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Hokay, here’s what I would say:
-def practice against the wall. If you’re not making it up to the pole, it’s not an arching problem, it’s probably a "commitment" problem. I know this because I’ve had this problem with handstands in the past. It’s a lot about the fear of kicking over too far, which is why practising against the wall is great because you will learn just how much kick you need to put in it. Another possibility is finding a spotter who you trust completely and kicking up into a handstand in front of them so they can grab/hold your feet. Kinda like the wall but less fear of falling/slipping to the side etc. But the key is to find someone you do trust to catch you because otherwise you will continue to have the commitment problem (if that’s what it is – again, this is based completely on my prev experience)
-when you do practise against the pole, try bending one of your legs at the knee with it turned out (much the same position as you would have your leg in a CKR). This provides a stabler target to rest against the pole then once the other leg is up there, you can straighten both from a position where the pole is supporting you. I’m pretty sure it’s the first leg that bends btw. This part is a bit hard to explain in words but hopefully you get the gist. Good luck!

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Ha I think we must have a touch of pole-twin-itis ‘cos I too was doing the yogini the other and slipped and slammed down on my knee! And I’m pretty sure you’ll always need skin for that one (feel free to correct me on this anyone!). I haven’t blamed someone else for a pole mishap but it runs in my family to get flustered when something happens and blame it on the person who just happened to be standing nearby talking to us at the time!

That apple story – SO cute though!!

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I would check with my local customs office if I were you (presuming you mean the fees for when it comes into the country). That’s what I did when I was looking at how much it would cost to get a pole here to NZ

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Damn I hope MY legs are that good when I hit 72!!

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I know this is so not the point of the post but how do you get into brass monkey from the CAR??

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Great article!

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How jealous am I of you right now, learning with her?? And all you guys who are off to pole jam!

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I always figure people bring their different strengths to pole. For me, I have a dance background so that’s what I’m going to bring to my poling – I’m reasonably strong and fit but for various reasons there’s only a limited number of big tricks I can do so I try and throw them into routines where they’ll have the most impact but make everything else dancey. You can often tell when watching clips on the youtubes what people’s backgrounds are too – the links that Amyxshi posted for example; I happen to know that Amy has a degree in dance (so we’re talking years of training!)and that definitely comes through in her pole. At a guess, I’d say that Oona (who is amazing btw! I’d not seen her before) has been a competitive gymnast some time in her not too distant past because of the way she moves and the way she gets into her moves. Other people you can tell have a more exotic dancing background, others a more acrobatic past. Anyway, I think what I’m trying to say is that if your strength is tricks, then there’s nothing wrong with that.

Having said that though, I find that "freestyling" is quite a good way to practise your transitional moves. Just putting on a song and dancing round to it helps get the juices flowing. The more often you do that, the more comfortable you’ll feel with it and if you get other people going at the same time, you’ll feel less self conscious:) And remember there are plenty of different types of dance you can draw on for inspiration – there’s traditional pole dancing kind of moves, throw in a bit of latin or ballroom type footwork or flourishes, if hip-hop’s your thing I’ve seen some pretty awesome hip hop pole routines, ballet type routines, belly dancing, etc etc. It doesn’t have to be all about the bump and grind!

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I haven’t got a pole but it seems likely that I would name it if I had one:) https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif I like to name things and my workmate thinks I’m a weirdo for naming my car but that’s pretty common…right?? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif

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We were lucky enough to se her perform live earlier this year – it may have been that routine even, definitely the same song anyway. She was fantastic but does use grip aid of some description if that makes a difference to anyone in terms of trying it out? There’s one routine of hers on the youtubes somewhere where she does a knee hold to the Village People song YMCA and does the arm actions – I totally love it! She’s definitely worth tracking down more routines of if you guys like that one – her name’s Kym and she works for Girlfriend Fun Fitness I think?

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Thanks for watching Veena https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif I tend to be much more dance focussed in my pole routines because I have more a dance than acrobatic background/ability and I’m stoked that I could finally get one of my routines up here finally, albeit not in the best of filming technology;p

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Thanks guys:)

Empyrean, this was my 3rd time performing pole in a show (once in a predominantly pole show and now twice in burlesque shows) but it doesn’t get any less nerve wracking!! Luckily for me I was the 2nd act on so I could relax and watch the rest of the show once I was done:)

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So unfortunately I didn’t stick the ayesha in the end:/ But out of the whole audience, including people from my studio who’d seen me choreographing and practising the routine, only one person noticed that it didn’t quite happen and that was mostly just ‘cos he’s a fellow poler who knew I was nervous about getting it. Part of the problem was that the stage ceiling was significantly lower than I’d practised on so I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to do my caterpillar climbing that precedes the move! Anyhue, c’est la vie and all that and I’d done an impromptu performance at my studio for a small class of newbies when I went in for final practising on Wednesday night and nailed the ayesha then so that’s something:) And by all accounts, the rest of the routine was a crowd pleaser https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumright.gif

And you know what this means right? I have to put the ayesha in every routine till I get it perfect:) https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif

(ps. my sis took some pics for me but they’re not so good and her fiance also took a bit of vid on his phone. When I’ve got some time, I’ll have a fossick through and see if I can find anything worth posting here:)). Thanks again for support and suggestions!

