How do you age well? Ask this 71-year-old pole dancer, who took up the hobby 14 years ago
She is 71 and she does what she wants. That is why Mary Serritella is a pole dancing queen – and has been for the past 14 years
Dressed in seven-inch neon heels and translucent yellow bell-bottoms, Mary Serritella was defying gravity and expectations on a September night at The Bourbon Room bar in Hollywood, in the US state of California.
Spinning gracefully around a silver pole to disco medley, she contorted her body into a series of improbable positions with even more improbable names like “The Chopstick”, “The Jade Split” and “The Black Sun split” – a show-stopper in which she gripped the pole between her belly and thigh, and hung upside down holding a foot with each hand.
It was a dazzling display of flexibility and sensual athleticism, and the crowd loved it. But when Serritella, who performs under the name Mary Caryl, revealed after the performance that she had just celebrated her 71st birthday, the room exploded.
A young woman in the front row pumped her fist in the air. Another made a bow, reminiscent of the “we’re not worthy” bit from the 1992 film Wayne’s World.
The crowd roared again.
