Attending my first pole event… Glory, without money and power
Surely, it’s not pure passion if you are doing it in a competition setting?
Last month, I went to watch an amateur pole dancing competition held by my pole dancing studio, Bobbis Pole Studio. Amateur Night is a night whereby the students at the studio put on a performance and compete for the title of “Amateur Pole Champion”. It was my first ever pole event (popped the cherry so to speak) and it was so much fun.
The crowd was electric, and the energy was so supportive and amazing!
It’s incredible how a change in costume, makeup, stage presence, right props, a powerful song, endless hours of practice and a good crowd can transform a fitness routine/sport into an entirely different emotional experience. I didn’t realise that pole dancing could make me laugh so hard until I watched Dusty Wild’s construction worker themed dance. I didn’t realise that a pole dancing performance could give me goosebumps the way Azra danced to the song “Unraveled” by Sabrina Claudio — the kind of chilling goosebumps that I got from watching the psychological movie thriller Black Swan.
I am truly awed at the amount of time and preparation it took for the students to bring about the finished product to life — with no big financial reward on the line.
Yes, it is passion- bucket loads of it but surely, it’s not just passion if you are participating in a competition?
The only thing I can think of is glory!
The glory of being crowned champion.
Which got me thinking… how underrated glory is compared to its relatives money and power. Lana del Rey, in her song “Money, power, glory” talks about how she wants all three. While I’ve listened to that song on repeat many times, I’ve never really given glory as much thought until now.
We all want money.
And most of us want power.
Money and power are so closely related.
And yes glory often does come from money and power.
But things like these pole competitions, with little to no money/power reward… what is the value of winning an amateur pole competition but for glory?
The value of glory… being crowned the term “champion” being the “goat” — what does it mean to you?
Sister/Brother of Prestige?
What is the value of having a bunch of trophies sitting in your bedroom without the monetary reward per se? Does it bear any resemblance to having a set of degree certificates from elite universities/ winning a university medal? Whereby do you look at these achievements with pride because you know that not everyone has these assets, and you had to beat your entire cohort/ competition to obtain them?
Maslow’s self actualisation?
I’ve always liked the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid. It’s just so straightforward and generally does help explain why some people are the way they are.
So would glory sit in the layer of esteem needs such as prestige and accomplishment as aforementioned, or should it sit at the very top, in the self-actualisation box?
Probably the self-actualisation box, I say for two reasons/observations.
Studying elite athletes
As an avid tennis fan, I’ve always wondered why the great tennis players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal etc. continue playing the game with so much commitment (including bearing the risk of crippling themselves) despite the millions of dollars more they could be earning in endorsement deals and commercial contracts…
Surely, with the level of success they’ve achieved, even for the sake of their general health and wellbeing- maybe it would be a good time to retire and live an easy life- travel the world etc.? So why? It must be from the kick of winning that grand slam, right? You can’t get that “kick” from anything else?
Increasing Motivation
The one thing separating self-actualisation from esteem is motivation increases as needs are met, while for anything below self-actualisation (including esteem, love/ belonging, safety, physiological), motivation decreases as needs are met.
So maybe glory falls more into the self-actualisation layer than the esteem layer because usually if you win one competition, you are likely to want more. It’s like people who like to run in marathons/do Iron Mans and triathlons in their spare time. I am sure that the winner of the Amateur Pole Competition this round is going to enter into more competitions in the future unless there are better/worse reasons not to.
Is it the more noble version of fame?
This one is a bit left-field… but is glory just a more noble/sophisticated version of fame? By definition, glory is “high renown or honour won by notable achievements” so the piece about being synonymous with fame is clear. The distinction between the two then is the part about “notable achievements”. Sure, you can get famous in today’s world by consistently posting bikini photos, eating bowls of noodles, posting cat photos… everyone is capable of doing that. But not everyone is capable of swimming 50m under 10 seconds or winning 21 grand slam titles… for that is a very, very special type of fame.
