KEY POINTS:
Ten giggling girls, one tiny instructor in the shortest of shorts, a silver pole and a box of tricks, including feather boas, masquerade masks and a cowboy hat. Forget Tupperware, sex toy or lingerie parties, the latest craze for packs of girls up for a good time in the comfort of their own homes is learning to pole dance.
Curious to see what the fuss was about, I agreed to give it a whirl when a friend invited a group of us over to her place one Saturday night for no reason other than to have a few laughs and try something new.
Our instructor for the night, Caleigh Cheung, is a trained actor who currently appears on TV2's Ride with the Devil. She's been hosting pole dancing parties for just under a year after A Pole Lot of Fun's New Zealand franchisee Amy Ou Yang trained her for a role she was playing in a pilot show. Cheung was obviously a natural and Ou Yang got her on board as an instructor.
Cheung says the parties, pitched mainly at hen's nights, get more popular during the summer and at its peak she'd teach groups of up to 10 women at one or two functions a week. She says most clients approach the lesson with some trepidation, but once they realise it's not that hard, they relax and enjoy themselves. One woman even managed to pole dance with a prosthetic leg.
Well, I'm not so sure about the "not that hard" part. The 10kg pole itself comes in a serious black case and is assembled on the spot. I eye it warily as Cheung secures it against the roof but it seems sturdy enough - though we're asked to sign a form acknowledging we're aware the activity may involve "risk, danger, property damage and death". Death! I hadn't really factored that into the equation when I'd agreed to take part.
The lesson starts off innocently enough with a bit of a warm-up - some stretches, jogging on the spot - just as you would at the gym. In fact, pole dancing is a valid form of exercise at some gyms and dance studios across Auckland. It's said to improve muscle tone and strength, and sharpen co-ordination and flexibility. An hour session will not only work your arms and upper body but your thighs and butt as well. That's part of the reason celebrities like Jade Jagger are doing it.
Jagger, who has a gold pole in her London bathroom told this month's British Vogue: "It went with the whole slightly sleazy look. I thought it would be kind of glam. And pole dancing is very good exercise so the fantasy was it would be sexy, good for keeping fit and look really chic."
First up, we learn a basic walk around the pole on tiptoes while stroking our hair or torsos if we want to. Already this is harder than it looks. As seven out of 10 of us have consumed a few bevvies, this is done with varying degrees of grace and skill.
Next up comes the "pirouette" - the easiest way to do this, according to Cheung, is to twist like you're sniffing your armpit so your back is on the pole, then slide down, pointing one leg in the air.
From here on in, proceedings start to get a little racy and a bit of a blur as one move comes swiftly after another. The way out of the pirouette, Cheung explains, is to roll on to your hands and knees and crawl seductively like a cat around the pole before, er, lying back and spreading your legs, then rolling over on to your front, back on to your hands and knees and flicking your head back. The Pussycat Dolls are our soundtrack and never has music seemed more apt.
We learn about 10 other routines including fireman spins and a dip manoeuvre, as well as filler steps. At the end of the lesson - which lasts for more than two hours - there's a grand finale, where each person gets to put on their own show.
We're nowhere near Cheung's level - she can even slide down the pole upside down - but a couple of the girls aren't half bad. The hardest part - aside from letting go of your inhibitions - is the muscle control you need to slide down and around the pole. It's easy to see why some people swear by this as exercise.
And the injuries or property damage? Well, the night unfolded pretty harmlessly apart from a couple of guaranteed hangovers the next morning.
And how does it rate as a girls' night activity? Well, the ladies definitely enjoyed themselves, think it was a great workout, and would do it again given half the chance.
I wouldn't say it's for everyone, but in the spirit of Christina Aguilera, it's okay to get a little "dirrty" sometimes.
