[Charley]

I suck at spin mode – just prefacing with that.

Here’s my 2 cents on the whole thing – first please be sure that pole is tightened before going into spin mode as I have had poles come down, seen poles come down after extended use in spin mode – so be checking your pole.

Secondly, as V says don’t work on inverting on spin mode straight off. Work on your basic spins

Extending your body/limbs makes the pole slow down, pulling your body into the pole makes it go faster. It’s pretty tricky keeping a spinning pace so work with it. Many dancers will let the pole stop spinning while in an advanced move and use either the ceiling or the floor to spin them when they are ready to spin again.

Rule of thumb is to decrease your momentum by 50%. So in the beginning gently push off the floor into your spin or move.

Spin mode is great for building grip strength and your upper body, but be cautious because it is a little more dangerous and you have to be really present and in the moment while working with it. It’s also a good idea to use spin mode when you have a lot of space, smaller spaces can be more difficult because extending out to slow down the pole can be harder and you can hit yourself on desks, chairs, etc. LOL! I know I have more than a few times. It can be hard to get your bearing in spin mode.

With time you’ll get better at finding a more stable spin speed.

[Charley]

So, I’ve been staring at this thread since there were 0 responses – I still have no words. I am just still in utter shock. I am awful in these moments – there is nothing to say – no words to express sadness of this caliber or sentiment to pass on. It just doesn’t make sense when someone this young passes away. I didn’t *know* Carmel not in the sense of sitting over coffee with someone and yet I felt like I did through messages and chat.

I am so sorry for her loss and she will be greatly missed.

I think dancing for her is a great idea – I’m not sure if I can bring myself to do it but would be honored in her memory to try.

She was Carmel and she was more than a delight. I guess that’s all I have to say. Sorry. Words just evade.

[Charley]

Oh well that makes sense. I feel really bad for Alethea and Sarah, form the bits I’ve heard it sounds like they ween’t treated well…and well honestly 1 of them should have won.

[Charley]

What happened to Alethea and Sarah’s videos on youtube?

[Charley]

Did Karol win?

[Charley]

I stretched yesterday a half hour or so and will ofcourse be doing stretches today since I teach.

Am sticking with my routine of pigeon, sitting on blocks in lunge position and sitting in straddle (there are more, forward fold sitting/standing, butterfly, happy baby, frog, etc.)

As far as stretching when you are sore, you still need to be warmed up. SO it’s not good to work so hard in one day that you are super sore because your muscles will be tighter. I know it’s hard not to over practice since pole is so addictive but be careful. I’d suggest a nice soak in epson salt and light stretching, don’t stretch deep and try to hold them for a super long time (I usually hold my poses 3-5 minutes.) Take it easy on your self https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Charley]

PS poles have a 12 inch ceilng plate so that would work for you and they also now offer a skinny pole.

I hate to say it but I would stay away from Lil Minx as their pole badly damage my ceiling so I am not a big fan.

PS is your best bet and they even make a vaulted ceiling adapter if you need one and all of their poles come standard with a spin option. I believe I heard the skinny removeable is available in brass and stainless – not too sure. If you are used to chrome you might find stainless to be a bit more slippy than chrome and it takes a little longer to warm up.

I have 3 of the PS 2” removeable poles and they are great https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

Enjoy your new pole! And new pole room!

[Charley]

You have a great cataloge to do some cool combos!

What about?
carousel to back hook or front hook
back hook to front hook
attitude to front hook
carousel to attitude
attitude to fireman
attitude to fireman extension or fireman kick
front hook to attitude

and for some new spins:
boomerang – this is tough so don’t worry about keeping your legs high at first
The chair spin (and loads of variations on this one)
The side spin
the side spin with leg extension
Basic Cradle (not split grip, I mean the baseball gripped version)

[Charley]

MAN! Last night I was doing a search on aerial stuff- to find out about home rigs and I came across a site that had some links. I wish I could remember.

Try googling aerial silks or aerial hoop. Aerial arts seems to be going mainstream so even if you cannot get silks I’d suggest trapeze or aerial hoop/lyra.

[Charley]

I am waiting for Veena to weigh in on this, but sometimes it’s not possible to get all the stretches in, in one session.

For those of us without a lot of time I am wondering if we would get just as much out of our stretching if we split it up like 15 mins in the morning, another 15 minutes later in the day and 15 mins before bed?

[Charley]

Took yesterday off but I did stretch today same regiment as always. 25 mins or so

[Charley]

I would say that if you get paid to teach pole, you are definitely not amateur – only because it’s unfair to those who actually have been poling a short time or have little knowledge of pole.

I don’t think that dancing in a club is enough to say that you are a professional pole dancer in terms of talking about pole tricks. Not all club dancers do tricks and not all club dancers even care about them. I guess you’d also have to look at it from the standpoint of what they can and cannot do, years doing tricks.

I guess you would have to look at it like how much do you know. It’s hard to classify these things. On one hand a club dancer is infact a professional dancer – she gets paid to dance – it is her profession. So I would guage it off tricks. But if you are getting paid to teach someone how to do pole tricks, then you would no longer be an amateur as this is your profession. Semantics?

MOST comps not held a clubs would likely require you to register as a professional or in an advanced division. I know it’s unfair because although I teach I am no where near professional level tricking, yet feel I could compete with someone at my own standard. It would be unfair of me to register as an amateur because I would be far beyond their level.

For example Berty’s Boo Boo is an AMAZING tricker and dancer but she doesn’t teach (yet) so she could be ranked as an amateur and she’s done it for less than a year but I would find it unfair if she entered a contest as "amateur" because I think of amateur as beginner. Get what I mean? For all purposes she could compete in the USPDF but she’s been doing it less than a year (maybe over now) so under a year I would rank as amateur, obviously she’s not since she has surpassed most advanced instructors.

[Charley]

What about making a large flat platform to put under the pole? I would think a large platform atleast 4ft by 4ft would disperse the pressure more. You cold cover that in a laminate or real wood if you wanted. I’d probably go with 1 inch thick ply would and cover it up. And you could always go larger with the platform. I think you can get a thicker plywood too.

[Charley]

I have 2 intermediates who have repsectively been at it about 12 weeks a piece and they still are not inverting. They are still doing spins, static upright poses and they have learned 1 layback – cross knee release. SO if you mean bigger tricks I’d say about 8-9 weeks in most students will have already started their pole sitting, climbing and poses. Inverts are still a ways off for them since they were already taught under a different instructor and neither could do it well or safely. I never teach inverts unless a student has a whole slew of other moves first. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

Most people learn their first trick which is a spin on the first day of class. I used to teach the fireman first but lately I teach the back hook first. Just to switch it up.

[Charley]

Georgia – same here with chopper.

How does one improve their forward fold? I touch my toes for minutes on end, standing and sitting. TRY to fold forward in straddle to little to no avail https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif