It saddens me to see so much talent being censured, and that is why i am adhering to this #1polebecause initiative. Although I am pretty new at this, I have been shadowbanned many times, and it makes me so angry and frustrated. The picture you see here? I have tried posting it million times with different filters because I really am proud of that move, and how hard I have worked to make it happen (and how my teacher and pole friends have helped me to achieve it). My pole dance journey goes back to June, 2016, when I decided to try my bellydance/stretching teacher’s pole class. And she was really not expecting me, and in fact, I was totally terrified about starting something new, because, even though I had been dancing for many years, I had never put a foot on a gym and had no strength whatsoever. And to my surprise -and hers LOL-, I LOVED my first class, with all the hard work, training and some tricks we saw. I really felt I was helpless, but with time and perseverance I started taking pictures of the progress, I’ve made great friends, I actually started to develop strength and continued working on my flexibility, and then I discovered this whole new world in #instagram. And it amazed me. To see so many brilliant and talented artists, with super strength, creativity, flexibility, innovation and god knows all the magnificent qualities that we get to see here from all over the world, and we connect, and that is the beauty of it all. We support each other even if we don’t know the other person, but we appreciate what our pals do because we know the suffering, the effort, the help and practice after each photo or video. But all of a sudden, we start noticing that our photos are being shadowbanned, and what we perceived as art is deemed infamous, by no apparent reason. I have signed the petitions going around and created accounts with moves’names based on some initiatives to continue being motivated by other people’s moves, but we are still in the same place. if the Instagram community was created for us, why start attacking us for using it? Pole dance has not only changed my body, it has lifted my spirit ❤️ #hustlersmovie They won’t take us down! Why do you pole?