[Foxy_Rei]

I’m thinking about going, maybe a workshop, too… but my husband’s great-grandmother’s 90th birthday is the 20th and he can’t go, so I’d be going alone. And time is probably running out on the workshop slots, too.

And with the workshops, how do you pick which one you want??? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif I was poking around (right up until you enter credit card info) and it never asked which one.

Anyone know when time runs out so I know when I have to make up my mind? I saw they’re sending out emails about the workshop locations on Feb, 1st…

[Foxy_Rei]

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I feel loved https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

I’ve been on the pole a few times again, but was really disappointed when I found out I lost just about all of my grip and strength. I couldn’t even do a pole sit! (of course, it being January in upstate NY doesn’t help, either) So I’m forcing myself to take it slow; just because I could do a superman fall before, doesn’t mean I should try it at this point. I’ve been also making myself stretch (I wasn’t doing that at all before https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif ) and I’ve been doing leg lifts to get my ab strength back.

And on a random note, I’m toying with the idea of treating myself to going to the USPDF finals in March and a workshop. I’d love to meet Fleur or Karol! NYC is only a 4-hour drive away… But I’m not sure when the sales end, and I’d be going alone https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif *sigh* Maybe next year…

Thanks for all the encouragement, everyone, maybe I’ll catch people in chat one of these days!

[Foxy_Rei]

Wow, I never thought I’d hear anyone (especially Veena!) say that lotion in any shape, form, or amount is okay for poling. Not complaining, but I have to say I’m surprised. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

I might have to give this a shot, because I have extremely dry skin. If I wear black socks, the top where it covers my ankle and shin come off covered in a layer of dead skin – the socks look gray instead of black it’s so bad. My skin’s grip is completely shot after being off the pole for so long, but to think it could be better than it was before is an awesome thought!

Now, I have the dry skin but really cold, sweaty hands and feet. Wtf?? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

It’s not in the UK, but have you looked up PoleSkivvies??? She has a website where she sells pole dance tanks and shorts that she designed specifically for pole dancing…

She’s on here, too, if you wanted to look her up.

[Foxy_Rei]

Happy Birthday!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

For the ceiling fan, most fans have very easily removed blades. Look on the upper side of the blade and there are usually screws holding the end of the blade into the arms. It would just be a question of whether or not you can get a screw driver between the fan blades and the ceiling… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif

But yes, do check for where the joists are first.

Also, consider your ceiling height. If the ceilings are kinda low, you may be kicking the fan even if you take the blades off, so perhaps you are better off just taking it down entirely. It’s actually not very difficult – don’t need much more than a screwdriver.

[Foxy_Rei]

Ditto to what Violet said – it shouldn’t have done that. I’d make sure your X-Pole is real, or you could call X-Pole directly and ask if the place that you got it from is legit. X-Pole has great customer service and if it’s real, they will probably replace it for you.

Fake X-Poles supposedly have black rubber around the dome and can be missing the Xes inscribed on the base. Make sure the rubber is clearish-gray and that there are 2 small Xes in the base of the pole – those are the Xes that you’re supposed to line the hex screws up with to put the pole in static mode.

[Foxy_Rei]

It sounds to me like you have the newbie’s death grip. Keep practicing with your thumb wrapped around the pole and as you get more strength your grip will loosen up as your arms get stronger.

It’s very common for newbies to have the problem of gripping too tightly https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

@Veena and Glitter

Um, guys, I wasn’t talking about the moves on the pole. I was talking about the warm-up moves and such. You can always cross-reference with YouTube videos and such to find out what the proper form actually is.

I’ll remove my post…

[Foxy_Rei]

I will simply say we have plans for alot of things in the future. Each feature comes in its own time and to fill a particular need. We want to avoid doing something just because we can, and instead do it because its the right time.

I gotcha. Like I said, this forum is surprisingly well-behaved so I can see why it wouldn’t be a need right now. I was just curious if the thought was out there, like I said.

I’ve been on 2 other forums, and they both had several mods and were constantly moving posts, locking threads, and jumping all over people for swearing, posting in the wrong places, doing a repeat thread, and double posting. Here it’s much more open and laid back… Very refreshing. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

And yes I’m sure the Webmaster is very much a big teddy bear, he’s just hiding behind some very upfront and straightforward answers to questions. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

[Foxy_Rei]

I’m pretty sure (don’t quote me on this) that in one of the threads about this pole, that someone said they inquired about it over the phone with X-Pole and they said flat-out that it wasn’t as good of quality as a regular X-Pole.

And yes, New Dancer, there are other threads about this pole on the forums, but I believe this thread was started before we got the facts straightened out. Yes, it’s nice that it’s cheaper, but as Veena pointed out, I don’t think it’s a huge difference price-wise to make it more marketable. Only pay a few bucks more and get a better pole!

It would be nice if X-Pole could somehow come out with a QUALITY pole that was about the same price as a Peek-a-boo pole, and even would be sold side by side in stores like Spencers so people have a fair shot at getting a good pole. Also maybe then X-Pole could put Peek-a-boo out of business! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_twisted.gif That would be freakin’ awesome!

[Foxy_Rei]

I have a chrome X-pole at the moment that I love love love but have been wanting to switch to a 45mm, and was thinking since im going to be changing that I might as well give the Titanium a go.

