FORGET Christmas carollers, string quartets and lion dancers. The hot entertainment at store openings, product launches and corporate bashes is pole dancing.

Yep, where a woman writhes up and down a long metal pole. But these days, it's poles apart from its old image as something sleazy performed in a strip club. It's recognised as a strenuous workout, requiring acrobatic and dance skills.

Over the past two years, a small group of women have acquired the skills and are now getting hired as a fun way of making an event go with a swing. They charge up to $2,000 for a 30-minute performance featuring two dancers.

One performer is Ming Leong, 39, who gave up a job in the banking industry 16 years ago to be an entertainer. Two years ago the bachelorette decided to add pole dancing to her routine, which also includes emceeing, singing and bellydancing.

Ming Leong at one of her performances

Now, 10 per cent of her performances are pole related, and she has performed at weddings, product launches, store openings, and recently for a group of company directors who specifically requested her.

Her weekends are fully booked for pole-related performances for the next month but it was 'tough going at the start'.

During early pitches to event managing committees, 'the minute you mention 'pole', you could see them frowning'.

What has helped is that the risque factor can also be toned down depending on the client's needs, making it suitable for most audiences, she says.

One partygoer who recently hired some pole dancers to perform at her Boogie Nights-themed birthday, a single woman in her mid-30s who works in the media industry and wanted to be identified only as Ms See, says it was 'totally worth it'.

'People were intrigued and shocked by the sight of sexy women swinging around the pole, although I was worried that they might hit the chandelier at some point,' she laughs.

She paid $1,200 for two pole dancers from dance studio Jitterbugs Swingapore for two hours, and also covered the cost of setting up a temporary pole at the restaurant venue.

Party guest, product manager Sherwin Loh, 31, says: 'The girls in American strip clubs are better dancers, but here it's not sleazy because the girls aren't naked.'

While some performers wear bikinis and heels, it is more usual to wear aerobic gear like bike shorts and a sports bra.

Still, pared-down attire is practical as bare skin adheres to the pole better, says Ms Linna Tan, 32, a pole dancing veteran from Jitterbugs.

Although she recently had a bad experience where intoxicated men stuffed money into her shorts while she was performing, she says on the whole, people treat performers with respect.

'We don't give the impression that we are strippers, and if men approach me, I'm polite but firm with them,' she says.

Pole dancing as a form of exercise has been growing in popularity for the past five years. About five dance schools here offer lessons and have up to 100 regular students.

But now, they are receiving an increasing number of requests to perform at product launches and D&Ds, and at non-club venues like restaurants, shopping centres and hotel ballrooms.

'It's definitely moving into the mainstream, because people now see its fitness benefits and also realise that it can be clean and sexy at the same time,' says Ms Joy Leng, 28, who has been teaching pole dancing for the past two years.

Ms Eleanor Chia, 27, a senior instructor at Groove Dance School, says her company is picky about events, and has turned down bachelor parties, fearing they may be 'demeaning to the girls who may be mistaken for strippers'.

'We brand ourselves with a more artistic approach. We dance to slower jazzy numbers and incorporate more dance and gymnastic moves,' adds Ms Chia. Her four part-time instructors include a teacher, an IT executive and a product manager.

Mr David See, 37, MD of Lumina Communications which booked two pole dancers for the launch of Tangs VivoCity last year, notes: 'We went through the entire choreography beforehand to make sure it was more athletic than titillating and more sensual than sexual, and the result was not saucy or crude at all, and groups of people were clapping.'

Other than its saucy origins, another hurdle for today's swing-out sisters is logistics. The vital equipment - a single 3m pole costing about $1,000 and its podium - often requires a professional moving company. The setting up can account for several hundred dollars and take several hours.

Still, hanging out at a pole-dancing show isn't for everybody. Levi's advertising and promotions manager Leow Shin Yee said a performance worked well at a party to promote Red Tab jeans last year, but adds it was strictly a one-off because 'it's not the image or association we want'.

Mr Raja Shagaran, 44, founder of event company The A Team Promotions, says: 'Overseas, it may be okay and the majority of guys would love it. But since Singaporeans are conservative as a whole, I think a handful of staunch Christians and Muslims would think the girls are making a fool of themselves'.

leongsl@sph.com.sg