[blueeyes]

Thanks for the links Chemgoddess! I looked up that Tantra Tutorial, but I think I had to pay for it. But I'm going to try you guys' tips and see how it goes! Thank you all again! 

[blueeyes]

AMY — I nailed it the first time! It was all about getting that elbow right above my hipbone..! Thank you ladies for all the advice… xoxo

[blueeyes]

You ladies rock… I'm going to give this a shot again.. it'll still probably take a while for attaining the strength aspect… I'll keep you updated 🙂

[blueeyes]

I had trouble balancing my split grips also, its all about keeping your hips in! Record yourself and look at where your body is, and learn what you need to fix. For me, my hips/butt were too far away from the pole – losing balance. ALWAYS practice from on the pole first before kicking up from the ground…. I promise you will learn quicker this way! I also recommend your top arm in Split Grip to be slightly bent. This helps you control your balance better, pulling your hips in with the top arm.

SHELLECTRA – I had the same problem with TG. I could do it on the pole for months with great control, but couldnt figure out how to kick up into it. It just hit me one day. Dont put your hands too high! Lower your hands and COMMIT to your kick.

[blueeyes]

You also have to pay to compete… that makes me uncomfortable.

[blueeyes]

TG a beginner move? Jenyne does it all the time!

I will admit it's a fairly easy grip once you get it. It is something that I have worked on for MONTHS and MONTHS. I just recently got comfortable with it. It did pull and strain my shoulder quite a bit when I tried to kick into it from the floor. So to avoid injury, I did what the other girls are saying. Get into an inverted crucifix and get into TG from there. I got VERY comfy with holding it, doing poses and lowering myself from it SLOWLY. I did this for about a month or so, and built up the strength to kick up into it. I don't think kicking up into it is dangerous as long as you have the arm strength. It more or less just gets you into position so you can pull yourself with your arms and pull your hips in. Its really fun once you get it. Its alllll about practice and not rushing!

[blueeyes]

So they posted the finalists, but I thought there were supposed to be 12 pro finalists… and I only see 8? Does anybody know why this is? Did all the others just not submit you think??

[blueeyes]

You’ll get it in no time! The knee hold is painfulll at first! I had a swollen knee all bruised up. I promise the pain will cease as long as you keep at it. You really need to cross your ankles… you may want to have your bottom knee a little closer to your top knee to help you reach your ankles. Your hips look fine, it’ll come!

[blueeyes]

Don’t use momentum! just climb it and do what you normally do, dont worry about making it spin a lot at first. Get comfortable being on it. I rarely use any momentum on spinny pole really, my body weight is enough to do.

[blueeyes]

Ouch! Glad you were ok! And thank you for the tip! I never even thought of doing that, cant wait to try it!

[blueeyes]

Yeah, Im sure its very similar. I couldnt imagine doing the side jade that she is referring to no handed though.. that would be tough. Its all about squeezing, and the momentum of spinning helps you stay on the pole too for the no handed cradle.

[blueeyes]

Oh man… I think a few of us will have the guts to admit we were waiting and pretty much expecting Jenyne to steal the title this year. I am so disappointed (NOT IN HER!) with how things went. Those poles were WAY too short for starters, I mean damn, they might as well have done the competition in my living room…

Felix’s routines are pretty much the same, but I did like how she got a little edgier this year.

And yeah what was up with Oona?!?!? Crystal beat her into finals? I’ll say it if no one else will! haha… And I have been a fan of Rafaela for a long time now, so glad to see her place! She’s phenominal! either way, they were all beautiful performers who all gave outstanding performances. It was a joy to watch.

[blueeyes]

Can you hold yourself just with the belly part…? You need to be able to do both before you roll over. If you can do both, my only advice is to SQUEEZE SQUEEZE SQUEEZE!! pull that leg in VERY tight, so that pole cant escape your thigh and belly!

[blueeyes]

Agreed! I have to REALLY concentrate to get mine flat. Karol gave me the good tip about putting your hand under your bum to help you balance (this also allows your upper arm to help grip the pole). It’s all trial and error like all the others :p

[blueeyes]

youtube.com/lindylex

[blueeyes]

The amatuer contestant videos are up… do a uspdf search… NOW! they will be gone!

[blueeyes]

I feel like we shouldnt be tagging the videos as uspdf on youtube, thats just asking for them to be taken down!

[blueeyes]

its a bit risky! haha, i guess i can post it on here? I need to put them on my computer first, ill try to have them up sometime tomorrow, stephanie!

[blueeyes]

I got a clip of Estee’s performance, only because it was to a Lacuna Coil song that I absolutely love.
I also got Allegra & Jenyne’s performances (shame on me!) But I couldnt help myself.

The performances were definitely amazing. Zoraya did phenominal! As did Jessalynn… I’m suprised that neither of them placed to be honest. Zoraya had the cutest white outfit on & did her optional barefoot (as did Jessalyn) and Zoraya’s strength is AMAZING. I thought Jessalynn’s movements were so beautiful & she flowed from one pole to the other so well. Im truly suprised niether of them placed.

Am I allowed to say that I was disappointed with Leigh Ann’s performance? The music was SO distracting, because it switched up every 30 seconds or so.

