[Charley]

Here's my attempt – it sucks and it's not really very close so any ideas? 

[Charley]

LOL Ember- that was my reaction too – I can do it from iguana mount no problem and remove my hands  – I never thought of working on it from brass monkey – I initially tried out of a side climb…honestly it wasn't bad I was just really, really scared – my spotter only got me to go fully back once…but out of the iguana it was easy peasy. Sadly mine doesn't look like this.

I'll upload a quick vid of this mystery move and you can see what I mean.

[Charley]

I worked on this a couple of times last week.  I haven't been ballsy enough to try without my legs on the pole because I wanted to tes just how the move felt – it felt okay…a little scary to me.  I'm hoping to work on being able to switch my grip with my legs in straddle the way she does.  

[Charley]

I just can't pick a favorite because each instructor has given me something unique.

Natasha Wang gave me the fonji!  Alethea gave me the exercises to straighten my knees so when I do my fonji it looks good (still working on it.)  Alethea also worked with me on floorwork and my iron X (which I thought I had but she showed me something new I hadn't thought of.)  David Owen showed me some great back stretches and got me into the Felix combo as I call it plus worked with me on ways to pretty up my flag press.  Amber gave me the gift of learning to extend and dance through my moves and an awesome spin combination.  Karol gave me the tornado, Wendy Traskos taught me how to work with choreography and to do the flag spin.  When we had Pantera I couldn't take her workshop so sadly I didn't get anything from her but I had an awesome time talking with her about pole.  Kelly Yvonne taught me how to embody my dancing and tell a story.  Nekia Morris aka Dangerous who I work with at vixen Fitness finally got me into the forward shoulder roll.  Empy has taught me a ton of things including the shouldermount roll over, spin downs and the remi (cross foot release.)  The owner of PoleFIT – the other studio I work at Melanie showed me how to fake a split really good!  Shadow has shown me a lot of about how to work a spinning pole and how to get into certain moves using unique transitions…Michelle Mynx taught me the Eye F*** which I still can't do but it gives me goosebumps whenever she does it.

So I can't pick a favorite, I just can't because I have walked away with so much from so many different people.

[Charley]

I'm in the small category that prefers the Lite to the Original.  I think that floorwork is easer because you aren't a foot off the ground so transitions where you need to roll over or something are much less awkward but I'm short too.

Once we secured the stage with some weights and the legs out – it was really, really sturdy.  It does have more flex in the pole than the original because the on the original the pole is secured into a 1 foot base leaving less pole room.  I love the height, the fluid spin and just about everything about it.

The down side to the XSL is that it goes so low to the floor that in a performance setting you can't see what dancers are doing unless you are front row or you have a stage that you can put the XSL on.  From a production stand point if you're using it to perform you probably want the original just because of the elevation it offers.

[Charley]

I'm glad the EZ Connect is finally out! GREAT DEMO!  😀

 

PS VS XSL – The big advantage to the XSL is that you can weigh it down and it has legs that extend to make it more stable – those legs are easily tripped over in public settings but once you're on it and in spin it feels really good.  I'm happy with my XSL and it was worth the extra money because of the added stability features.

PS advantages are that it's much easier to put together and lighter and and more cost effective.

[Charley]

I don't know of any but I wanted pop in and say yay for Dothan!  That's where my family lives!

[Charley]

In my opinion there is just no way to simulate a fall – a fall happens quickly and unexpectedly.  The falls I've had are moves that I thought I had down, they weren't new moves to me – they were things I had been doing for awhile at no point during a practice session could I have ever practiced falling out of them the way I did.

Instructors need to be talking about it, we need to be educating about it but when it happens it happens – you hope that your training and knowledge will give you something to do quicky in the moment as it's happening that will save you injury.  Which is why I think it's important to have a significant amount of pole experience before doing laybcks and inverts.  I think having a lot of experience on the pole has saved me numerous times from what would have been all out falls and injuries.  Being able to squeeze the pole with some body part quickly or grab with the hands – even if it's not pretty has saved me a lot of times.  With experience comes increased pole and body awareness and for me that has led me NOT to perform certain things under certain conditions or on certain types of poles.

[Charley]

LOL!  that was me at MWPC!  lol!  

I think it's best to learn this move with boots or shoes – I know boots won't make the drop easier infact you probably shouldn't wear boots for the drop but it's helpful to have something sticky covering your feet.  I learned the CFR in boots first – I was pretty painful even them and while I can do the drop barefoot I prefer shoes because I know the shoes will catch.

[Charley]

That has got to be hands down the most bad a$$ thing I have ever seen!  so jelous!  I'd love to see it!

[Charley]

I'm so sorry to hear about your fall!

I fell out of a caterpillar years ago, I hadn't had time off or anything I accidently took my legs off the pole and this was before I knew how to do an aysha or a straight edge – I wasn't even thinkiong about those moves yet…I just got lost in the moment then fell on my head 🙁

Last October I fell out of a tornado and have yet to try it again because I'm so scared of it.  I just can't bring myself to do that one move – I need to get over because it was one of my favorites – need to break out the crash mat and get back to it.

[Charley]

I didn't notice that feature right away either 😀  Pretty cool though!

[Charley]

Check out http://www.poledancedictionary.com and  you can save moves and even long your progress on the moves 🙂

[Charley]

I am not sure if this is helpful but I grip the pole with the side of my foot rather than the whole top of the foot – so its the outside of  my foot pressing against the pole rather than the top of the foot – if you flex and hold with the top of the foot that's where a lot of the pain comes from.  You don't really need to grip the pole with the top of the foot much, some but not much because you are putting a lot of tension on the hooked knee.

[Charley]

I was so bummed to miss Kelly's seminar but having worked with her on this competition – I have to say if anyone gets a chance to work with her do it!  She really helped me a lot by challenging me to explain with my body what I was trying to say which for an untrained dancer like myself was an incredible experience.

Everyone was so amazing this weekend – every performance rocked.  

This was a really supportive and fun loving group of women.  Everyone was helping everyone get ready, giving each other a much needed ego boost before getting onstage and really just came together in full support of each other.  

There were so many Veeners there and sadly I didn't get to meet everyone or even talkto Veena as long as I would have liked 🙁  I wish we could have stayed longer and that the weekend would have been longer.  

The crowd was so full of love for everyone – cheering before we even started our music and routines.  They were screaming their heads off the entire time.

Mary Ellyn and her crew were extremely organized and full lof love and laughter.  This was an amazing experience for the competitors, judges and the crowd!