The Philippine Pole Cup 2017 saw over 30 pole artists from 11 countries compete for the top spot in each of nine categories: women’s, men’s and doubles in the amateur, semi-professional and professional levels. Each piece showed a different side of pole: some graceful and ballet-like, others strong and reminiscent of action film stunts.
The competitors in the amateur round were hardly novice polers! Russia’s Raisa Nuzhniak pulled off a series of very bendy tricks (of course a Russian has to do the Russian Split), while our very own Abigail Sy set the bar high with strong and challenging pole moves.
Filipino Jay Doncillo, the sole contestant for men’s pole, put on a charming Bruno Mars-inspired number, earning awww’s from the ladies in the audience.
Duo winners Masayuki Kinoshita & Aya Mugita (Japan) were a crowd favorite with their quirky performance using just the iPhone “Opening” ringtone as their background music! They later won as first runner-up in the Amateur Duo category.
The Semi-Pro performances had our hearts stopping as polers climbed and dropped and twisted and held themselves like statues mid-air. Filipina Welchie Labasan opened the series with a beautiful but strong piece, while other local dancers paid tribute to Filipino culture with tribal-themed costumes.
Guardians of the Galaxy seemed to be a favorite theme as two Groot polers demonstrated that men can be graceful and flexible, too.
Read on for more!
