Spinning directions etc

AllysonKendal started this discussion · 8/29/2014

So I'm at work... Dancing in my head (I'm sure you guys know what I mean). Anyway some conversation is always fun too. I'm new to spiny pole... And I have a few questions. I know it's important to balance things out. I know doing one move on your dominate side leaves you in the position where the next move is on your non dominate side. That's why it's important to practice both. But sometimes on spiny pole I'll do one move, and the next move isn't ideal for the direction I'm spinning (Ah! Another layer to the puzzle!) I'm finding some combos need to be rethought out a bit. Do you find yourself switching spin directions often in your dance? What about between moves that don't involve you pushing off the ground? I guess leg switches can be a good example of changing directions on the pole. Do you find that more difficult? Do you prefer to stay in one direction for lengths of time? Is there a direction you prefer to spin? Is there a direction you prefer to invert? Backwards or forwards? Yeah, I know sometimes the best thing is to just dance... And go where the spin takes you... But right now I can't, all I can do it think-dance! I need to focus on this more when I watch people's freestyle videos, but usually I'm too captivated by the dance! Anyway just thought I'd see what everyone had to say.

18 replies

Rachel Osborne · 8/29/2014
I tend to go round and round the same way so I try to forward think it a bit and start off with a combo going the other way. Example: tuck spin into thigh rest/apprentice sequence, then dismount and make shapes against pole/on floor, then remount and go my preferred way which lets me do my usual swan to car, back to plank, or gemini to butterfly/gemini to jade/pike/tuck blah blah on my right (dominant side). I'm working on some combo choreo which can be done going the other way; Scorpio works best spinning forwards and gemini works spinning backwards. I find I do the same combos every time which is is boring. So I think taking time to pre think is a v good idea. Glad to hear you're dream-dancing again!
polergirl · 8/30/2014
One of the best ways to get used to dancing on spin is to write down a few of your favorite combinations, and really think them through strategically BEFORE you get up on the pole. Some move combinations will speed your stand up, others will slow it down, and still others might stop you completely..... And then lots of them will make no real difference at all. Spin pole requires a much different style of strategic thinking than static, because you always have to think about whether a combination of moves will speed you up or slow you down or simply keep you going. When I work spin pole I do many things in clockwise direction because it feels the most natural to me. That means some moves I end up spinning backward, some moves I end up spinning forward. I love that spin pole, I wish I had started working on it earlier. :-)
Rachel Osborne · 8/31/2014
Just found a bunch of Cleo vids including 5 favourite ways to invert (all on spin) which has some great ideas. I think it was Lina who told me Scorpio spins work forwards and Gemini backwards and you can see Cleo working that rule...fabulously! http://www.poledancevideos.com.au/my-favourite-ways-to-invert/
AllysonKendal · 8/31/2014
Awesome!!! I'm going to watch as soon as I can. Thanks for thinking of me. You rock :)
Lucca Valentine · 8/31/2014
I genuinely dont know which way I'm spinning half the time o_O Tropicalpole mentioned awhile back that she found out she inverts backwards, which made me curious which way I inverted and I still have no idea. Seriously....which way is forwards? And if youre going forwards but you lean back into an invert....then are you going backwards? I just about had an existential crisis.... The game changer for me for spinny pole happened with this app called Diva Fit. I originally got it cuz its like a lil interactive list of pole moves, so you can check off which ones youve done and see some other stuff you've yet to do! It's very satisfying to check things off the list! There were some SUPER basic spinny pole things on the list that no one teaches on youtube or anything that I never knew about. Maybe cuz it is common knowledge in the spinny pole world? To the extent i cant even find a youtube video to link OR a pic. So weird. One of the tricks was a diagonal pole-hold spin. They just call it a diagonal. I do it at the beginning of this video, and its seriously the only way I can solidly invert and keep spinning. Diagonal to tuck to chopper to invert. Pretty and fun and easy to build up to safely! https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/53e07804-9adc-4986-a4c6-6f080a9aa0eb Before I could invert I would play around and try to hold that spinning diagonal for as long as I could and play with leg placement. Like holding that diagonal with straight legs, then tuck my knees into my chest, then straighten them, then do passe legs. Whatever tickled my fancy! Really I just did this cuz it was fun! But it ended up being a great strength builder! Eventually I got strong enough to where I went up into a diagonal one day and and could feel that I was about to invert if I let it happen. So I tried it and boom! Invert! Video: https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/533ce923-0d14-49af-825c-7a120a9aa0eb All that holding on to a pole while listening to Netflix in the background really paid off! Plus when you do drill type stuff like that it makes it easy to balance out sides. "X" reps on the right side, "X" on the left. Even this was from "drills" for reverse grabs https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/53fd5150-078c-40f6-aecf-14220a9aa0eb I just wrote you a novel! Sorry!! but I REALLY wanted to share that cuz knowing about that "diagonal" made SUCH a difference for me and maybe it could for you too! side note...Does anyone else do drill type stuff like this? Not sure if I'm kind of a boring pole fitness person or if everyone does this stuff and no one talks about it!
