Kyrsten
Forum Replies Created
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I will also say I love the Pure Splits DVD! I felt it a LOT in my hips the next day, which never happened when I would stretch before. I also got into an oversplit easily on my good side on my second session of the DVD.
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Which arm do you mean? Top or bottom?
I use twisted grip (generally only as a transitional move from an invert) and have had no issues with the top arm, but some shoulder/elbow issues with my bottom arm. However it's not exclusive to TG… it happens in true grip and elbow grip as well. It actually first cropped up from learning the elbow grip Iron X and overdoing it with the practices. I have noticed that my shoulder absolutely freaks out if I even attempt a twisted grip shoulder mount though — won't touch that move, so I definitely believe not every grip is for every body.
It could be the twisted grip or overuse… either way, I would take a break from that move for a while. If it feels better and you decide to start working on it again, true grip is a great alternative to twisted grip and as far as I am aware it is a much "safer" grip to use… I actually prefer it to TG most of the time.
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I avoid pedis as well.. The calluses are kind of there for a reason. They protect my feet while I’m dancing barefoot(which is 75% of the time) and I can’t pirouette and slide on soft feet!
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I avoid pedis as well.. The calluses are kind of there for a reason. They protect my feet while I’m dancing barefoot(which is 75% of the time) and I can’t pirouette and slide on soft feet!
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When I competed at Midwest I spent about 50 on my costume (13ish on the top, 28ish on the shorts, 10 or so on sewing on materials/trim/crystals/etc). Makeup and accessories was all stuff I already owned.
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I started in August of last year as a total beginner… I really sucked at first! Like really! I was one of the worst in my class. I had such awful newbie death grip that I was literally ripping the skin off my hands every class and had to wear a bunch of bandaids to even participate. I was fairly active with some other activities, but like most of you, I couldn't pull myself up at all. Not much flexibility and 0 upper body strength.
Fast forward one year later today and I am at a pretty advanced level, have become an instructor, and just competed in my first competition last weekend (Midwest!) I have even taken steps to start making a career out of pole and my life has really fallen into place since last year… I have no idea where I'd be without it. Getting off track though…
Pole is super rewarding because there's just always something fun you can work on, whether you're a complete beginner or a pro. There are good days and bad days of course… some days you get on the pole and nail 4 tricks you've been working at forever, and some days you get on the pole and feel too utterly useless to even do a fireman spin. But you are constantly building strength, stamina, and coordination, and you will get better each practice.
One piece of advice: video yourself frequently! Whenever you doubt your progress and ability, just look at your old videos and you will be amazed at how far you've come. And don't be discouraged in the beginning, even if you completely suck. Even the most advanced dancers have been there!
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Aerial Amy had a blog about it here:
http://aerialamy.com/blog/2011/11/15/tuesday-tips-plow-over/
She covers a few variations on it.
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I avoid it unless it's like, woven jewelry (bracelets and such) or my non-dangle belly ring (even then, I won't do certain things when I have it in… no handed cradle lol). I do wear crazy earrings sometimes but I have to be careful I'm not wearing a top that they can snag in… I learned that lesson after getting a dangly earring stuck in a sequin top while 10 feet up on the spinner and having my head stuck to my shoulder. LOL
Also we have had girls scratch our (powder coat) poles with jewelry, so we have them remove it before poling.
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I have never seen or heard of this…? I have stretch maks on one of my inner thighs that have been totally unaffected by poling… I have been poling for many hours a week for about a year…
I do get very bumpy, rough skin on some common points of contact though.. it's not noticeable visibly, but you can feel it. I have it on my inner thighs from thigh holds/superman, around my knees from leg hangs, and on the side of my stomach from hip holds.
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"dancer's feet" — embrace it. lol.
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I tried butterfly back to cradle once and it was doable, but it looked really ugly. At least on me lol.
My favorite butterfly combo is the jade to extended butterfly.
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Try not to wear the extensions too often… they can damage/break/weaken your hair. Prenatal vitamins also worked for me.
