About The PDSM Competition
What is The PDSM Competition?
Our competition is genre-based, rooted in Stripper Style and for soloists. We offer different genres of dance style as categories instead of traditional levels in order to showcase the variety of Stripper Style.
‘Stripper Style’ (‘SS’) can be interpreted as ‘in the style of and inspired by strippers’. Our genres reflect some of the most common and popular subdivisions of SS. SS is wide ranging and varies from dancer to dancer and intersects with different cultures. SS is often characterised by its sexual nature.
Why was The PDSM Competition created?
There are a number of reasons why PDSM's first event was a competition.
Gemma Rose felt the UK pole comp scene in general was not geared in favour of strippers; even though there would be no pole without us. Even in some of the most 'SWer friendly' competitions, it felt as though strippers were being welcomed into a 'pole space', which left many of us feeling alienated, further entrenching the gap between 'the civ polers' and 'the strippers'. Gemma aimed to flip the rhetoric, whereby it's the strippers that are welcoming civ ally polers into our space. Consider it as restoring the balance, which hopefully makes strippers feel more appreciated and empowered in the industry and encourages unity between strippers and civ polers. This also allows all competitors (SWer or civ) to compete in a more ethical environment.
Apart from the general vibe pole competitions, there are so many examples personally for Gemma and from other strippers where criteria and mark schemes have put them at a disadvantage. Gemma decided to level the playing field and create a competition that tackles these problems head on, making the competing experience fairer for everyone. In turn, strippers and stripper movement are further appreciated.
It would be great to see more movement-based competitions come onto the scene instead of more tricks comps. The same goes for a greater emphasis on the quality of movement rather than the difficulty. While there are sexy and SS comps out there, you rarely see the breadth of SS fully embraced. SS tends to get squished & condensed into one category, one framework or one concept. PDSM is the change, with the aim to showcase the variety of SS with intelligent, movement & quality based mark schemes.
A crucial reason for running a competition is due to personal injustices Gemma faced competing in pole competitions and also seeing her friends & students with similar experiences. In most competitions Gemma entered, she had some kind of unfair or upsetting experiences which have left a lot to be desired from the competition scene. Just a few examples of this include:
Being penalised for 'illegal moves' in her category, with no hint in the provided criteria that this move would be a problem. When querying with the organiser, they said that the judges had an extra list of moves that were not provided to the competitors. That was the end of that.
Despite winning her category, being told that her tricks were not advanced enough for the category and being told "you should be able to do better considering your level". She received particularly unkind and unconstructive feedback in this instance. When bringing this to the organiser's attention, they did not intervene nor feed this back to the judge.
When asking to clarify a vague mark scheme, being assured by organisers that she would not be judged on the quantity or complexity of tricks, she was judged on these things.
The PDSM Competition is driving the change to make competitions fairer and more transparent. Some inspiration has come from UKPPC, which is a breath of fresh air on the competition scene. At PDSM we will enforce these changes by:
Providing the same information to competitors and judges.
Providing clear, transparent and specific mark schemes & criteria (because judges nor competitors are mind-readers)!
Through a rigorous application process, judges are selected based on the best skills, which includes providing constructive criticism and treating competitors with care and kindness.
A moderator is on board to ensure judges' feedback reflects their scoring and the criteria. This ensures a clear line of communication between organiser, competitors and judges is upheld.
What makes The PDSM Competition unique?
Other than being ground-breaking in our mode of operation and ethics, there are so many things which make PDSM special:
1. Nudity is welcome and encouraged (but not necessary)
PDSM is the most libertine pole competition out there. There's a reason why the name sounds like BDSM ;)! We are chucking whorephobia right in the bin and allowing competitors to be their sluttiest, filthiest, raunchiest and most uncensored selves- the truest reflection of SS.
2. Stripper EVERYTHING (as much as possible!)
Paid roles on the PDSM team are sex workers wherever possible. The whole judging panel are strippers or ex-strippers. This is the best way to pay homage to the roots of pole dancing; it means we have the most qualified people to judge SS; this recentres the narrative around strippers; this helps strippers feel fully appreciated.
PDSM is currently held in a working strip club, it’s the authentic experience and strippers can feel at home. It’s a reclamation of our space. PDSM doesn’t just end when the event finishes, there is the opportunity to stay into the night at the club to directly support the local dancers, pay respects to the SW industry and have a taste of the UK strip club culture!
Spectators are drenched in every aspect of stripper culture…including the politics! Inbetween our fabulous competitors, entertainment comes in the form of SWer rights discussions (honestly, it's more exciting than it sounds and it's really fucking needed). There are opportunities to learn about and support SWer charities and organisations.
Elevating the SWer community wherever possible. This includes: providing SWer grants to low-income competitors; raising money for SWer organisations; providing free stalls for SWer organisations and discounted sponsor and stall spots for some SWer-owned businesses; paying for the local dancer’s house fees; fundraising for SWer orgs.
3. Celebrating and showcasing the variety of Stripper Movement.
Instead of just simplifying all the diversity to just 'SS', we are specific with categories to encompass and highlight the variety that SS has to offer.
4. Fair, transparent and category specific mark schemes.
Expertly crafted criteria by a team of stripper pole dancers. We will constantly re-evaluate and update our handbook to improve on what we've got year on year! We will always be open to feedback on how we can better the competition.