REMEMBER the pole dancers at the National Day Parade (NDP) last year? Although our nation's 45th birthday is still four months away, I'm already hoping they will return this year.

I know what you're thinking - because I'm thinking the same thing: If we're going to have pole dancers at the NDP, we might as well go all the way and have them do a striptease too.

After all, isn't it customary for pole dancers to take off their clothes? Of course, we can't have nudity at the NDP. Children are watching.

The dancers could just strip down to bikinis, which would cover all the naughty bits. That should be okay. It would make up for the closing down of the cabaret Crazy Horse. This may sound like a pipe dream, but I'm telling you now it's quite possible.

I believe one of the justifications for featuring pole dancers at the NDP is that gyrating around a long vertical metal bar is no longer reserved for adults-only strip clubs. Pole dancing has become a form of aerobic dance exercise, along with Latin, hip-hop and yes, belly dancing.

There is even an International Pole Dance Fitness Association - seriously. It has recently petitioned the International Olympic Committee to recognise pole dancing as an Olympic sport - though probably not in time for the Singapore-hosted Youth Olympic Games in August.

The good news is Singapore is hosting the grand finals of the Pole Stars Talent Showcase on April 24.

So by showcasing pole dancing at last year's NDP, the organisers were simply promoting another way for Singaporeans to keep fit. And how can that be a bad thing? So if pole dancing can be a form of exercise, why not stripping?

Like the answer to my prayers, RazorTV reported last week that Groove Dance School in Singapore is offering a course in 'Stripexercise'. I immediately clicked onto the school's website to check it out.

The website says: 'Take them off...the clothes, the calories and the inhibitions. Groove will teach you the basic moves of the striptease and combine them with aerobic elements and dance techniques to create a fun, energising, and sexy workout.'

The course is 'for ladies only'.

The school is also offering courses in 'Exotic Dance' and 'Lap Dance Naughty Schoolgirl'. Surprisingly, the website doesn't say that the latter two courses are for ladies only.

In the Exotic Dance class, you'll learn the 'kitten crawl' and the 'hooker walk'.

Forget stripping. I, for one, am dying to see the hooker walk at the NDP.

It could one day be an Olympic sport.

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