Lucca Valentine · 8/31/2014
Oh and some things I would NEVER know how they happened without video. It'll just take playing with it and something will click or happen and I'm like *WTF WAS THAT" Best example being the discovery that to get into figurehead (and other things!) and not stop spinning you have to spin backwards into it.
Lucca Valentine · 8/31/2014
to get into figurehead from a climb**
Rachel Osborne · 8/31/2014
Lucca awesome post.
Rachel Osborne · 8/31/2014
To understand forwards/backwards, I work it out this way; if the pole was my dance partner holding my arm/elbow/side/knee/whatever, which way would I be spinning? Away from him/her or towards him/her? I don't know if that makes sense now I've written it!
Rachel Osborne · 8/31/2014
I really want to vid a fab spin combo I learned this weekend to show you a great way to change direction or just tip back into a spin v from a helicopter via pole under arm pirouette via Hollywood but I've had 2 glasses wine and am covered in lotion so it will have to wait.
Lucca Valentine · 8/31/2014
Tropicalpole that makes sense....i think...the more i think about it the less i'm sure!! so spinning towards the right if your right hand is closest to the pole (or holding it) is forward then spinning to the left with your right hand close to the pole is backwards. that makes sense if i think about it in a stag spin for some reason....but it feels like im suddenly spinning backwards when i invert no matter what direction im going! being upside down is really rough on a persons sense of direction! cant wait to see the combo! wise choice on not doing it now though ;)
Rachel Osborne · 9/1/2014
Hollywood helicopter combo here https://www.studioveena.com/videos/edit/5404e11a-b328-4b86-b3a7-72560a9aa0eb
Lina Spiralyne · 9/1/2014
When I say spinning forward I simply mean that my face is looking in the direction that I'm spinning. So if I'm holding the pole on my right side and spin clockwise, that would be forward. I guess that's what Tropicalpole also means?
Webmaster · 9/1/2014
LOL, if your face is leading your body you are moving forward if your face is bringing up the rear you are traveling backwards ;)
Rachel Osborne · 9/1/2014
Yes but when you are upside down it all stops making sense! I'm very right sided so let's say I hold pole right hand high and go round clockwise. I am going forwards. Then I spin climb and aerial invert and hook my right leg into Scorpio I'm not fighting the pole spin direction; I'm going with it. So - forwards. If I go into Gemini with right leg hook I have to turn AGAINST the pole direction to hook so I'm going backwards. Which is what I was doing for ages as I like to hook with right but I also like to spin to the right. And it was therefore much harder. Whereas the tipping back into helicopter thing means I can go into gemini without fighting pole spin as I'm going into it facing backwards (when I'm upright)
Lina Spiralyne · 9/1/2014
Yes depends on what we acually mean. For example, hanging in a gemini or scorpio after inverting forward could be considered going backwards as your face is now not looking in the direction of the spin anymore. But I was referring to the inversion only with my earlier post. I would say that when you are going into scorpio/gemini after forward inversion, you are moving your LEG forward/backward respectively.
Rachel Osborne · 9/1/2014
Sometimes I think pole is really flipping complicated and you need to be quite scientifically minded and strategic to work out what the jeff is going on, especially when you're upside down with your legs in the air :-/
Lina Spiralyne · 9/1/2014
Yes, true. I have understood, through pole dancing and contortion, how learnt from experience left/right, up/down, backward/forward actually are. New, unusual situations and positions makes us lose them. For example when I'm in a compact bridge and shift my weight backwards or forwards I'm not always sure in which of the two directions I'm moving. And when I'm in a cobra and grab one of my feet over my head...I don't really know which foot I'm holding. Once I was planning to grab my right foot with my right hand to pull that leg over my head. So I did...I thought. When I saw the video I realized to my surprise that it was not the right foot that I had been holding, but the left! But I had not been able to feel which of my own limbs I had been working with. Someone also told me a very interesting story. He had been on some kind of camp or something with people from all over the world. Some African group had never seen stairs before in their whole life. After a while they learnt to recognize "stairs" and knew when they had been using them, but they were not able to distinguish if they had been going "up" or "down". So I don't think we need to feel foolish if we mix things up while hanging in the pole or so :)