Hello! Project Idol ℃-ute does sexy pole dance Disgruntled voices from the wota 'Too vulgar' 'Is this a strip show'

'Pole dancing', a sexy dance that makes use of a long and thin pole. Recently it's one of the things enjoyed by the arts, but even now it's still firmly rooted in the image of 'strip bar dancing'.

Hello! Project (H!P) idol group '℃-ute' challenged themselves to do pole dancing, however it led to the present circumstances where disgruntled voices are being raised by the fans. It appears that the overtly sexy performance did not jive well with the fans.

Coiling around a pole, spreading their legs wide

A scene from the pole dance
(From YouTube programme 'Hello! Sta')

℃-ute's 2014 spring concert tour 「℃-ute no Honne」 (℃-ute's true intentions) raised its curtains on the 5th of April 2014, at Gotanda U-port Hall （Tokyo・ Shinagawa Ward）. A digest of the opening day performance was unveiled to the public through H!P's original YouTube programme 「Hello！Sta」。

For the song 'Crazy Kanzen na Otona', Nakajima Saki-san (20) and Hagiwara Mai-san (18) did a pole dance, while the remaining members Yajima Maimi-san (22), Suzuki Airi-san (19), and Okai Chisato-san (19) used the stairway on stage to perform.

With gleaming black costumes with a high degree of exposure, the tops bared their navels while the bottom part was considerably short. It was a provocative dance with Nakajima-san and Hagiwara-san coiling themselves around a pole, spreading their legs wide. The other 3 had caps that resembled police hats, and displayed captivating moves with their hips and legs while sitting on the stairway.

The past when V-u-den & Goto Maki's sexy alignment was criticised
In the programme, Nakajima-san and Hagiwara-san confidently mentioned, 'We discussed the technique with sensei, and we spent a month of hard work practising,' but it seems that fans who thought that the dance was any good were few and far between.
Looking at the comments on YouTube, there were compliments of 'Cool!', 'I couldn't keep my eyes off them', but

'Is this a strip show?'?
'It's good to attempt new challenges, but the erotic route these costumes and dance are heading is a bit...'
'I think that no matter how you look at it, it's a performance where they're appealing with eroticism. I wonder if there is any need for idols to emphasise their sex appeal to this extent'
'It's such a waste for ℃-ute to do such a vulgar erotic performance. Despite the fact that these girls can fight it out with an invigorating sexiness...'

Such negative opinions were abundant.

As a precedent for H!P's sexy alignment, there was the group 'V-u-den', of which former Morning Musume. Ishikawa Rika-san was part of. They featured outfits that were associated with sexiness such as bunny girl outfits, and sexy choreography where they used chairs with their legs spread open.

Goto Maki-san has also coiled her body around a microphone stand in a concert, and she also had a performance which evoked the image of a pole dance, but even at that time voices of criticism were also raised about her dance and outfit, 'Too erotic, that even the fans would draw back'.

Source: J-Cast via Yahoo