Dancing to a WHOLE Song??

bebeduckie started this discussion · 4/15/2010

so i've recently been trying to freestyle and i cant figure out for the life of me how people dance for a whole song and then some without any wiping of any sort. by a minute in, my hands are usually sweating so bad, that i can't pull any tricks out of the bag! i wipe my hands on my shorts, but it still doesn't really help, and mighty grip doesn't really do anything either once my hands are wet! i tried to do a shoulder mount towards the end of the song, and BAD idea-- my shoulder was all wet and i slid down the pole! any tips or suggestions? it gets so frustrating when i can't do anything, but walk around the pole! even spins are hard when i'm just losing grip! 😳

15 replies

polergirl · 4/15/2010
Sweaty hands=move to floor and do floorwork...or do pole stuff that doesn't involve requiring grip, to allow hands to dry. That's how I manage it, and I am a heavy 🙄 sweater.
Skittles01 · 4/15/2010
I have this same problem only at about the middle/end of the second song. I can't do a damn thing after the second song unless I wipe down the pole or my body. Like u said, shoulder mount stuff is not a good idea with sweaty back. I'm glad that I am not the only one with this problem and excited to see others responses. I agree with the prior posting. . . start to get sweaty = move to floor work or easy spins. Which challenges me to spice up the floorwork, basic spin combos, and walk around the pole stuff. I notice that some 'pros' actually "perform" so they aren't doing a whole bunch of tricks and inverts and stuff (except Jenyne, I saw her do a 9 minute routine with no break, lol!) Anyway; I'm thinking to maybe throw in some "performance" type stuff (not direct pole work, but interpretive dance) OR mix up the routine with some less intensive pole moves. For example, when I get tired, I will do a remi drop into an egg to rest, lol! or even an inverted crusifix, or jade split those are cool rest positions for me . . . But, the sweat IS an issue. I hope you can find something that helps (when u do, pls message me!!). I also wanted to mention, that I recall seeing your performance video and you are awesome!!! It sure didn't look like sweat was an issue during the performance at all !! 😉
bebeduckie · 4/15/2010
I remember my pole teacher told me that you sweat more when you STOP doing hard things, so you should never break a routine with easier stuff. Not really sure if that applies to me hahah. Seems I sweat all the time (darn Bikram Yoga for permanently opening up my pores)! If you can get through almost two songs though, that is awesome! I think I'd have to do a loooong time of floor work in order for me to air dry, as gross as that sounds. I think I remember hearing that Felix uses shaving cream either on her hands or the pole. I'll let you know how that works out for me =b. What is a remi? That night of the performance, I was super cold and only did a few stretches and push ups to warm up beforehand, so I didn't start to sweat til towards the end, luckily. It's more when I'm practicing at home and what not, and it starts to get all wet in my small condo. Icky!
Skittles01 · 4/15/2010
Well, I suppose that might be true. . . that would be why sweat started POURING from my chest during my 'break' when I performed last week, lol! I was like "It wont stop now!!!, lol" But I never really noticed sweat at a change in pace. . . . The entire routine can't be super full on & intense, right?? At some point, most of the time, I'll go from super intense moves to softer moves in one song. . . is this CAUSING the sweat issue??? hmm, I'll play with this one the next time I practice.
Journey · 4/15/2010
I will do a remi drop into an egg to rest, lol! What is a remi? Is that the death drop that Remi Martin does? 🤔 Is there a real name for that, anyone know? I don't have problems with body sweat, just with hand sweat. After trying a ton of grip aids and me sweating through ALL of them (even the hand antiperspirants) I've resorted to gloves. The Mighty Grip ones are the best I've tried - I love them. As much as I'd like to go without them, I've been poling for a year and it's not getting any better - it's only holding me back, and we're heading into the summer months... 😕 I'd rather pole with gloves than deal with the sweat and doubting my moves because I can't hold on. I'm also switching to a 45mm pole so I can grip a bit easier, too. Good luck
amcut · 4/15/2010
You can also do sexy while wiping too. Long sexy cloth rope, or something. Sometimes I keep a towel on my bar, and if I suspect that I will post a video, I'll go ahead and wipe my hands while doing something interesting with my ass. If I had carpet, I'd SO roll around on it to dry off. I do think floorwork is the key, key, key. I think that particular remi drop is also known as the sad girl drop, me thinks!
Skittles01 · 4/15/2010
Hay y'all. . . yup, I think the remi drop is same as sad girl drop . Sorry I totally missed addressing that 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMqOoZyZpCY (above: her last move is what she calls the remi drop) I guess our problems are similar but different. My main sweat concern is back and underarm (yuk, sounds gross). The sweat causes slippage AND gets on pole causing slippery pole (even if I "dry" out). Thanks!! PS--- I love the sexy wiping idea. But dont have much bust to hide a cloth into??
