[CapFeb]

turning a profit*** watching a discovery show on the mayan calender while typing this @_@

[CapFeb]

When you think about whether or not torrenting is stealing, you should think about it this way:

The internet, in a way, is like a museum. For all intents and purposes, you walk in, browse around. When you like a picture you see, you right click and save the file. You aren't physically taking the file off of the page. You aren't destroying the poster's reputation by saving it. And you aren't paying for it. If they aren't asking money for it, no harm no foul. 

When you torrent, it's a lot different. Torrenting would be like your friend walking into an ACTUAL museum, buying a Da Vinci painting, and putting it up in his home. This would cost him quite a bit of money. But because he's a nice guy, he puts the one of a kind painting in his super amazing "reproducer machine" and gives you a copy of it. So not only is the museum not making money off of that copy, but the artist did not create it officially and did not give the rights for someone else to make a copy. It would be like if someone cloned your daughter and started walking around and using her for their own purposes. You went through all of the trouble of raising her, why should someone who didn't pay for her (financially throwing supporting growth, or psychologically) get to adopt your child? But it's not adopting since you would still have your kid. There's just a copy of her running around doing God knows what being used for whatever purpose you could think of. And that's why there's such a big issue on torrenting. 

So when you torrent Jamilla's, or Felix, or Alethea's dvds, you are stealing money from them. You might not be stealing the product, but you are stealing the money that would be going into their pockets as you are not paying for it. Not only is this rude to a fellow dancer, but it also encourages them to STOP making DVD's since they aren't turning a prophet. Pole isn't that huge of a sport in comparison to gymnastics, football, soccer, tennis, etc. We all come from various corners of the world, and I'm sure you know many dancer's here who don't have a studio within an hour's distance of them, maybe some as far as two. Some of us will never meet a pole artist due to the fact that there ARE no pole studios near by, or we don't make enough money to go to conventions and meet them. Those DVD's are there to help us. And also to help the instructors, who may have given up their real jobs just to teach people like you and me. I'm sure that when you charge $150 for a private, you're thinking that they might make bank. But think of how small of a pond they're swimming in. 

In a way it's like exotic dance. Just because I work at Christie's and our only VIP option is $100 for three dances does not garentee that I will be making $100 or more that day. It's an OPTION, and us, or any other performer, athlete, human being, interacting with us is just as much their right and privledge.

[CapFeb]

@AG SO. MANY. RHINESTOOONEEESS! Sparklegasms @_@ They're all really cute, though

@echo I hate pink, but those shoes are adorable and I would totally purchase those.  

So I was at work last night…and I do this thing where I lay on my back, raise my left leg, then roll on my right side into the splits. And I do this pretty often….but last night I did it, and it RIPPED a hole in the vinyl from the stage and my shoe sliding too fast. I just bought these shoes a month ago after mine broke on stage. So I guess I'll try to win a free pair of shoes for work. 

http://howcool.com/product/ellie-shoes/EL-850-VANITY?listing_page=3&cPath=25&brands=12     I don't really want to go back to skyhigh heels, but at the same time, I feel anything below 6 hinders my ability to do the splits and also heel slides.  Also, since I switched to 4's, I no longer have the ability to slam my shoes on stage when people are looking at something other than me, which makes me pretty sad. 

http://howcool.com/product/ellie-shoes/EL-PH711-NAOMI?listing_page=10&cPath=25&brands=12     <—-  I'd prefer 7's. And the little bows are cute +_+

http://howcool.com/product/ellie-shoes/EL-711-LANCE?listing_page=16&cPath=25&brands=12    <— I'm not actually sure how I feel about these…but there looks like there's lateral support from the lacing? 

http://howcool.com/product/highest-heel/HH-STARLITE-11?listing_page=1&cPath=25&brands=16&collection=17    <—-  SPARKLEGASMS. 

http://howcool.com/product/anthonys-by-tony-shoes/TS-A-700?listing_page=1&cPath=25&brands=76   <— really basic 7's. My pleaser's lasted me like, 8 months? They looked like these.

http://howcool.com/product/pleaser-shoes/PL-LIGHTNING-702?listing_page=10&cPath=25&brands=19   <— THESE SHOES CONTAIN LIGHTENING. Because nothing says stripper ninja like "My shoes are electric. No, really. They are."

http://howcool.com/product/pleaser-shoes/PL-DELIGHT-5000?listing_page=14&cPath=25&brands=19   <— chap boots. 'Nuff said. 

