Dallas' Neighbor Is Just Fine With Pole Dancer Convention

FT. WORTH, Texas—Ever heard of the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport? Of course you have! And as the name implies, it serves both the Dallas and Ft. Worth areas, which are pretty close to each other; in fact, they're just over 30 miles apart—physically—but apparently much more distant philosophically, especially when it comes to sex-related subjects. As the Dallas Morning News' Scoop Blog reported this morning, on June 2, the city-owned Ft. Worth Convention Center will play host to the International Pole Convention, also known as PoleCon, which, according to its website, "celebrates the diversity of the pole dance/pole fitness community." Of course, most adult entertainment fans are well familiar with pole-dancing. Just about every performer in every strip club in the country uses the pole for at least part of her routine, and there's a good likelihood that among the expected 700 attendees at the convention will be a number of professional strippers aka adult entertainers, some of whom are aka porn stars—and that's exactly what the Ft. Worth Convention Center wants to downplay. "The event is focused primarily on the fitness aspect of the sport," Sarah Covington, public relations manager for the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, wrote in an email to the Dallas Morning News. "Attendees will be wearing fitness and workout clothes. There haven’t been any red flags raised to our knowledge from the community." But even Colleen Jolly, who runs the convention, admits that "many people still associate pole dancing with strip clubs," and that "[s]ome convention participants work as strippers." According to the PoleCon website, among the workshops to be offered at the convention are "New To Pole," "Flexy Pole Flow," "Bendy Butterfly (Contortion For All Levels)", "Come Get Some: Stylized & Signature Tricks with CryStylez," "Sexy, Slinky Pole," "All Star, All Stripper Discussion Panel," "Karol's Sick Tricks," "Tassels & Assels Burlesque Workshop," and the "Dangerous Curves Showcase." Hmmm... some of those seem more targeted at professional strippers rather than being "focused ... on the fitness aspect of the sport." It also seems likely that some attendees at the convention may be more focused on the "professional stripper" aspect of the show, and we suspect that it'll be pretty hard to hide the skin at, for example, the "Tassels & Assels Burlesque Workshop." But hey, that's Ft. Worth for ya—just 30 or so miles from a city that just banned the Exxxotica Lifestyle Expo from its own city-owned convention center. Now, what was the name of that city...? (H/t to Susan and David Bradley for all the info.)