Stripping Off The Pounds

There is no place that's more of a boys' club than a strip club. But in Los Angeles, stripping's most devoted fan may well be a woman.

"These are the most amazing bodies I've ever seen. They are taut, they are tight, they are beautiful," says Sheila Kelley.

Kelley teaches striptease. But her students are hardly what you'd expect. They're suburban wives and moms, just like her. And they're learning to strip to get into shape. Peter Van Sant reports on the latest health craze.

The highlight of Sheila's class is pole dancing. Sheila says the movements are so great for the body, that she's turned it into a workout. In fact, stripping is southern California's latest exercise craze coming from the strip club to a health club near you.

"They don't even know they're working out until two months later when they say, 'I've never had a better body in my life. I'm strong, I'm limber, I feel great.'"

Kelley, an actress, first learned to pole dance while making the movie "Dancing at the Blue Iguana."

"I was just stunned by what incredible shape I was in. I was like a lean, feminine machine," she says. So she decided to spread the word, and started a class called "Stripping for the Everyday Woman."

Since news of her class got around Los Angeles, Sheila has found pole dancing disciples in the most unexpected places.

For example: Ali McCauley, an artist, and Carrie McDermott, an actress, are both 30-something moms and recently divorced.

Ali was shy about joining. When she found out she'd need stripping shorts, dancer's g-strings, push-up bra and six-inch platform heels for the class, Ali was worried. "I can leave whenever I want, that's what I was thinking," she says with a laugh.

But Ali finally got the courage to sign up. At first, it seemed like any other exercise class. Then, things got a little strange.

Sheila instructed students on touching their bodies: "Bring your hand onto your body, let it roam, testing where your sexual root power comes from."

No men are allowed in the class. The stripping class, wouldn't let Van Sant inside, and they insisted we use an all-woman camera crew. They say only women can truly appreciate the power of the pole dance.

"We do a lot of looking into ourselves, connecting to the power in the room, the feminine power in the room," says Carrie McDermott, a class member who had a pole installed in her own home.

Pole dancing has left Ali a changed woman. "It's powerful," she said.