We laid this on wax on March 27, 2024, in anticipation of a second installment of Wasp’s Nest (Erotic Virtual Symposium). I’ve been thinking about whether the second event is going to happen—and it is, but it also isn’t in the same way. More on that in another post, because this one is for the canon and anthropological archive/history of pole dancing.
I got the urge to publish this track out of nowhere earlier this week. So, I’m going to listen to my intuition and trust that the Holy Spirit ain’t playing with me about making a move when it’s time to push some shit out and deliver it.
Hustle & Flow
Carmine Black is one of the originals of pole dance as we know it and witness it now. A historical figure with a tenure of over a decade, still in the flesh, her contributions are pillars to the ways pole dance as an art-form is visualized, taught and talked about right now. She is the queen of “low flow”, a pole dance approach that necessitates standing dance variations with at least one point of contact on the pole and one foot on the floor.1 She is also recognized as the daddy of “edgework”.2 This publishing is about her journey to being an expert, a connoisseur3, the history of edgework as it relates to pole dance and at large a conversation about the shifting states of becoming.
What is pole dance edgework? and how does one birth such a differentiated modality into an industry? What does it mean to become an expert? How does one become a teacher? What does it feel like to be steeped in an industry for more than 10 years that has rapidly changed and evolved amongst so many intersecting marginalizations? These are some of the questions that we either answer directly or lay the groundwork for further inquiry.
Throw this episode on as you clean, cook or want to relax into an insightful conversation.
Chapter Synopsis
00:00-05:54 Intro
05:55-16:43 When You're Learning A New Skill It Gets Harder
16:44-17:56 The Miseducation Of Carmine Black
17:57-18:26 The Miseducation of The History Of Edgework
18:27-26:24 "Self-Taught": True Or False
26:25-31:04 The Pedestal of Technical Skill
31:05-37:29 Connoisseur: The Ability To Judge Dance
37:30-48:38 Virtue Signaling With Your Body as Fraud / Safety At The Expense of Self-Betrayl
48:39-57:23 Setting One’s Self Apart As Self Respect
Images used for this post were provided by Carmine Black or sourced from CarmineBlackDance Instagram. 4
Cite & Source
Black, Carmine. “FAQ’s — Haute Velour.” Haute Velour, 24 May 2024, www.hautevelour.com/information-hub/faqs.
“INTRO TO EDGEWORK.” The Consortium, theconsortium.thinkific.com/courses/INTROTOEDGEWORK1.
“Connoisseurship, an acquired ability to judge quality on the basis of having looked at many dances, is related to dance theory. ‘‘Judgments rely on past experience, training, cultural biases, personal values, and idiosyncratic preferences’’ Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Rich, G. J. (1997). Musical improvisation: A systems approach. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Creativity in performance (pp. 43–66). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Carmine Black (@Carmineblackdance) • Instagram Photos and Videos. www.instagram.com/p/C51crnfp-SPMMwyGyIs_Y5yfkZzJelTRwKkC6I0.
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
“Side Effects of Being Sexy” / “The Spirit of Competition” / “Sexual & Spiritual Agency” / “Considering Visually, The Esteem of Your MothaF*ckin Self” / “The Rush: Practice As Tinkering?” / “A Fishnet of Words: Con vs. Camp vs. Retreat vs. Intensive vs. Workshop vs. Jam vs. Sensual vs. Sexy vs. Exotic vs. Erotic”
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