When Ms Jaslyn Tan started pole dancing in 2019, her colleagues at her new workplace invited her to try a class they planned to join.The 32-year-old plus-sized preschool teacher, who had no dance or gymnastics background, associated the activity with stripping and sexy dancing at first.However, a small success in her first class was enough to make her return. She briefly managed to hold herself up in a fireman spin, which involves wrapping her legs around the pole while spinning down.Seven years on, she now does other physically demanding activities such as aerial hammock, which uses suspended fabric, and aerial hoop, which involves performing on a suspended metal ring.She also works part-time as a studio manager at Fable Dance Co, which conducts pole dancing classes.
Although she is proud of how far she has come in pole dancing, reactions to the progress she shares with more than 40,000 followers on her social media account have been mixed. Some online users have told her to "go and lose weight first", joked that the pole was bending or the floor was breaking, and mocked her for "creating an earthquake"."They think that dancers need to be sleek and tall to look graceful and nice," she said.
