Passers-by stop, look out the window in surprise sports hall, where girls of about ten are engaged in either dancing or acrobatics ... on a silver pole.
I don’t hang curtains on the windows on purpose, says Galina, head of sports school Gyrationis, we have nothing to be ashamed of. These are normal sports.
By concepts
At the Gyrationis school, children are taught Pole dance. This is a sport in which acrobatic and dance elements are performed on a pylon (in other words, on a pole). The culprit of the fact that sports are confused with striptease is precisely the shiny pole. And shoes. Tall, black, patent-leather strip shoes in which girls dance.
Confused? Me too. That's why I came to Gyrationis to watch children's Pole dance.
“Why is this dance confused with striptease? And is it possible to teach it to children, because many adults consider this dance immoral?” I ask the head of the school. Galina explains calmly: apparently, I'm not the first to ask a lot of questions.
Classical pole dance dancing in a closed shop, barefoot. Acrobatics, the clarity of the elements are important here. Bright costume and defiant shoes - this is Exotic pole dance. The most important thing for this direction is mannerism, play, artistry.
We teach technique on the pylon. The basis from which the rest of the "branches" then grow: pole art, exotic pole dance, pole sport / pole fitness, - explains Galina.
What if you film a dance of an underage girl on your phone and then put it on the Internet? Will the hype about morality rise in the same way as it was six months ago at the dance with the bees?
What is taught in school
Gyrationis does not teach exoticism: they do not believe that heels and manners are what pole dance as a sport needs now. The school took on a serious task: to “clean up” the dance so that the children could study, and grandparents could take them to classes. Probably, passers-by are imagining a children's striptease in the window? Girls are taught pole technique without heels and latex.
Adults have stereotypes, it will never occur to children that it is vulgar or erotic to practice on the pole, - says coach Galina.
She herself has been dancing pole dance for only five years. Prior to that, she received a higher directing education. The young coach has several awards for preparing athletes for performances at the republican pole dance competition. We didn’t even know about the existence of children’s pole dance, and the Federation of Sports and Pole Dance has been holding competitions in the “Children” nomination for several years now.
Imagine, there is even thirteen-year-old Olga Trifonova, who won first place at the world championship in London. The girl lives and trains in St. Petersburg and inspires her peers to change gymnastics for more modern look sports.
Her speech at the moment of glory:
Where do legs grow from?
The Gyrationis school only opened in February of this year. Children's groups (which accept children from 6 years old) opened even later - in May.
Often children come to me who used to do gymnastics or dance, - says Galina. Some parents attend training sessions to make sure that there is nothing obscene in children's Pole Dance. Then they decide whether to enroll the child in classes or not.
Usually girls are sent to pole dancing. But, do not believe it, several boys were engaged in the summer.
It is more difficult with boys, - Galina admits. - They perceive the pylon as a carousel. The sense of beauty is more developed in girls, and their discipline is also better.
Today there are only seven girls in the school. Few? So far, this sport is not so popular in Belarus.
Children's pole dance with their own eyes
Pole dance classes lose their exoticism during the warm-up and physical exercises. Children run around the hall, sit on the splits - warm up the muscles. The pylons are left unused, so it looks like it's a new design decision to support the ceiling with silver sticks.
The girls' classes are like gymnastics. They are wearing short t-shirts and shorts. They work out individual elements to the music, listen to the coach's comments. The pylon is perceived as a sports equipment, and nothing more: like bars, beam and ball for gymnasts. The fun begins when one of the students takes a nail out of the pylon platform... and it starts spinning. Swing! A rotating pylon is even more interesting: you can grab it with your hands and spin around quickly, quickly, making elements in the air.
First person
Katya, 9 years old:“Only three of my classmates know that I am engaged in these dances. The rest I'm embarrassed to tell."
Christina, 13 years old:"I've been doing it since childhood. variety dances, and then we moved, and it became inconvenient for my mother to carry us, three sisters. Now we are doing these dances ... I forgot what they are called.
Kira, 9 years old:“I saw these dances on TV and told my mother that I want to learn the same way. My grandparents bring me here.”
