On most weekdays Cristi, 33, works in marketing for a fashion company, a regular 9-to-5 job. But on a recent Friday afternoon, she could be found at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, doing a split in the theater aisle as a friend pulled back her arms, assisting her in a deep stretch.

She would need that limber spine in a few hours, when she took the stage at the U.S. Pole Dance Championship, whipping herself around a steel apparatus to “Cornflake Girl” by Tori Amos. (To keep her professional life separate, she preferred to use only her first name.)

“It’s a great way for me to de-stress, add some creativity, and all those types of things,” she said, explaining why, five years ago, she got hooked on pole dancing.

The other competitors at this two-day event — 115 in all — had also, clearly, caught the pole bug. Some, like Cristi, work full-time in other fields, practicing and teaching pole dance on the side; others make their living in the growing pole dance industry, as teachers and studio owners. Some have backgrounds in gymnastics or ballet; others never danced before attending their first pole class.