Dame Kiri's rellie hits pole position

Dame Kiri's niece wants pole dancing to be viewed as a legitimate art form. Photo / Supplied

You may well think Natalie Te Kanawa's industry of choice is poles apart from that of her famous auntie, Dame Kiri.

But she doesn't think so. Kiwi-born Natalie is the brains behind Australia's first pole-dancing championships this week in Melbourne.

While most of us equate this activity with sparkly high heels, g-strings and ostentatious displays of female flesh, Te Kanawa wants pole dancing to be viewed as a legitimate art form, just like opera singing.

The 34-year-old is a cousin of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, but calls her auntie because of the age difference. Natalie Te Kanawa was born in Lower Hutt but moved to Australia as a child. She returned to New Zealand to train as a butcher when she was in her 20s.

But Te Kanawa soon moved to a different kind of meat market when she started working in gentlemen's clubs.

She found her former career had given her excellent upper body strength which came in handy for another activity - pole-dancing.

Te Kanawa eventually left the industry to become a personal trainer but couldn't leave the pole behind entirely. "When I first started doing it for fitness, people weren't impressed."

But the idea of pole dancing as a way of keeping fit slowly caught on. Now Te Kanawa has her own Brisbane-based business, Girlfriend Fun and Fitness, devoted to pole-dancing.

Although All Black Ali Williams' girlfriend Casey Green has a pole-dancing company, Te Kanawa thinks most New Zealanders are lagging behind the Aussies in their attitude.

"People are a bit ignorant about what it is - they're reluctant to see it as a sport."

By next year, she wants the competition - which is open to men and women - to be Australasia-wide, and is sure there are plenty budding Kiwi pole dancers out there.

She doesn't know what Auntie Kiri would think of her career because she doesn't see her often, but the rest of her whanau is supportive.

"I've had them pole-dance up on the marae on one or two occasions," she says. But not Dame Kiri, she hastens to add.

Opera and pole-dancing could work well together, she reckons. In the "pure pole" category of the championships this week, all the competitors had to dance to classical instrumental music.

"There was definitely no bumping or grinding."

A spokesman for Dame Kiri said the soprano, who is touring the United States, had no knowledge of Natalie and her pole-dancing.