http://howcool.com/product/pleaser-shoes/PL-ADORE-3063?listing_page=14&cPath=25&brands=19   <— Long and tall, just how I like my…..Iced tea? I have no witty comments. They're just lace up vinyls. 

http://howcool.com/product/pleaser-shoes/PL-SKY-330?listing_page=27&cPath=25&brands=19     <— I actually prefer these to the ellie's 

In case anyone was wondering what my non-work shoe preferences would be…here are some I saw and I was like, THOSE ARE SO BADASS. IF I FIND $100 BILL ON THE STREET, I WILL CONSIDER PURCHASE. Also, I will not work in shoes that don't have an ankle strap. I'll dance at home to shoes without them, or at the studio. But I feel like work is way too dark and   there are too many people to consider the risk 

http://howcool.com/product/ellie-shoes/EL-608-BARB?listing_page=7&cPath=25&brands=12    <— Remind me of Alethea

http://howcool.com/product/reflection-shoes/RFS-SP306?listing_page=1&cPath=25&brands=302   <— these are SO unbelievably elegant. 

http://howcool.com/product/tuk/TUK-A8134L?listing_page=1&cPath=25&brands=14   <— this would be a greed purchase. I'm a sucker for double straps and bows when I'm out and about

http://howcool.com/product/tuk/TUK-A7883L?listing_page=2&cPath=25&brands=14   <— when I hear  "wedge" I think summer. These scream "winter wedge", though…

http://howcool.com/product/tuk/TUK-A7878L?listing_page=2&cPath=25&brands=14   <— these are too cute. I don't know where I could possibly get away with wearing them other than  work, and they aren't what I look for in a work shoe. 

So yeah, one hour later….I guess I'll go out and buy some work essentials now, LOL. Damn shoes always distracting me…

[CapFeb]

Definitely going to order some from that site. I could rhinestone so many shoes +_+ Thank you so much fo the suggestions! I order from HK/China/Korea relatively often for special use items (bb cream, for example) so I’m used to the waiting period. :3 I’m so excited to finally finish mah shoooeees

[CapFeb]

I think I might actually try a full on marchenko at my next class. I did bendy diva dive and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be…but then again, my back mobility is like, non-existent. So maybe I’ll hold off since this is the only move other than kamikaze where I feel like I will fall and bust mychin

[CapFeb]

@chem
When I went to hobby lobby I got a sale associate to show me where the flatbacks were. They were, as you said, in a case. But there was only one row of flatbacks in that case, and they were all white/clear :/ and also 50% more expensive than anywhere else I’d been that day. Joanne’s and Michaels little baggies were $7 ish an HL was charging $12 for the same exact bag with less color range.

[CapFeb]

I could NOT for the life of me find the non-hotfix rhinestones in stock anywhere. I wanted mine in black and grey, so I kinda needed to see the color first. I’m not sure what kind of store I’m supposed to be shopping in? I checked all of the big chain craft stores (Michaels, Joanne’s,Hobby Lobby) And they didn’t have any what so ever in black. Only clear and some rainbow colors (nothing exotic like peridot or amythest, just your basic blue, basic red, basic emerald, etc). Suggestions other than ordering online?

[CapFeb]

In the Phoenix area, there is a huge difference between strippers, dancers, and entertainer.Every club I’ve been to has explained it to me this way:

Strippers are stereotypical strippers. It’s pretty much an insult around to.

Dancers are girls who are neither stereotypical strippers or entertainers.

Entertainers are girls who go all out. Costumes, wigs, routines, tricks. Everything. As cirq as you can get in the industry.

How much money you make on stage also depends on the club. It wasn’t uncommon for me to make $20-$70 a stage at the last club I was at. I make like, nothing at this one :p

[CapFeb]

http://www.shoeclips.biz/view_all_styles.aspx

That’s not the site I used, but you get the gist of it.

[CapFeb]

@luvlee

One of the stripper websites I visit has clip on bows so you can customize what your shoes look like that night. I want to say it’s Bad Kitty, but it might be discount stripper…I will try to find it when I’m not getting called to surprise stage @_@

also; there are rhinestone bows :3

[CapFeb]

I wanted to read her book, as one of the girls I work with is going to school to be a lawyer and brought it up. But I forgot the name! I am interested in what other women have to say as well as I am writing my own book on the subject of pole dance vs exotic dance and it will be interesting to compare lifestyles. My book will be Eat Pray Love but better prose and with more pole dancing. And probably no falling in cliche romance love @_@ More like Eat Pole Tendinitis.

