I recently spoke about my time dancing in Korea in Brass Monkey, a UK-based online pole magazine dedicated to providing dancers an uncensored platform to discuss pole dance and all that comes with it. I discuss my instructors and all of their wonderful attributes, so check it out here.
Click here to read this post in Korean (coming soon)
이 게시물을 한국어로 읽으려면 여기를 클릭하십시오.
Here’s an unpopular opinion to have as a 27-year-old woman: I hate weddings.
Weddings are a lot of fucking work. Whoever decided that to-be-betrothed couples need to drop thousands of dollars on flowers that are going to die and cake that doesn’t come out of a Betty Crocker box mix should be beaten in the street. I’ve watched wedding planning shows and can equate those people to recently captured zoo animals.
My favorite wedding was the one where I was the officiator. That one was actually fun because I got to wear a pantsuit and I wrote a very, very short processional. The whole ceremony took eleven minutes and was three feet from the open bar. My best friend was grateful for the brevity, and her grandma loved it, which is all that matters.
Now, as a contradiction, I love Korean weddings. They treat weddings like the line at a grocery store and can schedule several ceremonies a day. People go to weddings on their lunch breaks in Korea, they’re so quick. Also, Koreans exclusively give cash as gifts, which is such a good idea. No registry, no buying heavy dishware, nada.
I attended a wedding for one of the secretaries at my old job in Jeju. The whole shebang, including lunch, lasted ninety minutes. It was amazing, and so was the post-wedding nap I took at 2 PM. I just got back from an Indian wedding, which lasted about three days, and you can BET naps were squished into that agenda.
The M belly and pole
(벨리댄스 아카데미)
3rd floor, 295 Seongwang-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
제주 제주시 서광로 295
telephone: 064-753-8183
For anyone that’s visited a Crossfit gym, those places are little more than dirty sweat garages with weights and equipment tossed in. That’s a good thing because it encourages people to work out and sweat without inhibition.
The M, located in the groovy corner of Jeju known as City Hall, has the same charm. It has the vibe of a seasoned studio that has had a lot of love poured into it over the years. People feel right at home there, and the dancers and instructors are all very close.
One thing that makes this gym unique is the accompaniment of belly dancing. Moon, the owner, has all of the accessories: skirts, ribbons, batons, hula hoops, the whole nine. Sometimes when I would take class after belly dancing, bits of glitter or confetti would remain on the floor. That wasn’t a problem, as it made everyone look like glittery woodland fairies during training.
my torture queen
All of the instructors at The M are fantastic. They’re not afraid to try more advanced tricks or push their members to succeed. One particular girl helped me to challenge myself and look at pole in a new light. That girl is Yoonji.
Most instructors in Korea are gentle and will place arms and legs into position with care. If someone is up in the air, they’ll cue from the floor and give directions. The whole process is more careful and delicate, much like the pole wear style that Korea is known for.
Not Yoonji.
To explain, I’m not very flexible. I still can’t do the splits, and my shoulders have as much flexibility as an iron fence. Explaining my injuries could take a day. Lucky for me, Yoonji had none of that bullshit.
If I were trying to stretch a certain way and thought I reached my limit, she would walk over, give a grandmotherly “tsk” and shove my body into a position she was happy with. Usually, that involved some screaming from both parties. She didn’t do this in a reckless way, but rather an aggressive one that challenged my own limitations.
At the end of every class, we would text each other encouraging messages and talk about how much fun we had. She was one of the gateways to making friends with members of the gym, and her stretching warmup regime was so easy to follow that I still practice it in the States. Even though my Korean was at a child’s level, her written English more than made up for the language barrier.
time to shine
At the end of each class, everyone squishes against the back mirror and the dancers take the floor one at a time. Usually someone films, but for a moment, the studio is all their own. Everyone is a star, framed by soft white curtains and the ever-present ductwork of an urban city gym. Classical music is the soundtrack of choice for The M, and as an old soul, this is a welcome change from the pop garbage we hear on the radio.
The first Instagram post on @poletrotters was filmed from one of the nights at The M. It took some encouragement for my end, mostly to put on that skirt. The product of their words is another testament to how supportive that family is.
There are places that allow us to express ourselves, but there are places that push us outside of our comfort zones for our own good. If we stop doing that, we become complacent and bored. It’s a huge problem that comes with being an adult, and one that pole dancing plays a role in fixing. The M did that for me, and I can’t wait to return for more of that sweet, sweet torture.