Alethea did fantastic, I am SO biased though https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif Her first performance was to deftones… I think a variation on their song Change? Cant exactly remember… & her optional was to Tool. Yes, she did spins & inverts with the handcuffs moving up along the pole with her… it was hot! She did a good job concealing her taking them off by dancing and doing contortion type moves to distract. I want to say she messed up her handspring about 3/4ths through. She droped down from it before she landed a pose. Am I correct? However, I talked to Brook Notary (one of the judges) and she said that mess ups do not hold high value to them as long as transitions and everything else is good. They are very forgiving to sliding & mess ups…

[blueeyes]

Thurs
2pm – 3:30: Jenyne USPDF– GatorGirl4life
3:30 – 5 pm: Allegra spinning pole USPDF – ottersocks, GatorGirl4Life
4pm – 5:30: Contortion B&P– amyxshi
5pm – 6:30pm: Alethea USPDF- TrophyWife, PhillyPoleJess, PoledanceVienna
6:30 – 8pm: Jenyne USPDF- amyxshi, ottersocks, Phillypolejess, PoledanceVienna

Fri
9:00 – 10:30 AM Michula Nunez USPDF —
10:30 – 12:00 PM Spinning pole w/Allegra USPDF —

Sat
9:30 – 11am: Estee B&P–ottersocks, bauderlady
10:00 – 11:30am Wendy Traskos USPDF —
10am – 11:30am: Spinning pole with Allegra (MPD Australia) USPDF – Fleur, Karol, Blueeyes
11:30am – 1:00pm Jenyne USPDF–
11:30am – 1:00pm Amber Richard USPDF– amyxshi, sandybrown
1pm – 2:30: Brooke USPDF–ottersocks
1pm – 2:30: Jenyne USPDF– terp258
2pm – 3:30: Contortion B&P– PoledanceVienna
2:30 – 4pm: Alethea USPDF- amyxshi, tracee, dayanara, GatorGirl4life
4pm – 5:30: Miss USPDF winner–
5:30 – 7 pm: Karol USPDF- TrophyWife, terp258
7pm – 8:30pm: Amber USPDF- tracee, Foxy_Rei
8:00 – 9:30 pm: Karol USPDF- sandybrown

Sun
10am – 11:30: Amber B&P–PoledanceVienna
12:30 – 2pm: Leigh Ann B&P- sandybrown, PoledanceVienna, LuvlyJ, Gatorgirl4life
2:15 – 3:45: Alethea B&P- PoledanceVienna
4:30-5:30 Alethea B&P – LuvlyJ
7:15 – 8:45: Karol B&P- amyxshi

[blueeyes]

Stellarmotion did a great job of displaying how to get into it here, more slowly and closer up than Jenyne’s video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGMnb1RDPT4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can see where this looks like twisted ballerina… Jenyne taught us this one but I dont remember it very well… I do remember it was a lot easier to get into than what David is doing to get into it… so it seems like if you try to go into it straight from twisted ballerina as opposed to bending down and twisting your arm up the pole, you’d fall off?

Does anyone have a video of jenyne or anyone doing twisted ballerina for comparison?

I tried this move last night and only got about half way there, I got the pole around my upper arm but not in my armpit, so it didn’t seem stable enough to let go. Going to try again as soon as I get over being sick.

Hey MissJulie, if you look at my page… theres only one video I posted & I got into the flying ballerina from twisted ballerina. I found this easier. I found that the grip is NOT in my armpit, but on my upper bicep… I found that my arm wouldnt stay in place, when i attempted to release my bottom foot… my whole body would twist causing my bicep to lose its position of grip. (if that mades any sense) This is why I do this move on spinny mode… because my body weight shifts the pole, not my arm positioning. I have yet to try it on static again, but I hope this helps!

[blueeyes]

Thank you PoleChamp! That sounds exactly right, im glad I can identify it now https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif

[blueeyes]

Hey there, it sounds like you got it – you just need to keep practicing. I found it helpful to do reverse shoulder mounts (get into an inverted crucifix & curl your body up placing your shoulder onto the pole, allowing your shoulder to support your body weight & slowly let yourself down off the pole). Those helped me immensely. Practice holding the V position once you get there. If youre comfortable with an inverted crucifix, then you just have to remember that your legs WILL support you once you get up there. There is definitely a split second where youre grip isnt good, but thats when your legs should be enough on the pole to support you once you let go.

It’s a toughy, you probably just need to get rid of the fear, i think you can do it https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[blueeyes]

Hey ladies! Guess what?? I GOT IT! Ugh… it was a pain in the rear, but i did it… it doesnt look near as good as Jenyne’s & Jessalynn’s… but at least I understand the hold so I can work on extending my legs out more. Im *hoping* to put together a video of my trial & errors & explain what I did to make it work… butttt it is Christmas Eve & I dont want to spend it on here for an hour or so making the video… so i’ll probably have it up the day after Christmas or possibly before… but i just wanted to share this news with you all!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[blueeyes]

Yeah Stellar, i think im going to keep trying from a seated position, id have to do more adjusting from the pretzel… & yeah, i saw it the video where Jessalynn did it too, she did awesome.
The twisted ballerina? hmm… i think that fits