Yvonne Smink

Yvonne Smink is a Dutch pole artist who brought competition virtuosity into theatrical and contemporary performance contexts. Her path to pole dance was unconventional: she came through outdoor sport and climbing rather than a dance school pathway. After beginning pole practice in 2011, Smink reached the finale of RTL 4's *Everybody Dance Now* in 2013, and by 2014 had earned the Dutch Pole Champion title. Her competition work was notably self-authored. She told *Rúdvilág* magazine that she created her own choreography because she wanted the emotions onstage to come from her own experience, rather than following a prescribed style.

Smink's competition success reflected this authorial approach. In 2016, she won both the professional Classique category and the overall title at Pole Theatre Paris; two years later, Pole Ranking's results recorded her as the professional Art winner at Pole Theatre UK. Her movement drew on a wide range of influences—climbing, Chinese pole, breakdance, and contemporary dance—which she wove together into what she called "experimental flow": a practice centered on connected, fluid transitions rather than isolated tricks.

Alongside competition, Smink built an international teaching and judging career. She travels to give workshops and judge major competitions, including faculty positions at International Pole Camp and the Pole Masters championship. Her teaching emphasizes momentum, rotation, and transitions on static pole, grounded in the body awareness developed through her climbing background.

The 2023 theatre work *Poles* marked a significant contextual shift. Choreographer Guilherme Miotto created the solo for Smink, with live soundscape by Isaac Poels and steel-pipe scenography designed by Anne Habermann. Rather than presenting pole vocabulary as competition material, the production frames Smink's virtuosity as a means to investigate trust, intimacy, and public space. The work premiered on 14 November 2023 at Theater De Nieuwe Vorst in Tilburg and has continued to circulate through international venues, bridging pole culture, dance, circus, and physical theatre.