A veteran of the poles of I Love Shanghai, Bar Rouge, M2, MAO and Windows Scoreboard, Shanghai's most famous pole dancer, Jacqui Davis, came to the city in 2006. Now, a couple years later, Jacqui is heading off to London to pursue her professional certification in pole dancing. Before she left, SmSh caught up with Jacqui to ask her about her time performing and teaching pole dancing in Shanghai.




I finished university and wanted a change so I decided to teach English in China for a year. I chose Shanghai ‘cos the weather doesn't get as cold as Beijing.


Well, originally it was going to be a move to Beijing for a fulltime
dancing job, but that fell through so now it is off to London to get my pole instructors certification. And to try and do as much training on the poles as I can.


It would have been about five or six years ago. I went to a club and saw a girl hanging from the top of a pole by her legs. It looked like a hell of a lot of fun and decided to learn. In Australia, I was performing pole for about two years and teaching it for one year before moving to Shanghai.


Here I just do walk-in lessons that are divided into Level 1 (beginners) or Level 2 (intermediates). Most of my students that stuck with it were western, but I still had some Chinese girls that really got into it. A lot of the Chinese girls are at a bit of a disadvantage to start with since they are usually a bit weaker than the western girls.


For the initial beginner moves, no. If you can hold your own weight on a straight arm (just hanging not doing pull-ups or anything) you can do it. But as you get into the intermediate and advanced levels you definitely need a different kind of strength apart from just raw power; you need to be able to hold unusual positions for a while.


I Love Shanghai, Bar Rouge, Mao, Xintiandi, some house parties, M2... Oh also at Windows Scoreboard, of course. I did always enjoy the Windows shows.


They all have their ups and downs...


Unintended...


Decent space to dance, I used my own pole, and I'm familiar with the people who work there. Relaxed crowd. I could dance to whatever I felt like, music-wise. Easy, no-pressure shows...


Yeah. Working for new people when I don't know their expectations can be difficult -or having to dance a specific style of dance to unfamiliar music.


I like to dance to the more alternative stuff but it really varies on my mood. It still needs to have a dance-ish beat to it -- but nothing super fast -- with a few different tempos to suit different moves.


I started mid 2006. I missed dancing so much that I called the pole company and arranged to buy my own pole. I set it up at home and started trying to get people to come for lessons. So I could get my name out there, I made an arrangement with Jeff [manager of I Love Shanghai] that I would come in on his ladies night every second Tuesday and do shows and offer lessons to advertise myself. It was win–win for both of us. I got exposure and he got a very unique ladies night.


Well, until other bars copied it, ILS was the first pole dance night in Shanghai -especially since I not only performed but offered free trial lessons to anyone that wanted to try.


He's going on about a 5. He's got guts but no control. I do love his freestyle crazy jumps on the pole, though, which are usually the cause of him waking up the next day with a hangover AND pulled muscles.


I knew Chris from way back in Adelaide. He used to be a gymnast but stopped when he broke his back.


He took up pole about two years ago through me and my friend back in Aus. It's a good thing for him 'cos his gymnastic training comes in handy but it isn't as hard on his body as gymnastics was.


Haha. Yeah, they're out there. Just not as many as there are girls but there are more every year. At the moment I'm running an intensive advanced workshop at Souldancing and one of my students is a Chinese guy from somewhere far away. He has come all the way to Shanghai just to learn from me.


I wing it completely. For the double shows we have some "sets" of movements we have planned. And then we just throw them into a freestyle show by calling them to each other.


Hang-series, double knees, double superman, or just "catch me."


Most guys are too scared or shy to approach me. And I'm pretty straight-up, so if someone is being an ass I just walk off. No one has tried to touch me during a show or anything. Too dangerous. I'm wearing 7-inch platform boots and spinning at a million miles an hour. Even the drunk ones can work it out that getting too close is a bad idea...


The best place would be at the Souldancing studio. They use professional dance poles, it's a great studio set up, and I've personally trained the instructors...

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