some where pretty good and some looked like professionals , you decide ....

NOT

this is nothing but socially acceptable prostitution. So much for our society

Some things shouldn't be displayed for the public eye. If you want to do this for fitness reasons, keep it at home.

Geeze just a bunch of women having fun, get over it you prunes lol

#6 is the best! lol

1 and 5 are very athletic, 3,7 &12 are also very good.2 not,4 looks like she is gonna break the pole.6 and 8 are a real joke lol.11 is kind of writhing around on the floor .10 is kind of like 8 haha.
As for the comments about prostitution and such,lighten up .The girls that are good look like gymnasts to me.Did you ever see girls on ropes in the circus .Its kind of like that.

I thought they were the same also ,maybe they changed outfits.

agreed .

Well I guess it would be considered gymnastics if it had more than one pole. This pole is for stripping, usually. I don't consider myself a prune by no means, but, when you start seeing this in public, well, it just tells you where we are as a society. And of course, most men would love to see this all over ESPN.

I'm with Tim Woods on this. If they want to do this let them practice at home. I'm so totally sick of all this hype. Nuff said!!!

I give them all a lot of credit. That takes a lot of muscle control to hold your body up like that......... Big or Small they all did great! I just dislike the negative comments about these women. I don't see a difference between this and say Zumba. You still are shaking around dancing all in the name of fitness.

I think the word you are looking for is prude (not prune). The pole is not sticking out in the produce department!

Either way, as long as they keep their clothes on (my feed stopped after #4 so I was assuming she took down the pole and the camera.....), this is just a combination of dnace and gymnastics. Granted some moves on a pole should ONLY be done in adult establishments, none of the ones I saw were offensive to me (although the safety of dancer #4 was a concern as the pole appeared to be under a great deal of stress!)

i'll have to try and watch the whole thing later!

I think all the haters here are just jealous they don't have the pride and/or fitness to do this in public! I saw nothing inappropriate in any of the routines. Prostitution? LOL.

We all choose to express ourselves in different ways. If you don't like it, you don't have to look at it / buy tickets to it / support it. I give credit to all of the women who are willing to get up there and perform, whether at this weekend's convention, or at the many similar events that happen around Chicagoland every weekend, such as burlesque and trapeze performances. It takes a lot of courage to get out there and do something that you enjoy but know that so many others would try to shame you for. Hates will keep hating though, can't let them get you down.

Way to go, Maggie. It (did) take a lot of courage to get up there & perform....Did you notice how the audience cheered for every single performer up there? I would have cheered for every single one of them too. Linda

This is great, my wife was upset that we didn't go. The entry fee was a little high, hopefully it will come back next year.

I have to agree with Therese. It is just another indication of society going downhill. I can't even imagine what my parents would say if they saw the likes of a Pole Dancers Convention! Really? I'm not taking away the fact that these women are definitely fit, but the whole concept behind pole dancing is not for fitness...come on we all know that. Calling it fitness and having a convention to showcase it is just another cover for naughtiness! BTW check out the majority of the male vs. the female responses. Sounds to me like they were peeking into a strippers club!

I knew that person meant prude and not prune, but I dare not correct him/her.

And, I'm not a hater, it's my opinion and that's what I gave. Sorry for the moral answer

OMG!!!!! Should not be posted at all! This does nothing for Tinley Park!

This post is shocking and disgusting. So is the Patch just going to be a local National Enquirer? What are you people thinking? I actually started following the Patch because it was local news, I will be rethinking that thought.

No wonder the young girls today dress like prostitutes...moms riding a pole at home...

to quote chris rock

"Now that I’m a father I realize that my top priority is my baby girl. My job is to make sure she doesn’t some day end up on the pole. Because you know if you’re a father and your daughter is a stripper- YOU FD UP SOMEWHERE"

Steve Burke ~ Let's get this straight. Blackhawks play in the NHL not the NFL. So what exactly is your point?

Steve Burke ~ Why do you assume just because I like hockey and sports I like violence? What does enjoying sports have to do with violence? Why do you think pole dancing is news?

Maggie W - well on or off I still think its sleazy, trashy and classless. If you want exercise go run/walk in the street (but not the sidewalk in mokena, noone uses them)

This is no more disturbing then the "juking" and "bumping" that young people do at dances. We live in a free country, if young women want to swing around a pole and call it dancing, let them. Who cares, let people express themselves how they want.

As I indicated in my previous comment some of these girls were very athletic.some were just having fun.SO WHAT.I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder.I commend Patch for covering a news story in Tinley .I didn't know about the competition and now I do.So Patch did their job by informing me about this competition.I thought it was informative ,funny in some instances, but not vulgar or offensive.

I love how a reporter took the time to film a pole dancing competition and write a two-paragraph "article". Journalism at its finest.

A video is worth a thousand words.I believe this was supposed to be a fun article .I think it accomplished the goal.Sure did get a lot of commentary.

Thanks for the comment, Russ- I can tell you're a news connoisseur by your 5 comments on this pole dancing article.

As the organizer of this event it was interesting to read the various responses.

I must point out that women in strip clubs do very little pole work - they seldom do anything like what you see at a competition or pole fitness event. However they do plenty of dancing standing on their legs and walking around the floor so in actuality the style they use is also associated with the same dancing everyone does in clubs, bars and at weddings.

It's also not a stripper pole if you aren't taking off your clothing.

I am a bit disappointed that some of the videos were edited to show the errors and give the impression that those particular women were incapable of dancing well as the rest of their performances were very well done...but they simply edited out one mistake out of an entire routine.

