A teacher falls for exotic Eastern passion - but it's far removed from what most people think. Wu Ni reports.

Not so long ago, Tamsyn Brownie was going to be a teacher in Cape Town after graduating with a degree in English literature, and she planned to continue her interests in ballet and horse riding. Now 30, she's ended up as a pole dancer in Shanghai.

What went wrong? Not a thing. She's as healthy and happy as ever. Brownie just shows how wrong people can be in their perceptions and preconceived notions.

Pole dancing in the West is still mainly associated with striptease acts or erotic dancing, but it is developing an alternative reputation as a skilled fitness discipline and dance performance. And in China, it is the wholesome side of the activity that has taken hold first - although it still keeps pace and appearances with its racy origins.

Not only that, Brownie maintains the audacious art is proving a confidence booster for young women.

Pole dancing was introduced to China as a fitness exercise in 2006, when the Lolan Dancing School began classes in Beijing, leading to the country's first national pole dancing competition the following year.

This was about the same time Brownie came to Shanghai, following her boyfriend, only because he wanted to study shiatsu, an oriental health massage. She found a job teaching English.

She loved horse riding but found it difficult to pursue that pastime in China. After watching some videos of pole dancing, she decided to gallop off in another direction.

"It looked really fun, so I started to investigate," she says.

Brownie found only one school, the Souldancing Studio, teaching pole dancing in Shanghai. Without hesitation, she applied, practiced five days a week, and even though she often ended up bruised and breathless, found herself hooked. She was also very proficient - enough to turn semi-professional.

She is now a teacher at the studio, responsible for about 20 students of various nationalities.

Laura Gao, project manager of the studio, says Brownie is a fantastic teacher for beginners.

"She has done ballet, so she has a good foundation, and she is very good at sharing her experiences with the students," Laura says.

One of her students, Wei Shuming, has been pole dancing for more than six months.

"It was more challenging than I expected," says Wei, 30. "At first, I felt I couldn't even do one movement. But Brownie is very patient, and step-by-step I became more confident."

Brownie has also seen changes in public attitudes toward pole dancing.

"When I first started in 2007, it was more controversial, and it was more foreign girls I saw coming to learn," she says. "But now more and more Chinese girls want to try, and I think it's because Chinese girls are becoming more confident about themselves.

"In fact, some of my best students are Chinese girls. They train very hard and are very determined.

"I think there is something attractive about that controversial side to pole dancing, which makes it exciting."

Her experience as a teacher and dancer has dashed the stereotypical view she had of Chinese women - "small, quiet, polite and conservative". Instead, she has found many of them to be "open and confident and eager to try". She has also made a lot of good friends.

After taking up pole dancing, one of her friends quit her job to travel and see the world - then returned, got married and had a baby.

"She did the things she wanted and lived the life she liked, but she is still independent," Brownie says. "Watching someone like her made me think that there are all different types of women in China. They are not always what they seem."

And wrong preconceptions work both ways.

"Many conversations I have with Chinese are with taxi drivers. When I get into a taxi, their first question is 'Where are you from?' and I say Nanfei (Chinese pinyin for South Africa), and they say, 'No, you are white'."

Brownie was born and grew up in Johannesburg. Her grandfather, who worked for British Rail, moved to South Africa from Britain around the middle of the last century.

"South Africa is a rainbow country and with people from different cultures and origins," she says. "In South Africa, people do not think of themselves as colors; they think of themselves as who they are, what they do."

Back around the pole, public views on the fitness and dance form may be changing, but Brownie is still surprised she has never had a male student.

"Maybe that's because Shanghai boys are shyer than girls," she teases. "They should try. I think they will become amazingly strong and sexy."

Contact the writer at wuni@chinadaily.com.cn.

South African Tamsyn Brownie (in black), 30, teaches pole dancing in Shanghai. She is happy to see more Chinese women becoming interested in the controversial art form. Photos Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 11/24/2013 page5)