After an hour and a half session, Galina asks me:
Have you seen debauchery here? Have you seen movements that resemble striptease? Here's a tip for you so you don't get confused anymore. Watch a real classic striptease, and then pole dance. Or vice versa. There will be no more wrong associations.
An unemployed blogger from Homel asked girls to undress for likes on social networks in front of tens of thousands of viewers.
Andrei Burim is eighteen years old. If you go to his page on the social network "VKontakte", you will see the usual young guy from provincial town: selfies, snapshots of fast food, "it would be summer soon", reposts from fashionable publics and songs of progressive trap artists. Behind the narrow walls of Andrey's apartment, the Belarusian Gomel is located, but instead of it there could be almost any city in the CIS - the life of a teenager, plus or minus, is identical in all latitudes of the former union.
This is probably why Andrey took up streaming, taking the nickname MellStroy. This is a harmless, in general, hobby: usually young people turn on the camera, turn on the game, and grimace. Someone succeeds better than others, and the hobby turns into a well-paid job - we wrote about those who collected hundreds of thousands of rubles in a couple of stream evenings. A Gomel teenager probably dreamed of such a career, but the trouble is that fame still couldn’t find a hero, and you won’t earn money without tens of thousands of subscribers. Andrey began to raise the stakes: in particular, in one of the streams he promised to burn a couple of his things if he had enough a certain amount of spectators. The idea failed, but the young man found another way - to undress teenagers in live, promising them likes.
Dirt
It all started with Chatroulette - a video service where the interlocutor is selected randomly. Dmitry Larin launched a broad career as a blogger and Internet artist from Chatroulette. Andrey, apparently, dreamed of a similar development of popularity. MellStroy "caught" pretty girls, who were often 14-15 years old, and offered to play a game: if the interlocutor did not answer a simple question ("How old am I?"), then she had to remove some item of clothing. Many refused, but someone was not shy and was safely exposed to the amusement of Burim and (then still) 500-700 spectators.
Over time, what happened to Andrei was what he dreamed of all his life - the long-awaited glory. Several tens of thousands of people subscribed to the channel, and the amount of one-time viewers reached slightly crazy numbers - 5-6 thousand each. So many. Even top showmen like Khovansky and Mops do not always gather such a crowd at the monitors - for a little-known streamer, this is an astronomical result.
Money also came to fame: during the "show" grateful viewers do not skimp on encouraging the young pornographer with a ruble - those same "donations" work. The amounts, by the standards of top streamers, are small - a couple of thousand per hour, after popularity - more, but for not the most prosperous Gomel, it’s quite nothing. And MellStroy himself does not hide financial side. Here's what he said on one of the streams:
My family is not rich at all. There is nothing. Mother works in a kiosk, father works at a factory. Do you know how much he gets? Five million [about fifteen thousand Russian rubles]. And there are four of us: brother, me, mother and father. I wear sneakers in winter. Thanks to you I earn the most
streamer MellStroy talks about the economic side of creating child pornography
With the growth in popularity, the divorce technique also improved: the guy, even before the start of the fun, found victims, added them to Skype, and then asked to undress. For a children's striptease - a reward: Burim promised the girls a lot of likes on social networks, free PR for their Instagram page, and other attributes necessary for the minimum life of a 14-year-old lady. We cannot show full videos from streams, but here is an understandable passage from which we can draw a conclusion - we note that almost 17 thousand people enthusiastically watched this.
With other teenagers, he communicates in a similar way:
Or you can lower your fingers down and play with your tangerine
streamer MellStroy persuades a child to a public striptease
As you can see, Andrei is clearly turned on by his own activities. When another victim swims in his net, the blogger's pupils dilate, his voice trembles in anticipation, and his hands involuntarily run into his hair - most likely, the reason is sweaty palms. The girl takes off her jacket, and the streamer falls into something very similar to ecstasy; the term "pedophile" can now be illustrated with a clear photograph.
The apogee of this story came at the beginning of January: while the Russians were recovering from new year holidays, MellStroy undressed children in front of 50 thousand spectators. It took only a little ingenuity, perseverance and one single promise - to fill up the victim's web page with likes.
Anyone who minimally dealt with YouTube is now at a loss: why was the cunning Gomel resident not banned in the middle of a glorious path? Ordinary videos are closed even behind bare breasts, is it really that unprecedented tolerance has broken through the video hosting administration? As blogger Denis AIDEN Merenkov told us, the thing is different:
The fact is that YouTube does not have an automatic filter for live broadcasts. Only if you use someone else's content, they can cover it up. And since Andrei deleted the recordings after the end of the broadcast, he had nothing to present. Although it is known that several of his channels were blocked
blogger Denis AIDEN Merenkov
It is not surprising that MellStroy chose a streaming platform specifically from YouTube: on a similar Twitch service, he would have lasted no more than two minutes - they can permanently close the channel for accidentally showing panties. A teenage striptease would definitely not pass any control.
But the glory that Andrey tried so hard to ride, eventually twisted and spat poison in his face - a truly general public found out about Burim's streams.
Fall and Wanted
For the first time, the Melstroy channel was pulled out under the spotlights by the aforementioned blogger AIDEN. It was from his revealing video, recorded on January 17, that a chain wave was launched: the opinions of other bloggers (not a single noisy Internet scandal can do without this), the video of the YouTuber’s channel, which is positioned as a media about YouTube events. The headliners of the Russian Internet are silent, but they will definitely say their word: the wild story is still splashing in the hellish cauldron, but is about to spill out. Until this happened, Life asked AIDEN about what had twitched in general young man for such things.
Of course, this is an attempt to gain an audience in any way. It is known that he initially promised on the streams, for example, to jump from the balcony if the necessary mass of viewers was gathered. But from harmless jokes, Andrey switched to serious things, undressing young girls
blogger Denis AIDEN Merenkov - about Andrey Burim's motivation
Here Denis is absolutely right - harmless jokes imperceptibly crossed the line, including the criminal one. Melstroy's actions can be qualified under Article 343-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus "Production and distribution of pornographic materials or objects of a pornographic nature depicting a minor." In particular, the first paragraph of the article:
Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, article 343-1
So the term before the young streamer looms real, and this is not our speculation at all. According to the press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee, the police have already visited Andrei's apartment, talked to his parents, seized the computer and are now conducting an examination for the presence of pornography in the videos. The press center also added that Andrei does not work anywhere and does not study, and now he has gone on the run - Burim's whereabouts are unknown, but are being established.
This, however, does not prevent the streamer from entering social media- at the time of this writing, Andrew last time I was on VKontakte on the morning of January 18th. Life tried to contact the blogger, but the Gomel resident avoids questions.
body for likes
But do not forget that this dubious story has at least two sides. And if with the one that asks to take off her jacket and screams excitedly, everything, alas, is understandable, then the second one has questions: why take off this jacket at all?
Let's remember how the Rakamakafo channel gained popularity. That's right - due to pranks over tipsy girls. "Freshmen undressed for an iPhone" - a video with this title broke into Russian YouTube, provoking a strong discussion. The formula, once successfully implemented by Sobolev, periodically pops up every September: one of the regional entertainers arranges (usually for the dedication of students) a competition for public undressing, where Grand Prize- A brand new Apple phone. The discussion flares up again, girls are shamed on the entire Internet (and part real life), but no one even looks askance at the presenters, they say, the guys have something to do with it, they just let people be themselves. In the Melstroy situation, everyone is talking about him - and not a word about the other side.
Understand correctly: we are in no way defending Andrey. We understand the difference between students and children (even if it fits in a couple of years). But again: why take off your jacket, knowing that 10-20 thousand people are looking at you right now (the victims usually knew)? Because this disheveled individual, drowning in adrenaline, promised to promote the page on VKontakte? Strange, very strange motivation - and the iPhone in this context does not look so disgusting.
To understand the situation, Life turned to child psychologist Svetlana Prokopyuk:
Status is very important for children of this age - children are ready to do a lot for it. fashion clothes, gadgets, jewelry - all this emphasizes the status. Such shameless use of the body as an object of trade may be an attempt to get what the teenager wants. It turns out that status is more important than bodily safety. There is one more thing - at this age the concept of intimacy is formed: awareness of the body, the boundaries of this body, there is an interest in conversations of this kind. And at the intersection of these two processes - the desire to become noticeable in the eyes of others and develop an attitude towards one's body - it turns out that status wins: it is more important for a child to establish himself among his peers, and the value of intimacy is lost.
