Rachel Osborne
Forum Replies Created
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Sometimes I dance blindfolded – here’s a freestyle from a while ago
https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/55425327-7ec8-4b12-818a-439d0a9aa0eb
I usually dance with my eyes closed or unfocused, relying on muscle memory and proprioception – I would never presume to tell someone with visual impairments that pole will be easy because it isn’t! But I do believe that many dancers with many physical or mental challenges all bring beauty and diversity to our pole world and that we can all learn from each other. And that dance is the whole body and soul speaking and nobody should feel silenced
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I apparently do not care about whizzing about upside down on fast spin in any kind of leg/heel/hip/thigh hold – but I HATE caterpillar and inverted crucifix and bat and any kind of nose to pole invert relying on handstand power and holding between my knees. Even basic invert I hate; never feel secure catching pole between knees and ankles.
I decided that as I pole for own joy – to enjoy flying and dancing – I was not going to beat myself up about the fact that I can’t, and do not actually want – to do Ayesha, handspring and all those handstandy moves, especially as I don’t agree with twisted grip generally and it’s particularly dangerous for my hypermobile shoulders.
I do make an effort to train headstands on and off pole and pole handstands but there is enough scary stuff in pole already that I want to conquer more. I dance around my fears, and when I feel especially badass or strong, I do a little extra dance towards my fear, come a little closer to the nemesis, try a little harder…and slowly it comes to me. But there is no rush. Maybe one day I will do cup grip phoenix. Meanwhile…I’m perfecting this…trying that…training these…and I feel happy and safe and without realizing it, I’m doing the drills and building the skills that I need to smash the demons – when I’m ready, body and soul, to do so.
Courage! It’s your dance! Don’t rush! Enjoy where you are and fly without fear and guilt and stress! The pole, and the pole community is there for you to dance with.
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I will try and film an entry tomorrow if I am having a grippy day. It’s mega humid so not been doing much inverts because the pole is being slippy and weird.
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I think…its lady legs brass knee layback
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Welcome! I am 45. I restarted pole 3 years ago and got my own pole 2 years ago. For the last year I have trained alone, with SV tutorials and social media challenges as my motivation. I don’t categorize myself as intermediate, advanced or whatever. I just do my thing but I find most scope for dance joy and creative self expression on spin pole, doing classic fundamental pole moves – many of which are categorized as beginner or intermediate. I do like some advanced tricks but I think I could spend years playing in leg hangs and pole sits and hip holds and never be bored. Welcome to the pole family. Enjoy your flying time.
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So sad to hear. Rest in peace and I hope her spirit continues to dance on ✨✨
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Still so excited for you 🙃👰ðŸ»ðŸ’ƒðŸ»
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So excited! This is my nemesis!
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Thanks so much everyone for the great input and advice. Knew I could count on you. I have always avoided handstands on the pole and stuff like pencil, Ayesha, handsprings and cartwheels and found other ways to express myself on the pole but now I am feeling more ready to experiment a bit (once my injuries are fully healed). I will train cup true and split grips and see how I get on.💜
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The lady who wrote this blog is now walking again.
https://fitbitlinny.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/back-break-recovery-week-1/
She fell from Ayesha.Sobering reading. So glad she is recovering so well.
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Thanks so much for the detailed thoughtful feedback in your posts guys. Really appreciate it. Congrats Phoenix on your awesome recent achievements😀
. I haven’t tried any sort of handspringing at all, mainly because I thought cup and true grip were much harder than TG but as I couldn’t do twisted I should just not go there. And I am very nervous of kick up moves and arm strength moves – I prefer to use my legs and core to do advanced tricks as I know they are strong. I have fallen out of Ayesha attempts before and now that move frightens me.Really should start thinking about at least trying handsprings though or cartwheel mounts. Even if just to say ok they aren’t my thing. So will try the lowering down from reverse crucifix and feeling out different grips. Should I focus on being comfortable in Ayesha and Inverted D before I try handspring? It makes sense to me to nail that first…
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So saddening to hear so many stories of falling. I hope you are all healing mentally and physically. I fall regularly but usually land like a cat (years of horse riding meant I learned a lot about falling from a moving object at speed and from a height…)
But in January this year I fell really badly. I’ve always had a fear of inverted moves where my arms are behind my back and there’s nothing to cushion my head if I let go…I was demonstrating iguana fang on quite a fast spin and my grip just went. I had a split second choice as to whether to try to take the blow on the squishy bridge of my nose or twist my head and try take it on my collarbone/shoulder but risk my neck.I went with nose. Noses are pretty easy to fix. I took the fall really well and did a textbook roll to shoulder and tuck – but I lost a lot of skin from my nose and it scarred my face and for a month I had a scab there, a horrible reminder. Afterwards I was very pole-shy. It’s almost April and I am still very cautious. I don’t push it and am staying in my repertoire of movements and gradually pushing the boundaries back. I let myself just dance and flow with no pressure, simple pretty things.