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Another tip: my hamstring is pulled really high up near the insertion point, right in my butt, and the massage therapist told me to sit on a tennis ball, baseball, or golf ball to loosen it up since I can't really target it well with my foam roller. It's helped a lot with the achy-ness. So that's another alternative if rolling isn't cutting it.
Also, heat before working it out, and ice after!
I tried KT tape once on my shoulder when I had tendonitis last year and it didn't seem to do much for me. Maybe I did it wrong lol.
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If you have wider feet you may want to try Ellie's… general consensus seems to be that Pleasers run small/narrow. I'm a small US size 6 and wear I'm a 5 in Ellie's and a 6 in Pleasers. If you're in between sizes I would size up for Pleasers and down for Ellie's.
And yes, the plastic parts will stretch a bit… I bought my first pair of Pleasers in a 7 since the 6s felt a bit tight, but after wearing them 2 or 3 times they were really hard to dance in. A tighter shoe will feel a lot more secure when dancing… if my shoes are even slightly loose I feel like I'm one misstep away from a broken ankle lol, plus it leads to that unattractive toes-hanging-over thing.
If you can, try to get into a local retailer for dancewear and try on a pair of each brand just to see how they fit.
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Some things will be easier, some will be harder! We short girls have an advantage when it comes to the strength and power moves (less leg to lift) but you guys have an advantage with moves that require contorting or reaching around the pole (ballerina, allegra, superman…) Plus tall, long legs make such beautiful lines and extension.
Anyone can pole though! Short, tall, skinny, fat, whatever…. everyone will have advantages and disadvantages based ontheir personal anatomy, but almost everything is possible for everyone 🙂
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Adrenaline will give you a boost in endurance, strength, and flexibility too 😉 I only "performed" once (it was only for the girls at the studio) but I was so nervous that the whole thing flew by much easier than I recalled it being practicing lol.
Anyway, I've noticed a huge boost in stamina since I began teaching. I only teach a few days a week, but when I do I'm at the studio for hours. So for me the key to more stamina has been very long practice sessions. I am not sure how much that can help in a few weeks though. My method for competition training has been kind of to run the whole thing a few times and once I'm too burnt out to do the whole 4 minutes, keep working on individual elements/combinations in like 30 second to one minute sections.
I also notice a HUGE difference in stamina depending on what I've eaten that day… if I don't eat enough before classes or I don't drink enough water (and keep drinking it throughout practice), I start feeling really weak. Complex carbs and protein are good and will keep you full with energy to burn. If it's a pole day I'll usually have some eggs and steel cut oatmeal with milk or something. Energy/granola/protein bars are good for a snack while practicing to refresh, but I find they aren't substantial enough on their own to keep me going. You want something slow-burning and substantial, but not don't eat like a huge pasta meal or something or you'll just feel bloated and not want to move LOL.
Good luck!
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They won’t! Nonpolers will be impressed with anything you do, trust me! Lol.
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They won’t! Nonpolers will be impressed with anything you do, trust me! Lol.
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Just my two cents.. I host pole parties and generally speaking, the party atmosphere is a lot different than the class atmosphere.. it's really more about having fun than getting the moves right. The great majority of the girls don't seem to feel too pressured, they're just there to have a good time with their friends, learn some fun stuff, get silly. 🙂 I like doing the parties for that reason! Whatever you come up with they'll love it.
That said, I tend to adjust the routine depending on the comfort/skill level of the girls… some flail at the idea of spinning and are scared to even take their feet off the ground and much prefer the transition-y stuff, while some are a little stronger/more athletic or more daring and want to learn a bunch of spins. If I have a mixed group I'll create a little routine with the spins added but give an alternate move for those who don't feel comfortable spinning (ie: side spin to the floor or just sliding down to the floor with the back on the pole, fireman spin or "hula hooping" around the pole, etc).
Anyway, as for basic spins, generally some of the easier ones for beginners are the half/dip spin, the fireman, martini, side spin, and the back hook. For transitions, the basic pole walk (with additions.. hair flips, hip dips, swivels, etc), sexy squats/sits are good, basic floor work (including crawling, the money shot, pinwheel legs, sexy push up), peekarounds (where you hold the pole, bend down, look behind you.. lots of ways to do these!), body rolls, simple pirouettes…
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Yes, use a spotter… it's a pretty common move to fall out of when first learning!