Svetlana Prokopyuk, child psychologist
In addition, as Svetlana Prokopyuk told Life, society also has a great influence on the behavior of a teenager. In talk shows, in political and economic circles, the emphasis is on outrageousness, on the desire to do something anti-social. And, perhaps, this becomes a contribution to the behavior of these adolescents - there is a desire to treat their body aggressively. And, perhaps, the teenager then repents, because he understands that such an unlimitedly offensive use of his body does not lead to good.
It is possible that children are afraid of the perfect act because of end result- when they see their naked body on the screen, which is available to millions, they have a shift
New media
Remember about the main trends Russian YouTube Life ended 2016 with a prophecy: they say, thanks to streaming services, interactive has come into fashion, and it is still impossible to predict where all this will lead, because the possibilities of YouTube and Twitch are intangible and limitless. The only thing we were sure of was that the site would still throw surprises.
The most important thing in this story: the Melstroy case is only part of the upcoming events that streaming services will dump on us. Since the streamer Karina realized that Twitch can be used in any way, but not for its intended purpose, the very idea of live broadcasts has changed radically - now it is a huge and, again, unexplored platform for the experiments of the wide field. Pug arranged "Running Man" in real life, Burima thought of a children's striptease. This can be treated with contempt and fear (and these will be the most understandable emotions), but at the moment YouTube is more like a Pandora's box wrapped in a regular plastic bag: as soon as you scrape off the familiar layer and dig a little further, all the demons of the world will immediately fly out and show their snout - and, alas, nothing can be done about it. Because at the end of last year there were more than a hundred thousand people who paid for the beating of a former robber and fanatic, and at the beginning of this - more than fifty, salivating at a frightened girl, raising her sweater just above her chest.
The scandal around the dance school "Credo" from Orenburg flared up yesterday: a video got into the network dance number"Bees and Winnie the Pooh", in which the girls showed very frank movements. The school management assured that most of the students are already 18 years old, and those who are younger dance with the written permission of their parents.
Meanwhile, a dance teacher from Yekaterinburg, who leads the same direction, explained to E1.RU that this is a dance of a sexual orientation, and schoolgirls should not learn it.
- This is the direction of the sexual orientation. Not for school girls. It's 18+. All elements - shaking, rotation - came to us from Jamaica, where they were performed by girls with impressive forms. Children should not dance such dances. Yes, and they learn technology from videos and do everything in the wrong place. That is, shaking is wrong: with the stomach, lower back ... Schoolgirls want to seem sexier, but it looks unethical. I do not have students under 18, although there were calls and those who wanted to. But at the age of 16 - only with the written consent of the parents, - the teacher told E1.RU booty dance Marina Salamina.
The head of the dance school "Credo" Victoria Yakovenko explained to the media that the number was performed at the reporting concert for parents, but she does not know how the video got on the Internet.
Nevertheless, the prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee will check the school.
“Currently, a complex of verification measures is being carried out, aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident. As part of the audit, a legal assessment will be given to the actions of the officials of the founders and the parent organization of this dance school, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said.
The opinion of YouTube users about the frank dance of the "bees" is ambiguous:
“And because of this, such a storm? I don’t see anything criminal in this dance - there is no nudity, it doesn’t even look like a striptease. As usual, they made a noise on empty place", writes one.
“This is not sex education, but degradation! How could this be done with schoolgirls,” others are indignant.
Note that if you wish, you can find many videos on the Web with similar frank dances performed by pupils dance schools, - and they, just like the ill-fated "bees", can become the reason for inspections by the prosecutor's office or investigative committee and reason for closing.
One of the videos, for example, was posted yesterday under the title "Credo Dance School", Night Butterflies. Reporting concert". On it, the girls dance almost in their underwear. It was not possible to establish whether these are really students of the same school that performed the "bees".
Another video posted in 2013. On it are girls in stylized school uniform pole dance. Moreover, if you can still argue about the age of the heroines of the previous video, the faces on this are clearly childish.
