Today, Hayden Moon experiences gender euphoria when performing and competing in Irish dance, the style the Australian transmasculine dancer is finest recognized for.
But it surely wasn’t at all times that approach—and he needed to work for it. “I’m so happy with the work I’ve achieved in Irish dance,” he says. “Preventing to have the ability to compete as myself, to be seen as a person, simply to have the ability to dance onstage. But it surely was a particularly traumatic journey to undergo.”
Fortunately, when Moon determined to strive pole dancing in 2021, no such journey was needed. “It’s very nice to come back into this group that was already inclusive,” he says. “I didn’t should combat to carry out as a trans individual, and I wasn’t the primary and I’m not the one. I didn’t should be a pioneer. I didn’t have to alter a coverage. I’m simply included.”
Moon has since fallen in love with pole dancing, and together with his new group at Duality Pole Dancing Studio in Sydney, which final 12 months mobilized to lift funds for Moon’s latest prime surgical procedure.
“I like all the pieces about pole,” Moon says. “However what I like most is the group. It’s so accepting and delightful.”
How did you uncover that you simply cherished pole dancing?
I don’t even bear in mind how I came upon about pole. I believe I had some buddies who did it. Having a background in Irish dance, there’s not quite a lot of alternatives to attach together with your physique. I’m somebody who’s been via so much with my physique when it comes to being a trans individual, so I used to be like, This looks like one thing that will probably be actually good for reconnecting with my physique in a constructive approach. I additionally wished to work on my higher physique power—Irish dancing is all within the legs.
Why is it that Irish dancing doesn’t enable you that connection to your physique and pole dancing does?
Irish dancing does convey me a lot pleasure. However you’re coated from head to toe, you don’t present any pores and skin. The extra you advance in pole, the much less garments you must put on, since you want your physique to grip the pole. I struggled with that at the beginning. I’d at all times put on a crop prime, and that made me actually dysphoric as a result of it jogged my memory that I had breasts and that they shouldn’t be there. At my first showcase on the studio, I did it simply with trans tape and pole lingerie. I used to be so nervous. I used to be like, All these folks within the viewers know that I’ve acquired boobs. Then I carried out and it was simply so joyful. I simply felt like I used to be like each different man.
I acquired gender-affirming surgical procedure in September, and did my first efficiency topless with none tape early this 12 months. It was actually one of many happiest moments of my life. I used to be like, I’m dancing with my dream chest on show, in entrance of all these folks. That’s not one thing I may do in Irish dancing, to have my scars on present and to be who I’m and have everybody there cheering me on as a trans-masc individual.
How has your pole dancing group welcomed and helped you?
I used to be a bit nervous after I first went as a result of I’m very often the one trans individual within the room. I bear in mind having a chat with one of many homeowners and saying that previously I hadn’t at all times felt included in areas. She was like, “If anybody says something unfavourable to you, inform me, as a result of we is not going to enable that.” That made me really feel so extremely supported and protected.
When it comes to accessing surgical procedure, I wanted it bodily and mentally. Bodily, the injury to my physique from binding had hit a stage the place I wanted surgical procedure. I had been binding for six years and it was not good. And mentally, my chest dysphoria has at all times been actually debilitating, and it was actually affecting me. It was halting my development in pole and my efficiency in Irish—I wouldn’t observe as a result of I couldn’t cope with seeing my chest.
I noticed a surgeon and acquired a date, and it was so much before I used to be anticipating and I simply didn’t have the cash. I used to be panicking and I introduced it up on the studio to a few of my buddies, and one of many homeowners overheard. She known as me over and was like, “When do you want the cash? Why don’t we have now our subsequent showcase be a fundraiser on your prime surgical procedure?” I had so many feelings. I needed to take time to consider it as a result of I used to be so shocked.
The showcases that we do are known as “Class Is,” and the class will get determined every week or two out from the present. They named it “Class Is: Trans Delight,” and also you needed to costume within the colours of the trans flag. I felt so extremely held by this group and this dance studio.
What has the response been to sharing your journey with pole dancing?
I struggled after I first began pole, pondering, Is it bizarre if I do pole as a trans man? Are folks gonna choose me? However illustration is so necessary. Hopefully, there are some femme trans guys on the market who can see me performing or see me at a contest, or see me on-line. And in the event that they need to pole dance, or they need to put on eight-inch heels, or they need to put on make-up, or they need to develop their hair, they’ll try this, as a result of they’ll see, Oh, he’s doing it, and he’s celebrated, and he’s accepted.
