A navy officer who quit to be a transgender pole dancer

A former Royal Navy officer has revealed 'her' new lease of life as a transgender pole dance instructor. According to The Daily Mail, Natasha Gray, 48, was formerly called David Payne, who at the age of 28 had admitted to being a cross dresser.

However, four years ago the father-of-one became a full-time woman and adopted the new name. It led to Natasha having breast implants last year and have regular hormone treatments .

"I knew when I was four years old what I was. I should have been born in a woman's body. I made some tough decisions. I knew I couldn't say anything and I couldn't be seen anywhere near anything feminine — it was the 1960s and people weren't accepting - so I had girlfriends," Natasha said.

Natasha, who lives in North Tyneside, England, with her 21-year-old son and girlfriend Mary, said that she took up dancing four years ago.

"I started with Latin and burlesque classes, but I couldn't keep up, so the dance teacher suggested pole dancing. I said 'you must be joking', but she was right. You can learn single moves, then put them together into a routine and it's fantastic fun," she said. "Its got a reputation for being sleazy, but it's a form of fitness. I entered the Pole Princess 2009 competition in Newcastle and Pole Jam in Sunderland, and I came second. The first time I did a competition I was absolutely shaking. But once I got going I lost all sense of where I was and loved it."

"As for teaching I have started a course for instructors and lead a class at Blue and Basement in Middlesbrough, to show people very simple moves," she added.

Frugivore Month: Pole Dancing is a Sport, Forget The Stigma ...

Long gone are the days of strippers dominating poles. As thousands of classes are offered all over the country, pole dancing has managed to slip itself from a sexual taboo to a legitimate sport shared by groups of passionate students. With the  U.S. Pole Dance Federation hosting nationwide competitions and competitors being recruited by gyms across the country, it’s clear that pole dancing, the sport, is not a simple dip and twist that anyone can master.

A graduate of Brown University, Registered Nurse, and practicing vegan, Gabrielle Valliere proves that competitive pole dancers are diverse in background, shape, and size. After dancing five years as a NFL cheerleader, she tried a pole dancing class six years ago and simply fell in love. As Valliere has been dancing since the age of three, she quickly excelled in the sport and became a pole dance instructor in 2005. Now living in New York, she teaches at  New York Pole Dancing and has competed in numerous competitions with the U.S. Pole Dance Federation.

“Pole dancing is a great workout because it encompasses so many things – resistance training and toning, cardio, flexibility, balance and stability, and coordination…many things you do work against gravity and are weight bearing, so it’s good for your bones,” explains Valliere, 2nd place titleholder of the 2011 U.S. Pole Dance National Pro Championship, “many women leave class telling me they worked muscles they never even knew they had.”

As pole dancing targets the abdominals, back, and shoulders, it hits several trouble spots for many women. Not to mention, it can help with that area of flesh that bulges over and under the bra. While the sport primarily builds upper body strength, it also gives your legs a workout, challenging your balance and stability as you walk around the platform in heels.

Although many women feel intimidated and reluctant to sign up for a pole dancing class, the workout is incomparable and frankly, more fun than traditional exercise. Not only does pole dancing effectively work numerous muscles in your body, but also it builds confidence. In the words of Valliere, “throwing yourself off balance and doing something outside of your comfort zone can make you more confident and effective in other aspects of your life.”

As a pole dancer and instructor, Valliere practices what she preaches, taking another genre of dance or an unfamiliar physical challenge to re-instill empathy for her students. It allows her to reflect and look back on moments in which she was scared to death and relying on a stranger to help her learn something new. She concludes that pole dancing, while intimidating at first, can transform those moments of fear into clarity and confidence.

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