I know why I fell, and this is IMPORTANT and why I share this story.
For months and months my passion for pole, and my desire to add to my dance repertoire and to use pole as therapy to deal with life stresses meant I was overtraining and pushing my shoulders and forearms too hard. They became inflamed. I didn’t rest or stretch or condition them enough. They became more and more knotted and angry and exhausted and the inflammation got worse. And the small muscles in the shoulder girdle and forearms, they are what determine your grip strength.
My grip failed because I failed my body. I did not listen to it. I didn’t give it what it needed.
I wonder how many pole injuries, like mine, are actually avoidable and happen because the dancer is assuming her strength is the same at the end of the practice as it is at the start? Or that she is as strong on her third day training as her first?
We push our bodies so damn hard. I used to tell myself ‘be a machine’.
I am not a machine.
I was lucky.
I am still trying to put my learnings into practice.
To listen to my body and to take rest days and when I am tired, to just stop, or switch it down and do simple grateful flow. -
30 days to flight is the BEST thing ever for new dancers, returning/post baby or injury dancers
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Pretty sure you are talking flag invert to brass monkey hook. So the Veena flag invert lesson is what you want.
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Seems to be all sorted! Thanks again!
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Posted one, which was fine, had to do the usual tapping the phone screen so it didn’t screen lock and stop upload but it posted ok, thanks Webmaster. Going to try another one now
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Beautiful ðŸ˜
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Thank you! Pole spam alert!
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Thank you! I have just done my best freestyle ever I am bursting to post it!😂
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ðŸ˜ðŸ˜” Sad face because I have a backlog of freestyle pole spam and tricking that I am dying to post
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I noticed that previously when uploading I had to constantly touch the iPhone screen because if it went back to lock screen energy saving mode the upload stopped.
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Gets to 4% and then won’t upload any more
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Still no good.
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Ok will do 🙠Thanks
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Gosh I am glad I wasn’t on that class because I would probably have left in tears. I would definitely have sat it out next to you. I can do a bunch of interesting things on a pole but I can’t handspring, cartwheel or flip and I can’t Ayesha or kick into handstand. I never feel at all secure in a caterpillar or actually, in a basic inverted crucifix and I am 45 years old and scared of breaking my neck. So there.
I am good at spin flow – and that is because I LOVE spin pole flow and my only interest in tricks is: will they look good as part of a flowing, dreamy, floating spinning pole dance. Because that’s what I want my pole story to be about. I want to amaze and captivate myself and my chosen audience (which is fellow polers) by seeming to float and fly in the air around the pole. I want to look at my videos (which use lights and filters galore) and see performance art, creative lyrical flow DANCE which makes me happy and proud. My dance, my way, telling my story.
That is literally all I care about.
I would like to be able to bust out a Phoenix one day because I think it looks beautiful in a dance – but there are a bunch of ways to fly up and invert on a pole without exploding my rotator cuffs. I don’t want to even go anywhere with twisted grip because for me, with hypermobility making my shoulder girdle permanently unstable it is just bloody dangerous. I would rather perfect the basics on aerial and spinning than bust tricks from the floor that risk seriously injuring me.
I don’t go to pole classes any more. I pole jam with friends, book the odd private, use Veena lessons and pick up tricks via online tutorials, do instagram challenges and attend a local yoga studio.
Talking to your instructor and trying some stuff out in a 1:1 sounds a great way to challenge yourself safely – and asking for a flow class, or switching levels to find a class where your style sparkles is gods advice.
Good luck! There is room in the pole world for us all! This isn’t gymnastics or ballet or figure skating!
Yet.
