Global warming causes the North Pole and South Pole to melt but in Zouk, the ‘pole’ is melted by the hot ladies and gentlemen pole dancers. For the first time ever Clorets challenged Malaysian dancers to bring their sexy back in the Amateur pole dancing competition.  We may have seen pole dancers in movies that bring the stereotypical perception of an adult entertainer, but I hate to burst your bubble, it is now a form of sports or workout routine.

The event started off with an opening performance by the finalists who danced along to the mysterious James Bond theme song. Pietro Philips and Hannah Tan were the celebrity guests of the event and they performed a pole dancing routine that they had practiced for a month. Both had no experience on the pole and yet they managed to put up a great performance. The sexy and sweet Hannah Tan had proven that anyone can pole dance and the adorable and funny Pietro Phillips delivered a message that men and everyone else can do it too.  He also said that he had lost some weight by doing this exercise. The host of the event, Liang tried pole dancing that night and he said that it is not as easy as it may seem.

There were eight semi-finalists. The first semi-finalist was surprisingly a male participant, Andrew Tan also known as Auto. He performed a break dance style with the element of martial art in his routine. The inspiration comes from his martial art background as well as his previous dance background. This made his routine unique. A ballet instructor, Brittany danced with a top hat which was very catchy and adorable. When asked what the difference between pole dancing and ballet, she said that ballet is stricter and with pole dancing it is more relaxed. Next in line for the performance was Kayanne with a fast paced dance routine together with the Mambo No. 5 song. She had put up an amusing performance with a cheeky face expression.

Interestingly, two best friends participated in the event together, Nana and Sam. However, I personally think that Sam is a better pole dancer compared to Nana. Even with the seductive hip-hop moves by Nana, Sam captured the attention of the audience with the pink panther theme song and her Jazz routine. She made full use of the stage and that was an advantage for her.

Lili, however, was the superstar of the event. It was smart of her to invite all of her friends to support her. The crowd shouted her name out loud to show their support and that energy was not wasted because Lili presented a great routine with a combo mix dance routine.

Another dancer who had a mixture of dance genres in her choreography was Vivid. She performed a mixture of contemporary ballet and Hip Hop. However, the performance was simple. The last semi finalist, Zoey, caught the audience’s attention with her unique “jungle girl” costume. It was suitable with the techno-tribal music that she danced to.

The judges for the competition were Mr. Blair Sailes, the Managing Director of Cadbury Malaysia; Mr. David Ho, The General Manager of Carat Interactive; Miss Vivian Lea, Consultant & Trainer of Viva Vertical; Miss Salina Yeop Junior, CEO of Salina & Associates Public Relations; and Mr. Lee Szu-Hung, Executive Creative Director of McCann-Erikson Sdn Bhd. These judges have chosen five dancers who will be going through the final round of the competition. The finalists were Auto, Lili, Sam, Kayanne and Zoey.

In the final stage, all the finalists were given a freestyle challenge where they were to imitate the dance moves shown by Miss Lola, a pole dancing trainer from Viva Vertical. With addition to the dance moves, they were also instructed to add some flares in the moves. Each of the finalists showed unique and distinct moves that gave the judges a hard time in choosing the winner.

Nevertheless, the judges had picked the Malaysian first pole dance competition winner. The champion was Lili. Without a doubt as she had given a 110% effort in entertaining the audience and most importantly enjoying herself on stage. She won RM5000 and a one year free Celebrity Fitness membership. The first runner up was Sam, followed by Auto who managed to be the second runner up. Both runner ups won RM3000 as well as 9 months free Celebrity Fitness membership and RM2000 along with 6 months free membership at Celebrity Fitness respectively.