Pole Dancing for Jesus over Brunch

Or maybe I should say pole praising? A theological conversation is bound to happen when you have brunch with a bunch of Divinity scholars. The subject of pole praising, where one dances on a pole to gospel or another from of Christian music to worship and honor the Lord, came up. My sorority sister was giving a recap of her talk at the Yale Music symposium which she had given the day before.

But before I get into that conversation, I should share a little about the locale. One of the members of the brunch bunch suggested that we eat at Manjares, which is a little cafe in Westville. I was immediately taken by the artwork hanging on the walls, which we learned were painted by the owner’s husband. The cafe was very warm and open, despite its small size. My only complaint was with our waitress, who didn’t really seem like she wanted to serve us…lol But that is for another story.

I ended up eating the pancakes, while some of the others had these “McGriddle” like sandwiches (egg sandwich with bacon served between two pancakes).

Those pancakes were deelish!!!!!!

As we were enjoying our food, my sorority sister told us about a pole instructor named “Jungle Cat” who posted a YouTube video of himself pole praise dancing to Hezekiah Walker’s “I Need you to survive”.  I was quite shocked for two reasons: 1. Jungle cat is a man and it was weird seeing him dance on the pole. 2. I was raised in a way not to associate pole dancing as a form of worship, rather as a representation of sin. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around using pole dancing as a form of Christian worship.

She told us that she had the opportunity to talk with him and learned a lot. He taught himself how to pole dance and was able to become a Pole fitness instructor. When he posted the video of himself pole praising, he had received so many negative comments (even death threats) that he was going to pull the videos off until his mother showed them to her church and they supported him.

To watch the video, click here.

Although I don’t feel I could ever pole dance as a form of praise, I do feel that everybody has a right to worship in the way that they feel they are led to. As shocking as his pole dancing may be, he is not the first person to ever pole dance for the Lord.  There is a ” Christian Pole Dance” class being taught in Texas, where women pole dance to gospel music.( Click here for the link.) However they are being celebrated for doing so, while this man is being threatened. Is there a double standard? How do you feel about pole dancing as a form of praise? Let me know:)