Never thought I’d find myself getting emotional over a documentary about pole dancers but here we are. I’ve written feature stories for different news publications in the past so whenever I watch a more conventional talking head-type doc like this, I can’t help but look at it through those lens. This is the kind of story I love telling, and the type of thing I’d probably bring to the screen if I was to hypothetically pursue documentary filmmaking.

Strip Down, Rise Up has some structural issues but I love how well the diverse subjects are interwoven here to create an incredibly thorough and poignant study of what’s ultimately a liberating art and sport. I felt validated in my insecurities and empowered by what was depicted onscreen. I also wanna pursue pole dancing now. Watch me go!

2021 Ranked

I related most with the one woman who signed up for a pole dancing class only to find out she's now enrolled in a group therapy session where women are bursting into tears left and right, and processing their sexual trauma - not with licensed therapists but with a self love body positivity guru. I'm sure many of those women come away with a lot from an experience like that but dang that was a lot. I also couldn't help but imagine the number of men that turned on 'the sexy pole dancing movie' on Netflix - cue 112 minutes of sobbing ladies.

There is a scene where Sheila Kelley comments that a woman who is a lesbian is expressing "masculine energy" as if it's a bad thing. Defeats the whole purpose of empowerment and inclusivity if you have to have a 'strong female energy' to take part in pole dancing?

By Lisa Kennedy

In “Strip Down, Rise Up,” an attendee of S Factor’s beginning pole dance course admits to her fellow students that the class is nothing like what she thought it would be. “When I showed up, I wasn’t scared,” the woman tells those gathered in a circle. “Now I’m a little scared.” In her welcoming remarks, S Factor founder Sheila Kelley promised that might happen. Whether Amber, the pert, fit newbie, will stick with the L.A. studio’s six-month course remains to be seen.

She’s right, though. The class at the heart of “Strip Down, Rise Up,” upends expectations. So does director-producer Michèle Ohayon’s cinema verité movie. Debuting on Netflix (where the subject might attract the wrong kind of audience, or precisely those who’d connect with it most), the doc is poignant, surprising and deftly reawakens questions about “patriarchy” — not by being a pole-dancing polemic but by foregrounding its characters’ experiences.

Read the full review on Variety.com.

Felt kinda culty and confusing. I wish the structure was different

Eine Dokumentation die zwar nicht auf mich zugeschnitten ist, da ich mit dem Thema eigentlich wenig anfangen kann. Jedoch mochte ich die ganze feministische Art des Filmes. Das Thema des Pole Dancings hat mich zwar immer noch nicht wirklich gekriegt, aber ich kann nicht sagen, dass diese Dokumentation nicht uninteressant ist. Für Menschen, die sich dafür interessieren, sicher die perfekte Doku.

no início foi legal ver o grup de meninas querendo experimentar o pole, mas dps perde o rumo fica numa vibe grupo de reabilitação. o poledance em si nao é total explorado, fica num campo meio terapêutico, sendo q é BEM MAIS doq isso

A beautiful story of a group of women and their pole-dancing club that helps them discover themselves and build a community.

It's not perfect. I feel like it is more a documentary about femininity and regaining your body thanks to pole dance than a documentary about pole dance per se. To me, it needs more history and background about what pole dance originally was, before it became this artistry depicted in the documentary.
On the bright sides, it shows a lot of empathy, sorority and body positivity.

i'm not crying you're crying

This made me want to cry and not in a good way!!!!!!! It feels covertly shame-y and also blindsides you with the amount of trauma discussed

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Queda mucho camino hasta poder normalizar el pole dance. Es una de las disciplinas más completas a nivel físico, y hoy en día hay un sinfín de maneras de enfocarlo: es así por todo lo que tiene de arte. Su conexión con la salud mental es inmediata. 

Este documental no se centra tanto en la faceta artística o deportiva como en los prejuicios que todavía giran entorno al pole y que, en esencia, son maljuicios contra la sexualidad. A mi parecer, la idea de feminidad que transmite no está muy deconstruida, pero acierta con el sentimiento de comunidad que se genera en las clases, que tiene mucho que ver con el estigma.

I Was hopping to see more about the history of pole dancing, but instead they show a method to help some women to reconnect with their sensuality and it was just ok.

Wowwww the few half-decent stories/moments/messages got drowned out by the uninterrogated gendered assumptions, sex work negativity, and unqualified, cult-like hobby-therapy!

I liked it more than I thought I would. It shows the huge power of sensual healing. There is a lack of black women and not enough positive representation of sex workers, and pole dance comes from there. Still a moving documentary.

It started off good. I liked the moments of intimacy you and vulnerability. There were a lot of individual stories that were really touching.

That being said, parts of it felt like an ad for Sheila Kelly’s class and her approach to pole leaves much to be desired.

For one, it kinda weirded me out how she kept saying “women women women”. I understand that her practice is based in embracing femininity but people that don’t identify as women can also embrace their femininity (whatever that means to them).

I also didn't vibe with the part about one woman’s weight loss goals. If someone wants to pursue weight loss that’s totally fine for them. That being said, intentional weight loss is antithetical to body acceptance. So this storyline didn’t seem to fit with the other messages of empowerment in the doc.

WITH THAT, it did make me want to try pole even more.