Two Taiwanese men are drawing attention to the little-known art of male pole dancing after taking top prizes in international competitions in the US and Australia.
The duo, who identify themselves as Ian and Eric, began dancing together competitively a year ago, becoming Taiwan’s first male pole-dancing duo.
Pole dancing allows them to express both the strength and the beauty of professional male dancers, they said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Eric was introduced to pole dancing by a friend while studying dance at Taipei National University of the Arts’ Department of Theatrical Design and Technology. The more he practiced, the more successful he became with the art, he said, adding that he was later encouraged to join three international competitions.
In April he won the top prize in the technical category at the 2017 Pacific Pole Championships in Los Angeles.
Ian, who is a graduate of National Taiwan University’s Department of Chinese Literature, also began pole dancing three years ago and won his first international competition this year in Australia, taking the Special Prize at the Mr. Pole Dance competition in June.
Looking back, Eric said his pole-dancing training went smoothly, but he always worried how his parents would react to his choice to be a pole dancer, adding that he only found the courage to tell them after resolutely deciding to make it his career.
His parents’ support and understanding were a big weight off his shoulders, he said.
“Training to be a dancer is very tiring, but with my family’s support, I can really share my enjoyment of dance. It [their support] also has become a driving force for me,” he said.
In the past pole dancing was always associated with stripping and sex, but that this image of the art is too stiff and incomplete, Ian said. Aside from sex appeal it is also about strength, technique and artistic expression.
The two are members of Taiwan’s first professional pole-dancing troupe, the Stainless Steel Dance Company (不銹鋼舞團), which has eight members including Eric and Ian.
The troupe, which is preparing to put on its first performance, said it aims to promote pole dancing in Taiwan.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods