Pole dancing is a beautiful art that's become a popular exercise, especially among women. Pole-dancing fitness studios are packed with women of all ages, but rarely are the teachers and experts as seasoned as Makeda Smith.
The 56-year-old grandmother is the creator of Flying Over 50, a workshop that teaches women of all ages how to pole dance. She's also brazenly defying stereotypes about aging.
Smith began pole dancing during the 2008 recession. She told lifestyle website xoNecole that she had to file for bankruptcy after the real estate market crashed. She lost about 12 real estate properties, and her marriage dissolved.
While walking down Hollywood Boulevard, Smith encountered Magda, a 74-year-old woman doing a split. Smith and Magda began talking, and she realized the older woman had a lot of wisdom to offer.
"She told me yoga had been her regimen since her 40s and it was her fountain of youth," she told Revelist. "I was 50 at the time and deducted that I had better find me a new exercise routine ASAP. I took a yoga class months later, but was not fully thrilled."
A Living Social coupon led her to a pole-dancing class — and changed her life.
"I remembered having visited a gentleman's club while working on a publicity campaign for a client — and the memory of a dancer on a pole, high in the air doing incredible tricks, had also haunted me," she said. "One class and I was hooked like a drug."
Though Smith loved pole dancing, she didn't initially share her newfound hobby with friends.
Smith is a successful publicist who has represented everyone from Jamie Foxx to Mo'Nique, so she wasn't sure how her family and industry peers would react.
"My family has always known me as a free and renegade spirit, so they didn’t really trip," she said. "However, I did hear rumors when I first started early on — that some of my industry peers thought I was having a breakdown or midlife crisis."
She also struggled with self-doubt.
"There were times in class where I wanted to quit," she said. "I would silently chastise myself for being 'too old' and even just plain 'crazy' for taking up this art form."
However, pole dancing has become an integral — and public — part of her life. Her new motto is "grannies do it better."
"My decision to start pole dancing at 50 was a slap in the face to everything that not only I knew, but also those around me," she said. "I honestly believe that society has lied to us all these years, making us believe that aging is about less and less activity — when actually it can be about 'more and more' life activity. We get better with age — and that's not a well-known secret."
She finally revealed her affinity for pole dancing at Cheetahs, a bikini bar in Hollywood.
"It was an Amateur Pole Night, specifically for pole dance students and amateur performers," she told xoNecole. "I was a little nervous, but once I hit the stage, I was ready to entertain. The fun part about the Amateur Pole Night is you get to invite your friends to come out and 'make it rain.' The place was packed and I felt amazing."
Pole-dancing has also taught Smith a great deal about what her body is capable of.
"Once you master climbing a 17-foot pole in six to nine-inch heels — nothing else really phases you because you have learned how to transform your fear into power and that body strength and confidence touches all the other areas in your life," she said. "Your inner goddess makes herself known."
Still, her decision to pole dance has been met with derision online. Smith's been referred to as a "granny stripper" and "[a] granny who lost her welfare and now had to strip." However, she hasn't let negative comments detoured her from pole dancing.
"The negative social media feedback started late last year. Fortunately for me, it happened at a point in my pole journey where I was too heavily invested to be deterred," she said. "The assault of ageism, sexism and body shaming, could have crippled me, but I persevered, eventually turning that negative into a positive media experience."
Overall, pole dancing has helped Smith overcome great financial loss, emotional upheaval, and online backlash.
She now encourages all women to join the pole-dancing movement.
"My advice would be to research pole dance studios. Yelp reviews are extremely helpful," she said. "You also want to start with beginner classes that incorporate stretching exercises and learning to swing around the pole first."
Coupling pole dancing with exotic movement dance classes has also been important to Smith.
"What also proved helpful to me was taking exotic movement dance classes alongside my pole classes," she said. "These classes helped to make my overall movement more fluid and taught me dance flow."
Best of all, Magda approves of Smith using pole dancing to inspire older women to embrace their bodies.
"Magda is 80 now and still doing splits and yoga," she said. "She told me the other day, 'Makeda, they lied to you about aging. We have the choice to never get old!' I so believe her. Stereotypes are false illusions based on false truths."