I'll definitely double check when I am done being sick. 

[CapFeb]

So, studio veena ate my super lengthy post. Given that it took me half an hour to type on my phone, I'm not going to re-type it. I'll just give you bullet points

-My only job is dancing. I have two side jobs that I'm starting, but they are both only "maybe" jobs. 
-One of my side jobs is egg donation. I do not have any degrees as I gave up my education for my future spouse to finish his. But according to the company I am going to start being placed under, my IQ was high enough to overwrite the fact that I do not have an associates or a bachelors. 
-I continue to dance because it is much harder for someone my age to get a job. The people in my age group (16-20) have a 19% unemployment rate. I would much rather work the door at walmart, but there's no reason to hire a liability when a 30 year old with two kids is on paper much more reliable. You almost have to know someone to get a job these days.
-I started dancing not by choice. I had been watching competitive pole leisurely for about nine  months before I got forced into dancing by my manager. I did gogo-ing for him as a favor so we wouldn't lose customers. A customer talked me into taking my shirt off in VIP for $100 a song. I made $800 that night, my manager took HALF and I walked out with $400. When I cam back he told me that I made the club no money as a waitress, and it was either dance or GTFO. 
-You should check out what Gaga had to say about dancing and also look up…I think it was Rachel Aimee? There was a dancer in NY who wrote a book about dancing and then unionized stripping in that state. Was pretty epic. And not at all sterotypical.
-There are definitely stereotypical strippers out there. But considering the amount of people we meet in a day, I think people should give us more credit. One of my regulars is a rocket scientist for a soft spot in theoretical physics. Yeah, we talk about black holes when we get tired of dancing. I get more amused when people perceive me as dumb because of my job, and less insulted. 

[CapFeb]

http://www.ehow.com/video_4940297_advanced-pilates-exercises-sidekick-bicycle.html

So I do these, and from that same bicycle position, I do small hip circles and large hip circles. I sit in the very first position she shows you, and the raise whatever foot is not touching the ground by able 5 inches. You want it in line with your hip. The I move that hovering foot like I’m trying to trace a softball with my toe. Use your entire leg, not your foot. The small percise focus will let you feel it all the way up your leg to your booty.

The large hip circles are the same thing, except you trace a giant beach ball with your foot. Don’t let your hips move out of tandom with eachother; ie, don’t let yourself rock back and forth. I do about 10 of these in a set for 1-3 sets, and then after a week or two kick it up by adding foot weights, increasing reps and sets, and moving onto intermediate bicycle. Hope this helps. :3

[CapFeb]

When I gain weight I gain fat in my arms. My legs used to be perfect and if I REALLY wanted to, I could go back to playing tennis to get them back to what they used to be but I’m happy with them as is.

when I first started poleing I had biceps like a mofo, but then 3 months off the pole and I had some serious deteriation. I’m going to take this month off of learning to retrain my upper body so I’ll stop hurting myself.

[CapFeb]

Is the study exclusive to pole, or the aerial arts in general?

[CapFeb]

I was looking at the wen system, but I didn’t have $40 for hair this month. And probably won’t for a while with it being the holiday season. I ended up going wih the nexxus duo leave in conditioner. It smells amazing, and when I put it through my hair after getting out of the shower, I discovered that I had a rubberband somewhere in there that had forgotten about for…oh, about a week and a half. I just spritzed some on the band and after two cuts to the rubberband it all came out with a few brushes from a wide tooth comb :3 I’m very happy with how lightweight it is, too. I only have to use it about once a day and my hair feels very happy.

[CapFeb]

Oh wow, I guess my idea of sensual was way off. Songs I find myself getting lost in would be

Damien Rice: Volcanos, The Blower’s Daughter
Luke Duocet: Wallow
Amanda Palmer: The Bed Song
Priscilla Ahn: Dream
Katie Herzig: Hologram
Broadcast 2000: That Sinking Feeling (acoustic)
Stars: Your Ex Lover Is Dead
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
Kate Nash: The Nicest Thing
Laura Marling: I Was Just a Card

[CapFeb]

Might grip is an amazing company. My mg socks ripped after two uses and Joel sent me new once (that have not ripped after 5 months of use and are still highly durable). Also, as AG said, he’ll even replace them if they’re the wrong size. I’ve never used a hand chart before, so I don’t know how difficult they are to use. But I would ask Krissykiki about sizing since she recently bought a pair and according to her facebook loves them 🙂

[CapFeb]

I was considering getting an x-pole in 45 brass, but the old brass x-poles, someone said they felt like the brass was brushed on?