As for the fitness aspect of it...it IS fitness if it results in conditioning the body and all forms of dance do that. If this is a way to get women AND men to become more active then it's a worthwhile experience for the people who choose it. Pole dance traning ranges from simple cardio vascular exercise to body weight exercise depending on the type of class. Trust me...it's a tough work out.

It may not be traditional but that does not make it wrong or immoral! It's all a matter of opinion and based on the number of people involved and supporting this dance sport it's become very successful.

Thank you to everyone for your opinions!

It looks like a lot of fun. And great exercise for the thighs.

There was no harm done in these videos,the only thing shed here was a few calories, the people who objected to these videos ,made up something trashy in their minds, it seems to me this society also likes to see people killed then something that may resemble sex in a way . But remember this without sex none of us would be here .

I don't want to see people killed nor do I want to watch pole dancing. So I don't. I also don't want it in or near my community and that's how I feel.

well hurumph !! glad your not in charge.

DLC Dave said it best, like 2 knobs (knobs? Dave you're dating yourself ;-) ) If you don't like it, don't watch. This isn't to my taste, but neither is all the wrestling garbage on TV, so I don't watch it. Kudos to those fit enough to do this. Everyone has their own tastes, so do your thing and let others be.

well done deb

Dave, don't feel bad. I was just reading the article about the video Dads. When I was a kid, camcorders, cellphones and computers were non existent. Think Polaroid! But I like to think I'm old enough to know better, but still too young to care. And never forget, youth and agility is no match for age and treachery!

It seems like the story would be ok without the video. Patch is a community news website with a lot of stories about kids and local family activities and sports. It is not The Reader. Kids do go on the site to read about their school and see pictures of themselves and their friends and stores about their school. If the site had a log on for adults, it would be fine. But it doesn't and Patch needs to take responsibility for content on the site. Its not appropriate for Patch.

Some of it looks like weightlifters doing pole dancing, but the 8" heels, trashy costumes and moves don't belong on a community news website. They would be perfectly fine in the right context... It is an amusing video.

I am #8 on the video and I am quite disappointed that they chose to only show certain clips of everyone's performances, there was a reason I was changing costumes but you wouldn't know that because you can't see the entire video. Every one of the girls did awesome and the haters need to keep their comments to themselves if you don't like it then don't watch it.

Robin your comments are a bit exaggerated. None of our competitors had on anything above 6 inch heels which are actually becoming quite common in every shoe department you walk into today!

As for "trashy costumes" the competitors wore nothing less than swimsuit coverage and in fact our costume guidelines were so strict that most of what you find in the swim department would not have qualified. The US Olympic volley ball team showed more skin than these competitors did.

There were no trashy moves either! Spins and inverts are not trashy and body rolls and leg splits are seen in many disciplines of sport and other styles of dance. Have you watched much hip hop? Which is being taught to children in dance schools across the country?

If someone wishes to hate something they don't have to look very hard to come up with excuses to back up their biased opinions. However, this video doesn't show very much of what actually went on that day. I invite you to view the videos of the competitors on our facebook page for the Midwest Pole Dance Competition.

They are stripper poles. End of story. I'm not telling anyone what to like or not like. There is responsible journalism and irresponsible journalism. Would you find it in the Chicago Tribune? Don't think so.

Robin, the Tribune saw fit to put it in their local editions, online and in print.

I read both articles but didn't bother with the pics or video because it simply didn't interest me. And honestly, I find the daily reports of murders or articles about a 16 year old who had no problem cutting a dog's head off with an axe a whole lot more disturbing. Some consider it stripping, some a sport. To each his own.

So exactly WHY are they "Stripper poles"?

Poles have been used in dance and fitness formats long before they were ever used in strip clubs. Mallakamb and Chinese pole have been around for centuries. So why are these stripper poles instead of chinese poles?

As for strippers being part of the event, that shouldn't matter as long as they aren't stripping at the event. We did not adverstise who were strippers and who were not and we did not use that to promote the event.

The fact is there are teachers in schools and waitresses in restaurants and a few dental hygienists I know of who also work, or have worked, as strippers which doesn't make their day jobs any less respectable either.

I'm sure all their dads are soooo proud! :/

Fantastic!

Stop being so judgmental and appreciate the artistry.

Yay - I no longer need to dance in the city, I can dance in Tinley Park!

I dance for a living downtown and also work for an agency dancing at parties and topless waitressing. We go to car dealerships, businesses, sports events, restaurants all over the city and suburbs for our shows. A lot of these women who are being rated here as 'hot or not' are basically doing almost the exact same thing we do when we dance at the club. The difference is that some of the women on the video are a little too heavy or old to be working at a club. Nothing different short of taking off their clothes. As a dancer, I don't call it artistry, I call it dancing. I am surprised to find that my city now has found a way to have a strip club without having it been called that. I really don't want a club, convention or this kind of stuff in my neighborhood since I work very hard to hide what I do. That's right, hide. I would not be proud letting friends, neighbors, family snicker about me knowing that is what I do. In fact, I bet a lot of men who attended this/or watched the video are snickering at their clueless wives just as they do when wives think nothing ever happens at bachelor parties, golf and retirement parties (ever wonder why they don't invite you?). I read also they might turn this into an olympic sport. Gee - what fun! What they'll have will be mostly professional dancers (strippers) like me who can be on that pole for hours on one hold. Enough said.

The pole dancing is art, exercise, dance, certainly NOT porn. The ladies are not naked, not topless, and not wearing thongs. They are not strippers. They are not prostitutes. They are dancing, exercising, and otherwise engaging in an art form that is not immoral.

I wonder if the same people poo-pooing the video are the same people who think the women's Olympic beach volleyball was obscene. Sheesh.