Chinese Pole
A metal vertical pole, usually covered in rubber and secured by three stabilising cables. There's a kind of classic, traditional style of Chinese pole that uses the equipment for gymnastic feats – whether holding difficult static positions or kicking off the pole to perform somersaults – but there's also a strong movement of practitioners who are working on technical invention, experiments in fluidity and style, and, many of them, on enriching Chinese pole technique with some of the characteristics of breakdance.
As an aerial discipline, it's interesting. Different to corde lisse or silks or trapeze because the terrain of the equipment is always unyielding – the pole is rigid, and there's no way to wrap-in or to truly rest; it's simultaneously easier to climb and harder to be on. It's useful perhaps to think of it as a floor that happens to be differently rotated, and having something to stand on and jump off enables more explosive and aggressive action – which is where the discipline starts to find sympathies with breakdance. Circular/looping movements are also much less prevalent in the vocabulary of the pole, guiding artists to straighter lines and greater vertical movement. Drops are actually slides.
It's not super common, but there's a subgenre of swinging Chinese pole, which is probably self-explanatory. Smaller poles are set-up to spin sometimes, strip club style. Another variation is to have two or more poles set-up in a line so that artists can jump and travel between them.
Magazine
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