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Choreography and Pole Free style Question: Why does my mind go blank! arrrrrrhhhhh!
Hi,
I’ve been doing sexy pole and floor classes for about 3 months, I love them but, I will have terrible lapses of concentration and my mind will go blank – esp during the freestyle section.
Its not due the fact I don’t know any pole moves, because I hire a pole studio for about 1-2 hours a week.
However, when I pull all of those moves out my arsenal
there…
is…
nothing…I can’t remember a thing.
Then I kick myself after pole class I say to myself ‘damn I could have done, this…this and this move’.
Has this happened to anyone else?
How did you fix it?
Any tips of remembering pole tricks and choreography are greatly appreciated
thanks
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13 Replies
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If it makes you feel any better, I have been doing salsa for 8 years and whenever my partner disconnects from me for some freestyle footwork, I also freeze. EIGHT YEARS! You are not alone. 🙂 I don’t have a lot of tips, but I have a feeling that this is mostly muscle memory. If you turn your brain off and your body takes over, your body does what it knows how to do.
I find that when I go to choreography classes I tend to remember what to do while in class because my brain is switched on and I’m concentrating, but once I leave I forget. If I try to just rely on it to resurface in a freestyle, it doesn’t happen. Why? Not enough time spent to drill it into my muscles. Are you able to practice the moves at home? Maybe pick 2-3 moves that you string together while practicing, so that you can build up an arsenal of go-to moves?
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@kulotsalot: thanks for the suggestion. I will keep it in mind. Does anyone else have any ideas that could help me out?
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Yes, I think you have to build up an arsenal of moves like kulotsalot said. This doesn’t appear out of nowhere. You practice combos. Watch choreography, repeat things you see, come up with your own rehearsed choreography. Eventually you can draw from that source when you are doing a freestyle. Before I go to a class where I know I will freestyle I try to watch videos before and pick one combo that I want to work into my freestyle. Sometimes it happens sometimes I only do one thing from the combo, sometimes none. I’m not the best freestyler and I’m learning too. But I think it comes from things you already know and gave practiced and a small percentage is spontaneous .
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Also, record combos you do in class. This will help you remember. And those things that you kick yourself because you didn’t think of them in the moment—-write those things down! Learn from what you forgot to do. Better yet , do those things next time you pole and record it. Take notes. Record. Watch videos , try to duplicate things you like
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My good friend Paula is an instructor and she uses the “Bag of Tricks” to help create combos and help you with flow for freestyle. Use any bag, makeup bags are cute, and write the names of tricks and spins on cards to put inside. Shake it up and pick 3-4 and try to do them in order. It really makes you think about how to flow from one to the next, and what transitions you need in between. Have fun!
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That’s a fantastic suggestion to use a literal bag of tricks! Thank you! 🙂
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Here’s a video I made a few years ago that might give you some ideas too. 🙂
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Hey there!
Another way to look at it, and something that really changed the way I think of “Freestyle” is with Jazz music.
I am not a jazz player- I am barely a player of music at all! But, I took a class (Anthropology in Music, it was as fascinating as the professor was hilarious) which had a LOT of music students in it. Like, a LOT. They would sit around and talk music before, during, and after class. They would make highly musical arguments as we worked through various scenarios or problems.
One of the things they said was this: It takes years of training to be able to freestyle in Jazz. They learn scales and stuff, sure, but they ALSO learn musical sequences. They learn about how certain sequences sound sad, or happy, or whatever. And then they use those groups of notes as either a jumping-off point, or as the whole freestyle.
How this relates to pole dancing is this: Change “Musical sequences” to “Combo’s.”
So, take some moves you really love to do, or are really good at, or convey a certain meaning (either for you or for everyone) and combo them together with other moves that you love, or are really good at. And then practice, practice, practice! You need to drill it into your mind and body, so that when you go “Hmm, what can I do here?” You can think of some combos to do!It’s easier to think of groups of moves, for me, than to think of individual moves, because singular moves only gives you ONE thing to do- and then you need to figure out what you’re going to do next, in a new position! This causes me some anxiety, and I blank out. However, with combos of moves, I can relax, because they’ll take a while! I can also change some things, if I want to. Do I not want to do one move in my combo for this part of the song? Well, pretty easy to know what I can change it up with, because I know where I’m beginning, and where I need to end, in order to continue the sequence of moves I’m doing.
Other things you can do are things like taking ONE move, and then seeing how many ways you can play with it. Try a body wave during a plank pose. Try moving your arms around in CKR. Try changing your leg position during a fireman spin. Anything you can think of! Pick three or four at most, and see what you can do with them. It’ll help you feel more like you’re able to pull a trick out, and spend some time with it!
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I know the feeling! Having a small handful of go to combos and tricks definitely provides a great base for free styling, especially when you’ve done them enough to get them into muscle memory.
I’ve found too that when I think too hard or get too trick-oriented, that I get into trouble. I danced ballet with everything choreographed for me for years. I started my pole journey being super stiff and technical. I’ve dealt with this by spending time just moving to music around my pole or even without a pole, in a very non judgemental state of mind just letting my body do what it wants to the music. I know it sounds like it won’t help, but after a few hours of just letting go to music, I found free styling and flowing between tricks and combos much easier.
I think transitions between moves can be difficult even for someone with a muscle memorized bag of tricks. If you don’t feel comfortable moving between them you will get stuck and the moment will be gone! I realized my difficulty freestyle came more from me judging myself too harshly and worrying too much about the product.
I hope this helps! Xoxo
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Ladies, I love this site and thank you all so much for taking the time to respond to me. I was smiling from ear to ear from each of your kind suggestions (esp veena’s).
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Lots of good ideas here! 🙂 I have nothing to add except a great big Thank You!!
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Man, there are some awesome ideas here! I don’t have much new to add and I don’t do a ton of freestyling myself, but! Because I look at moves on my computer in the house and then go practice pole in the garage, being in a different physical space makes my brain forget all the cool stuff I wanted to do – so I write it down. If I think the name of a move or combo isn’t that descriptive and I’m afraid I’ll forget what I meant, I even do a little sketch of the move/combo. Not sure if that is applicable to anyone else, but I think visually enough that sketching and diagramming moves often help me execute them better.
I love the literal Bag of Tricks idea! That’s funny, because I’m a D&D nerd and was thinking about making a list of moves that I would roll dice to put together a mini routine to see how that goes.
Some of the best visual artists say someone’s own style develops from a starting point where you’re ripping off your favorite artists. For example, people inspired by Disney princesses might start by studying and ripping off Glenn Keane’s style before developing and maturing into their own style of drawing. So – if you have some favorite pole performers, study their style and rip it off until enough inspirations mix together and blossom into your own style.**
**I hope that paragraph makes sense. I know it’s not exactly in line with “How do I remember moves??!” but it’s part of a thought process that’s helping me go from pole-as-a-workout to “Ok, I’m, like, actually ~dancing~ now.”
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There are some great ideas here! I never freestyle, I’m just so awkward. But am wanting to try the bag of tricks 🙂
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