Pole Dancing with Kelly Goss

Pole Dancing with Kelly Goss - A woman wearing a dress - Fantasy Fest

“The only thing pole dancing ‘strips’ is insecurity and negativity”

Athletic sport challenges participants

It’s not what you think. And, it’s really hard to do. You know, holding your body weight up by your ankles and making it look like it’s the easiest thing in the world? Select few athletes can make Pole Dancing appear doable, fun and the best work out in the world. Ask Kelly Goss, professional Pole Dance Competitor and instructor at Gravity Fitness in Key West. Watching Goss almost makes one believe anyone can have the grace and strength to dance on a pole WITH A SMILE.

Pole Dance as a sport is catching on worldwide as beginners and professionals alike are choosing this fitness regime as the sexier side of getting in shape. By definition, Pole Dancing combines dance and acrobatics centered on a vertical pole providing both an aerobic and anaerobic workout. The bonus? You can keep your heels on if you like.

“When I first started I was a party animal and smoked cigarettes,” Goss admitted. “I couldn’t lift my feet off the floor while holding the pole or even come close to attaining anything even close to a split.”

Now, Goss attributes her confidence to her commitment, hours of training and addictiveness of the sport.  She believes anyone can start off slow and learn pole dancing in progressions, citing her own achievements as inspiration.

Since 2012, Goss placed fifth in the US qualifying for International Pole Sport Federation (IPSF) last year. This year she was first runner up to for Worlds, and is technically third in the U.S. in that organization. She also has won and placed in a few different performance-based competitions in Florida last year.

Goss’s winning philosophy: “You can do anything you set your mind to. Your thoughts control your reality. It’s never too late. You are worth it.” The sport isn’t to be confused with exotic dancing or taking off your clothes. It seems the only thing she has “stripped” is her insecurity and negativity.

Goss is bringing the show to the Key West Theater, Oct. 1, as Gravity is hosting its fifth annual pole show to raise money for the local SPCA. There will be six champion performers/instructors from all over the world, as well as Goss and her students, performing. Who knows? It could be everyone’s next favorite sport.

Hays Blinckmann is an oil painter, author of the novel “In The Salt,” lover of all things German including husband, children and Bundesliga. She spends her free time developing a font for sarcasm, testing foreign wines and failing miserably at home cooking.