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Thanks for all your suggestions people! I was practicising last night and the normal butterfly (Amyxshi, this is what we call the lotus ) at our studio) seems to be a good move to head into if my balance isn’t right. My routines are generally quite dance based rather than trick-based so I like to choose/place my inverts for maximum impact if I can and I think the butterfly will be a pretty good substitute.

I will let you all know how the show goes!With a bit of luck I can get some pics too:) Thanks all for your support – shows are so nervewracking bu awesome fun at the same time! This will be my 3rd time performing pole at a show and this is definitely my most ambitious in terms of moves so wish me non-sweaty hands for tomorrow night:) https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_bounce.gif

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Sissy, normally I would steer well clear of using anything that wasn’t solid in a show but the wow factor plus the fact I can stick it *most* of the time makes me want to try it:) I’m just a cautious person by nature so want to cover contingencies so gathering alternate options just in case seems like a good plan to me!

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When I was first learning the hip hold, I learnt it with my hands actually holding onto my legs (as is done in the jade split), which helps you get used to the feeling of squidging the pole in the right place. So I inverted, only hooked my first leg round while still holding onto the pole, lowered the other leg down towards my face and grabbed on round the back of that leg to create the grip. Once that was steady enough, then I’d lower the other leg and grab round that and pretty bingo, look mom no hands (on the pole). From there, I progressed to gripping my first leg with both hands (ie one leg was still free) and then one day I was like "Hey, I wonder what would happen if I just didn’t hold on with my hands" so put my hands out so there was a bit of grip under my inside arm too(ie. arms going opposite way to legs) and so my journey to the hip hold was complete:) I don’t know if this is how anyone else works up to it but it worked a treat for me::)

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Holy crap, Felix never fails to make me drop my jaw at her performances. I wish that everybody in the world who has misconceptions about pole had to watch at least one of her routines so they could fully appreciate the sport at its epitome!

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Thanks so much for the motivation Joni:) As soon as I’ve got my next show out of the way, I’m going to go hard core on praticising the cartwheel again and will let you know how that goes https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_compress.gif

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To be fair, she looks like she bends in ways that most regular folks don’t https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif

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Yay you! And your original problem is exactly what I’m struggling with currently so it’s great to hear that it’s not an insurmountable problem!!

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Awesome!!

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Urgh I remember doing dance exams etc when I was a teenager and we would get marked down if the examiners caught us not smiling (my face still hurts to think about it!) but grinning like a loon just doesn’t cut it for pole. I often think it can be more about the angle of your head or the extension of your limbs that can help get across an emotion through the dance rather than necessarily what shape your mouth is taking on. A snappy head turn for a high energy kind of a dance, a slow unfurling of your arm/hand for something slower and sadder, that kind of thing. I’m picking up a few tips from the burlesque classes I’ve started doing too, like kinda keeping your chin down a bit while looking at your audience instead of having it too high (which actually makes a bit more sense in RL context rather than typing it here!). Just my thoughts on the matter anyway:)

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As both a runner and a pole dancer, you completely have my commiserations about your feet being so inconsiderate about your daily activities;p Just a thought about at least maintaining up body strength, to add on to what someone else said about doing pole pull ups, maybe you could use/invest in a swiss ball to sit on beside the pole and do combo upper body and core stuff – at least that way you can do things with the pole without having to stand? If you get what I mean (eg. use both the ball and the pole at the same time, sit on the ball right beside the pole where you’d normally stand, grab onto the pole, engage your core and invert etc – that’s the way one of our instructors prepares people for inverting). Just an idea anyway!

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I really enjoyed watching the MPDNZ – the first comp I’ve seen in RL! And I have to give you props Sonia for trying the move again even after you’d fallen – congrats on your placing.

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Post by SissyBuns on Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:59 pm

Sassafrassle wrote:If I’m working on some choreography, I always always start with a song (which may be difficult if your music’s disappeared). I listen to it on repeat (often when I’m walking to work in the morning) and start to imagine what moves go with which bits of the music and actually start the choreo process in my head. Then once I get to the pole, it’s a case of checking to see what of the brain-based routine actually works in reality and looks good and just filling in the gaps. From what I’ve seen online though, it’s not always that common to work in so closely with the music (eg. people just dance and the music is secondary) but that’s just the way I roll. I know that some of the tutors in our studio suggest taping yourself freestyling to a song a couple of times and then watching it to pull out what looks/good/works for you etc. Good luck with whatever you end up doing anyway – competition=exciting! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumleft.gif

I am always choregraphing routines in my head but I never actually try them because the imaginary sissybuns kicks ass. The real life sissybuns can’t do a lot of stuff and gets tired easily, lmao!

LOLS Sissy! The imaginary Sass is much the same – maybe the two imaginaries should jam sometime! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif