From funny to slinky to astoundingly strong - Whanganui pole dancers show what they're made of this weekend.
Altitude Pole Whanganui's Showcase and Cocktail Party takes place at Frank Bar + Eatery, starting at 8pm on March 30. Tickets are available from iTICKET until 2pm on March 30. They will also be available at the door, owner Emma Dewhurst said, if there are any left.
The performers will be some of the school's nearly 60 students, and some of its seven teachers. They are both male and female, and range in age from 18 to 57.
There will be all kinds of performances, Dewhurst said, from funny to slinky.
"Pole is the apparatus and people can make it what they want. A lot of people do it for fitness, and some people do want to do the sexier side. We let people develop their own style."
She likes the challenge of the dance form. The movements are very graceful and appear effortless, but require amazing strength and flexibility.
"It's a real rush when you achieve a new trick."
The showcase will be a try-out for eight people, who will compete in the heats for the national amateur competition in May, and, if successful, the finals in June.
"They can give their routine a go and see how it feels on stage in front of a whole lot of people."
Dewhurst was teaching pole dance in Wellington when her husband moved to Whanganui for work. She started Pole Dance Whanganui with two classes a week in a studio above Fine Arts Whanganui - because she didn't want to stop dancing.
"By the end of the second week there were five classes, and it just grew from there," she said.
The Whanganui classes are now part of the Altitude Pole franchise and Dewhurst is living in Auckland, but she plans to keep the Whanganui classes going.
"There's no option to close. I love the place too much," she said.