Want to learn to dance like Rihanna?
Well first, you need to learn how to dance like Nicole “The Pole” Williams. The Los Angeles-based pole dancer has shot to fame this week for her role in the raunchy new video for Ri-Ri’s “Pour It Up,” which premiered on Wednesday.
The track — an homage to a night in a strip club — features a blinged-out Rihanna bumping and grinding, and it was Williams who was charged with the task of teaching the Barbadian to move like a pro. “I showed her how to do a couple of tricks,” she tells the Post. “It was all new to her. She had to learn quickly but she definitely got a few of the moves down.”
Williams got wind of the video in May when a casting company working on “Pour It Up” reached out to use her Allure Dance & Fitness studio. When she learned what they were casting, she put herself forward and got the nod from Queen Ri-Ri herself.
“Rihanna was the one wh
o actually picked me out from the casting call,” says Williams. “She said the stuff I was doing on the pole was amazing and she totally appreciated the art form and the athleticism of it. Rihanna’s also very sweet and personable. She hung out with us all during the shoot.”
As raunchy as “Pour It Up” undoubtedly is, Williams is keen to point out that pole-dancing is not the same as stripping. “People assume that I’m a stripper, but I’m not. There is one actual stripper in the video but it’s not me! You can tell the difference between a stripper and a professional pole dancer. The movement is usually more elegant and graceful.”
Even though the video has only been online for a couple of days, Williams says it is already causing a surge in interest from women who are interested in the physical and artistic side of pole-dancing.
“I started as a professional trainer,” she says. “But one night, I saw some girls pole-dancing at a party and I thought it was really cool. It looked athletic to me. Within a month, I got a pole at home and taught myself how to pole dance by watching videos on YouTube. I opened one of the first pole-dance studios in Los Angeles 2007. Back then, it wasn’t well-known. But now, those studios are popping up like McDonald’s!”
It’s definitely a healthier option than a Big Mac and fries.