Pole was empowering for Ibaraki, who says that it makes her feel “sexy – and what’s wrong with being sexy?”. She received the Ultimate Legends Award at the Pole Legends NZ competition at the age of 42, and now, aged 50, she’s working towards competing in the world championships in 2023. This attitude helped take Ibaraki to the top of the sport. “Pole was my release of all the depressed feelings… you can’t think about it – because otherwise you fall.” She began taking classes, befriending the manager of a bar that had a pole and using it on weekends to finesse her skills. Discovering the sport, she says, changed her life. She was in her late 30s, without any hobbies and stuck in an unhappy marriage.
Koko Ibaraki describes the first time she saw pole dancing as “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”. 50-year-old Aucklander Koko Ibaraki is one of the best in the world. Pole dancing is a brutal, physically demanding sport.
