they share videos and show off their styles. “It’s attention to the extent of wanting to be seen, but it’s more of a highly [intrinsic] thing that people don’t understand,” she says, like being proud of finally achieving a flow or doing a movement that requires a lot of strength. “When people are stepping and touching a pole, that is to unlock that inner confidence. It is a moment that is between you and that pole, and it’s 50-percent physical, 50-percent mental.”

Moving forward, dancers like Árboles are excited for increased visibility and understanding of pole dancing in culture as more people discover it, in all its experimentation and expression. “I think adults are very risk-averse,” she says. “When we’re kids, we’re trying any new thing. Having pole enables you to be silly and fail and try new things… but also to be sexy, feel creative, and feel empowered.”