A random find - I don't think this guy believes in gravity any more.

Alex Shchukin - Guest Performance - Pro - Pole Theat...

Then there's this:

Cirque du Soleil Act, Saulo Sarmiento, Aerial Pole

...and this leads to the Indian sport of Mallakhamba:

Malkhamb Marathi goes International

A small sampling suggests that girls/women use a rope apparatus instead of the pole:

Indian Girls Rope Gymnastics Vol.1 / Mallakhamb Cham...

...which again, the West has made more of an art thing (erotic or not):

Beautiful aerial silks dancer

Gravity? What's gravity?

Apparently pole gymnastics are going to be a demo sport in Rio - I wonder if the Indians (and Pakistani?) will participate even if the impetus seems to have come from the Occident, not Mallakhamba.