My question, if anyone knows or if Veena or Webmaster could let me know… if the Titanium Xpole offered thru THIS site is the Gold? I’m guessing it is since a previous post here said titanium silver isnt offered in the US.. but just wanted to make SURE before ordering cause the Titanium Gold is the one I want. Thanks in advance https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

Yes you’re right – you’d be getting the gold because the titanium silver isn’t available in the US. I wish it was, though… I’d rather have the silver, myself (if I could afford another pole, anyway https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif)

[Foxy_Rei]

Yes ditto to needing to find the joists… SaschaPoles has some pictures in her profile of what a pole can do to your ceiling. The good news is, though, joists are every 16 or 24 inches apart – those are the 2 most common/standard measurements. So it’s not like there’s only 1 of them in a room and you absolutely have to put your pole there. Once you figure out which direction your joists run in the ceiling, you can measure out from a corner either 16 or 24 inches, and give a tap at each spot to see what the spacing is. Once you know if it’s 16 or 24, you can measure out from the wall to find where abouts a joist is so you know where to put the pole. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif But still use another, more definite, method so you can get the pole centered on the joist once you know about where it is!

If your nervous about the ceilings: most of the people here that have popcorn ceilings haven’t had problems with their pole and the popcorn. Don’t be afraid to give them more than a "light" tap (like you said you were doing) because a) your pole is going to do much more to it than a light tap would and b) tapping will help you find a joist. Also a pole uses pressure to put it up, and I would think it would be more "sideways" (like scrapping) that would do damage to it, anyway.

[Foxy_Rei]

All X-Poles are removable/portable. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

You could try emailing them, too. They answered mine within the same day https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

You could always just call or email X-Pole and they can tell you which is best. I have ceilings that are too short for the standard kit – 7′ even – and asked what extension I could buy to use in place of the lower pole. They hooked me right up; excellent customer service https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumright.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Don’t know if this would help or not, but X-Poles have instructions in their instruction manual about how to make a wooden plate to fit inside the rubber ring on top of the dome. Meant to help with stability, but I’m not sure if it would help with your ceilings other than to spread the pressure out just a bit better… Also not sure if it would be a good idea with the popcorn ceilings. But it’s something to look at when you get your pole, I guess… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif

Just a bit of Foxy Rei’s 1.5 cents that 9 times out of 10 don’t work or apply https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Happy happy birthday! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_king.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

@ Webmaster and Glitter:

I gotcha now. I was just confused because I missed the part where they were making it a definite rule, that’s all. I can understand why, though. The post Webmaster put up when I asked about changing mine said they were doing some new stuff that required that they stay the same, but that him and Veena could still change names so all I had to do was ask. So I guess I kinda misunderstood something… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif

I apologize if my post here was misleading…

[Foxy_Rei]

Tell them to check out my video on YouTube I just did!

[Foxy_Rei]

I’m guilty of a lot of things, and I’m not trying to make excuses https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_tongue.gif but I’m self-taught (one of those YouTube learners, haha) and have absolutely no dance experience, so the little things are a learning process. I’m also aware of most (I think) of those little things I do wrong so at least I know what to work on.

Peeves about me:
-sweaty hands… I have Tite Grip for doing uncut dances or if I’m going to be inverted a lot, but I’m trying to not rely on them.
-wedgie picking. I’ve been trying to learn to subtly do it, https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif It’s either fix it or have half your butt showing on video, so it’s the lesser of 2 evils I think but still very unattractive
-pointed toes. I’ve gotten better, at least I think so. Keeping up on the balls of my feet when walking is a challenge still, I find it very hard to do hip rolls that way for some reason. Must work on this more…
-weird hip thingy – I’ve noticed right before I do a spin I’ll lean heavily to one side and it makes one hip stick out funny when I’m doing that slight pivot on the inside foot. I’ve seen it in others, too, but I cringe when I see myself doing it. Not pretty.
-Moving too fast! – I feel like I have ADHD sometimes. I feel like I’m not doing enough interesting things when I dance so I move around a lot, but when I watch the videos, I’m jumping all over and never in one place more than 2 seconds. Must learn to slllloooowww down…
-not having enough dancey moves, as in I want to learn more than just the hip rolls and grinding the pole.

Annoyances with others:
-too much dance or not enough.
-in practice vids, people not editing out the stupid stuff like just walking around or the moment of staring at the pole wondering what to practice next. (A little hand or pole wiping is fine)
-NOT MATCHING UP WITH YOUR MUSIC! For the love of God, match the mood of the song and the pace of it. People have no problem tapping their foot to the beat but why can’t they move to it???
-kinda along the same lines… always dancing the same. Same pace, same style, everything. Change it up a bit (I’m guilty of this too, I know)

That’s all I can think of, I’m sure as I go through more videos I’ll remember more…

[Foxy_Rei]

Yes Windows Movie Maker is standard software with Windows. I posted a quick how-to under the Tech Related forum, also.

However it’s not a very good program, it’s annoying. I use it myself because I don’t have the time and energy to find a new program, especially all I use it for is pole videos.

WMM and iTunes are the only reasons why I even still have windows on my laptop… I’ve switched to Linux. iTunes is an easy fix but it’ll be time consuming (lots of files to convert). However I haven’t found a good movie editing program for Linux…

If anyone knows of a program for movie editing for Ubuntu, let me know https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumright.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Veena or Webmaster, can’t you guys still change usernames?? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif

When I first joined the site, you could change usernames and I did a total of twice. At first I was Jacq, then when I picked a stage name I went to FoxyRei_Jacq so everyone knew I was the same person. Then I went to change it to just Foxy Rei like literally the day after they changed the names to static. I put up a post about it, too, and Veena and Webmaster said they could still change it for me, so here I am.

But with new stuff going on the site, maybe they can’t be changed at all now… I dunno. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif

[Foxy_Rei]

Its an apprentice that I think you’re describing violet. Its very pretty! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
Wikipole is great for looking up moves when you know the name for them but not so good when you dont know what you’re looking for… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

Or you can just do what I do and just pour over the list and look at every single picture trying to figure out what is which and which is what, lol. I’ve done that a couple times, but the information doesn’t always stick… https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif