'Strip Down, Rise Up' Review: Pole Dancing Without Polemic A new documentary makes a poignant case for the empowering possibilities of the stripper's go-to prop. Lisa Kennedy, provided by FacebookTwitterEmail In “Strip Down, Rise Up,” an attendee of S Factor’s beginning pole dance course admits to her fellow students that the class is nothing like what she thought it would be. “When I showed up, I wasn’t scared,” the woman tells those gathered in a circle. “Now I’m a little scared.” In her welcoming remarks, S Factor founder Sheila Kelley promised that might happen. Whether Amber, the pert, fit newbie, will stick with the L.A. studio’s six-month course remains to be seen.