SissyBuns · 4/16/2010
I always hide my hand wiping on by rubbing my hands on the carpet. I'll hit the floor for some floor work and give em an extra rub a dub dub on the carpet to dry em off. I also wipe my hands on my butt frequently. I still haven't found the cure for body sweat. And I'm a big sweater! LOL, that sounds funny. Big sweater. Not the kind you wear silly!
mademoisELLA · 4/16/2010
Yes I would also like to know how Jenyne performed 9 minutes straight with out wiping a drop of sweat! I have that video favorited!
miss fern · 4/16/2010
Did you know that if you wipe your hands on YOUR POLE it can actually HELP? You just have to keep dragging your hands down over and over again. I pretend it's part of the dance by bending over and swinging my hips and little, and the pull one hand down the pole, then the other, then the first,then the next. Then I'll do a little pivot or underarm turn and repeat the process facing the front and doing sideways body rolls (or S waves). After a while of rubbing your sweat and grease onto the pole, the friction (or something, I'm not a scientist) actually starts converting it from slippy to grippy! :O
Rin Rin · 4/16/2010
My main problem with grip during a dance isn't necessarily my hands being sweaty but the pole getting slick. Even if I do some floor work and my hands are fine, the second I get up and try to spin on the pole, my pole is still slippery and I can't do anything without wiping it down. 🙁 It's really frustrating me because I'm in the middle of trying to put together a routine but halfway through I need to do a carousel spin and I don't have the friction when I need it. I just end up falling. 😈 How do you manage to wipe down the pole in the middle of a dance without making it really obvious?
miss fern · 4/16/2010
My main problem with grip during a dance isn't necessarily my hands being sweaty but the pole getting slick. Even if I do some floor work and my hands are fine, the second I get up and try to spin on the pole, my pole is still slippery and I can't do anything without wiping it down. 🙁 ... How do you manage to wipe down the pole in the middle of a dance without making it really obvious? Try what I said in the post just above. 🙂 Make it look like part of the dance (don't use the rag, use your own hands - enough friction will dry off the sweat and turn it into tackiness/grip). Maybe I'll do a little dance on video to show you what I mean next time I pole.
polergirl · 4/17/2010
Did you know that if you wipe your hands on YOUR POLE it can actually HELP? You just have to keep dragging your hands down over and over again. I pretend it's part of the dance by bending over and swinging my hips and little, and the pull one hand down the pole, then the other, then the first,then the next. Then I'll do a little pivot or underarm turn and repeat the process facing the front and doing sideways body rolls (or S waves). After a while of rubbing your sweat and grease onto the pole, the friction (or something, I'm not a scientist) actually starts converting it from slippy to grippy! :O I was just coming to this thread to post exactly the same suggestion. 🤸 I have even simply done a sexy little walk around, gripping more and sliding my hand down the pole as I go, to leave a little sweat and skin for later. Wow, doesn't that sound appealing??? 😂
shayshay21489 · 4/17/2010
This is what ruins my chances of posting videos. I literally wipe the pole every 5 seconds. If I manage to do a move, I'll wipe it again. I thought about posting a video of me just wiping the pole as a joke. It is rather annoying. But I think the floorwork will work for me. I usually don't dance instead I try to conquer the tricks instead because my grandma says I dance like my grandfather 😂 . I dunno maybe I'll post a silly video of me trying to be sexy, or trying to find sexy, while dealing with the aggravation of not wiping the pole for at least 2 minutes 😲
Ritalin · 4/19/2010
This may sound a little kooky, and maybe I was just lucky... but to try to stop your hands sweating you could try NOT wiping them. 🙂 When I first started pole, my hands used to sweat REALLY badly, and I couldn't grip the pole very well, and I was always wiping them and the pole down. The class I was taking started teaching us freestyle by splitting the class in two, and half danced while the other half watched. This meant there was always someone watching you dance, so you had to dance for the entire song, instead of just slacking off and hoping no one noticed! Because there was always someone watching, I got into the habit of not wiping my hands down when I was dancing. This meant I just had to get used to the sweat problem - so it was a great way to increase my grip strength. Anyway, after a while of NOT wiping, my hands stopped sweating when I was on the pole. I figure perhaps the constant stimulation of wiping sweat off your hands encourages your sweat glands to produce more. And dried sweat will help you stick to the pole too! (as gross as that sounds). Anyway, it's one theory. 🙂 You could give it a go. (for spins! I wouldn't advise doing inverts with sweaty hands!)