I personally learned caterpillar/aysha using the elbow grip… I tried both and found balancing in forearm grip impossible at first, but now I prefer forearm because of the extra security of hand grip. Try both and see what works best for you! I teach them both at the same time and let everyone choose what they are more comfortable with.
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I think working on your caterpillar (and climb) and the extended butterfly is the best way to build up, as you said, particularly the caterpillar.
-The extended butterfly because it gets you used to holding your body weight away from the pole
-The caterpillar because it also gets you used to holding your core away from the pole, it gets you used to the upper body positioning, and it is a fantastic all around-strength exercise. Make sure, in your caterpillar, you are pushing OUT with your hand and pulling UP with your legs.
The aysha is hugely about balance as well, not just strength, so when you come into caterpillar, make sure you are pulling up enough with your legs so that your knees are parallel or slightly lower than your butt (like in this photo: http://www.verticaldance.co.uk/caterpilla.jpg). That will make balancing a lot easier.
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Yes, try searching Etsy and Ebay, you can find some great stuff. Check dancewear stores too. This is a good one online:
http://www.dancewearsolutions.com/dancewear/performance/Default.aspx
On that same note, you can often find some great stuff at adult novelty stores, but you have to be careful as a lot of that stuff isn't designed to prevent wardrobe malfunction (quite the opposite, actually…) I found a super cute black sequined monokini at Lover's Lane for my first performance and just wore plain black boyshorts over it to prevent any flashing.
There's always also buying basic tops and bottoms from a place you like (ie Mika) and jazzing them up yourself. Visit a crafting store and they have tons of ribbons, flowers, crystals, embellishments, shiny fabric, anything you could ever imagine, seriously. Get a hot glue gun and get to work!! I made an awesome top like this once.
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My bf was like that at first (his response any time I mentioned going to pole class: "gross") but he's come around. Give it some time and try to ease him into it… my boyfriend probably would have been pissed at the idea of me performing in the beginning but I'm headed to a regional competition this month and he's really excited for me.
Have you shown him videos of Chinese pole? Nothing sexual about that. Why is it gymnastic and athletic on uneven bars but flip the bar vertical and suddenly it's immoral and slutty? LOL. Try showing him some of the more artsy/athletic videos of pole with no shoes, no sexy dance… it's no different than any other gymnastic or circus apparatus. Try also explaining about the pole community itself… I mean, it's 90% women who are appreciating this for goodness sake!! Lol.
But yeah, give it a little bit of time and if he remains adamant, it's your call. Sometimes it does take people a while to get rid of their preconceived notions about what "pole dancing" means. I personally feel like mentioning that I pole dance is an easy way to weed out the type of people I need to stay away from honestly. I don't need that kind of closed minded misogyny around. 🙂
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I'll chime in for Pleasers too… I have narrow feet and have a hard time finding shoes that don't slide around on my feet. Pleasers are the only ones that fit snug. With dance shoes I go with a smaller shoe than I normally would… like, with normal shoes you should choose a shoe slightly too big over slightly too small, but I find with dance heels having them fit very tightly is IMPORTANT or they become a hazard with all that foot sliding. Perhaps try sizing down as well.
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Giiirl count your blessings… my pole is 6'10"!! My old one was 8' and I thought it was short… until I moved down to the basement. You will adjust!
You learn to work with it… I can still get two climbs out of my pole, I just have to kind of crouch around on the second climb. I don't really do drops so I can't help you there… but my favorite way to invert to get maximum space to execute combos is to take a climb, come into a tuck invert then extend into a V right at the top, and hook one leg into gemini right by the ceiling dome.
Combinations are the trickiest part since you slide a little with each move, but you learn to use space really efficiently. I can still do pretty much all the power moves… Iron X, handsprings, aerial shoulder mounts, etc. Good luck!