I’ve also considered electro-plating my chrome pole brass. Someone else here said they were going to do that, but I don’t think they posted results 😐

[CapFeb]

I love the idea of dubstep December! I will probably end up doing a performance to Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” just because I’ve always wanted to, regardless of if Veena makes a prose challenge or not 😀

[CapFeb]

@flygrl are you sure they don’t have two types of diameters? I was browsing over the wall there and there was a bunch of motivational cards by pole dancers. A lot of them included working better on 50’s. Not only that, but some of their poles I could fit my hand around and some I could not. My memory might be fuzzy though, as I think I went about 6 months ago @_@

@Ly Kieu Le

2682 Middlefield road, Redwood City, Ca 94063

I lived on Saratoga and Steven’s Creek for a couple of months, and I just took the 101 to Woodside, then a left onto Middlefield. After that, things get a little tricky. You have to take a right into a parking lot (I think it’s the building is titled “Adult Center”) and follow the parking lot past the railroad tracks then I think it’s the second left. The map was updated so you can zoom in and see what I mean. The first time I went it took me like, 20m to find the place from Middlefield.

[CapFeb]

wow, pancake has all of these awesome ideas. I suggested doing a non-dominant only performance a while back, and actually stuck to it for a couple days– I learned a bunch of spins and did some tricks I never did before from doing it (my first and rare aerial sm was on my left side).

Personally, I love the “you danced to what” suggestion. I would anxiously await gangnam references in the videos. ^_^

Other challenges I’ve thought of were:
Opposite Music Genre challenge. You make yourself dance to music you otherwise wouldn’t listen to (mine would be country, and I feel like I would be the only one masochistic enough to do this one @_@)

Props: Halloween is over, and we just did a costume challenge, so why not make use of those left over props? Some pole dancers here use silks or hooping in pole. Heidi Coker did an awesome performance at PoleArt using ribbons as a prop. It would also be awesome to maybe encorperate some awesome chair dancing.

Someone recommended a blindfold challenge, and so I’ll throw it out here even though it isn’t likely — but I love blacklights. I think a blacklight challenge would be awesome. And for those of us without blacklights, you can get creative and use some glowsticks and battery operated lighting gift wrap. Or anything else glowing that you could think of that isn’t typical lighting (mood lighting.)

Here’s one that might be time consuming, but super fun: There’s a form of
photography called stop motion. Since 4 minutes and 30s (the average song length) might be too long to stop-motion the entire thing, maybe cut it down to 30s to 1m? It will challenge the dancer to get everything they want to say into a short amount of time

Finally, the ultimate flow challenge: pole dance to a piece that is not musical. It could be sounds like a rainstorm, spoken poetry, an exerpt from a movie. I feel like this would really challenge those struggling with flow, and it’s also something you don’t see every day (the closest I’ve seen is Michelle stanek’s latest performance, and it was still really musical)

My challenge ideas are starting to get weird. I was trying to think of a way to encorperate food into a dance. Maybe this niquil is making me loopy 😡

also;I would love to see a doubles challenge, but I know there are too many people like me who have no one near enough to them to cherograph that sort of thing :/

[CapFeb]

I want to agree with the opening post, but then again everyone has different opinions on what they feel is “clean”. I get really uncomfortable when people post pictures and videos in thongs and barely there bikinis. If you record progress in whatever you dance in, that’s cool. But you can always keep those videos and pictures to yourself, privately on the site or with friends on the site. Nipples slips are really awkward and I know everyone has had to deal with it from time to time, but I don’t think it’ appropriate to post a photo where one might be happening, even if it is purely for comedy.

[CapFeb]

Not sure if I misread, but x-pole us does make a brass in 45 and 40

xpoleus.com/store/xpert-set-40mm-brass-new-release-p-1204.html

unless you were talking about a 38, then you can ignore me @_@

[CapFeb]

There is a great studio in the sf area by the name of “poletential”. This is THE pole studio in the bay area. I notice like, 40% of the polers from the southwest area have been there. Giant (think three stories) poles, chrome with different diameters, and two or three out of nine spin. Also, they do aerial silks next door, which is really cool if you ever want to get into that.

I don’t recommend studio botan. I’ve had two bad experiences there.

I hear good things about sedusa. And then I know there’s one more studio in the heart of sf but I never bothered going because Poletential was so awesome (you can easily get to it by caltrain)