A Chicago Heights entrepreneur's vision brings hundreds of pole-dancing enthusiasts to the Tinley Park Convention Center for competition, talk and high-heeled fun.
Both spirits and high heels soared at the first-ever Great Midwest Pole Dance Competition and Convention this past weekend in Tinley Park. Brainchild of Chicago Heights business-owner Mary Ellyn Weissman, a former registered nurse changed professions after falling in love with this challenging, edgy activity, the two-day event drew 300-some dancers and spectators to the Tinley Park Convention Center for competition in the masters, rookie and elite pole dance divisions. The convention also featured pole-dancing workshops, vendor displays and seminars. Weissman, 51, opened Midwest Pole Dancing: Empowerment Through Exotic Dance in 2005, in her husband Jim’s business, Lifestyle Financial Services, at 445 S. Halsted St. in Chicago Heights. “We …
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It's all about the twirl, girls. Judge the first-ever Midwest pole-dancing competition for yourself. Watch these video clips from the Tinley Park Convention Center.
Poler passion was on display Saturday and Sunday at the first-ever Great Midwest Pole Dance Competition and Convention. Hosted by Mary Ellyn Weissman, owner of Midwest Pole Dancing: Empowerment Through Exotic Dance in Chicago Heights, rookies and elite dancers alike took to the stage to show off their athleticism and style for the judges. Judges included French pole-dancing celebrity Prana Ovide-Etienne, dancing champ Amber Richard and Collette Kakuk of California. About 300 dancers and spectators descended on the Tinley Park Convention Center for competition, pole-dancing workshops, vendor displays and seminars. Pole dancing has become a fitness craze, and Weissman offers lessons in the south suburbs in Chicago Heights and Frankfort. …
Leslie Fuller Knox
3:12 pm on Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Hi Chris, I checked the two links and don't see any links to the content you mentioned. One links to a youtube video of a performance, the second to a page of a pole fitness association, with advertisements for pole dance studios.   more ›