Pole dance combines dance and acrobatics centered on a vertical pole. This performance art is a mainstream form of fitness, practiced in gyms and dedicated dance studios. Amateur and professional pole dancing competitions are held in countries around the world.
The use of pole for sports and exercise has been traced back at least 800 years to the traditional Indian sport of mallakhamb, which utilizes principles of endurance and strength using a wooden pole, wider in diameter than a modern standard pole. The Chinese pole, dating back to the 12th century, uses two poles on which men would perform "gravity defying tricks" as they leap from pole to pole, at approximately twenty feet in the air. Learn more on wikipedia