Yahoo News 'Pole dancing comes from sex workers of colour so it is odd to be erased in favour of white women'
Ex-Snoop Dogg backup dancer Leila Davis, 28, fell in love with pole dancing when she was 18, but quickly became aware of the racism within the industry. That’s why she started Blackstage, a company that empowers pole dancers of colour.
After her first professional gig at the Red Bull Music Festival in 2018, Leila, who grew up in Catford, found “things snowballed in the best way”. Before she knew it, she was being booked by some of the biggest names in the industry, from Snoop Dogg to Burna Boy.
But Leila, who goes by the stage name Cutie Whippingham, had a niggling feeling from early on that the “racism in pole was rife”. She said: “When it comes to social media, the people that are always flagged as being important influential pole dancers have always been white women. But pole actually comes from sex workers of colour, so it’s just really odd that we’re never shown those people, and that they’re always erased by the brands and the competitions and things.”
This feeling was solidified in 2020 when, after the resurgence of Black Lives Matter — a movement that Leila was already involved with — fellow dancers told her about their experiences of racist treatment from well-known studios and business owners. She said: “I knew it existed but it just all came out.”
Leila started Blackstage that same year, a space for people that had been previously marginalised from pole, including queer and non-binary people, people of colour, and plus-sized and disabled people. On Saturday (April 6), Blackstage hosted its annual event at The Clapham Grand, the biggest pole show in the UK, which sold out. Leila said the show was “aimed to show pole in its best light, really curated into a piece of art".
She added: “That’s not something that pole often gets. Often, we’re an afterthought or a backup dancer, or something isn’t quite centring us. With the show, it’s all about the dancer. They’re the priority. They’re the star. Everything else around them needs to be to their taste.”
Leila and a panel of judges whittled down 207 applications from across the world to just 12 performers, who together demonstrated the wide range of different styles that pole has to offer, from contemporary to “tricks-based”. Leila's quest to get pole taken seriously has, she said, been helped by Arts Council England’s decision to provide funding.
She said: “The fact that they see it as an art form and think that what we do is important enough to fund is really affirming because I know it is, but society doesn’t. The funding helps us to destigmatise pole.”
Aside from the annual show, Blackstage also offers pole workshops and coaches its members about the business side of pole, where dancers have historically been exploited. This includes advice about how to make money as a pole performer, how to manage yourself, and how to write a pole-performer contract, as well as resources for employers about hiring pole dancers.
This is an area where Leila feels she can use her own experience of racism in pole to help others. She said: “I know a lot about navigating the industry as someone who’s seen as disposable.”
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