my friend and former-coworker, Heather Maggs was coming up to NYC this weekend and wanted to take a beginners climb and spin with me, so we signed up for this morning class. first off, there were 10 people in it, which was a little crazy. I am so used to taking class with small amounts of people, that it was a little bit of a shock. plus we were in the smaller studio, which didn't make any sense. I barely got my stretching in, since I was right next to the door that went into the lobby and people kept going through it.
I had never before taken a pole class with Gabrielle and was surprised at the combos we were doing right off the bat. not much of downtime, hip circles or transitional work like Lauren, but rather climb, descent, fan kick, spin, spin, splits, floor work and back up. Heather did a good job considering it was her first time and learned how to hold herself up on the first level of a climb. it was a great combo, but just a lot of moves and quickly at that. I do have to say that at one point, I did land a spin not directly on my right heel and fell off my shoe, sort of twisting my ankle a bit. even now, two days later, it's a bit sore, so I'm taking today off to give my ankle, hands and wrists a rest.
pheon walked into the studio and we asked Gabrielle is she was going to be doing the same routine and since it was a yes, I decided to stay and give it some more practice. so saturday I got two hours of pole in and realized I am gripping the pole too hard when I spin, thus causing the blisters and torn skin on my fingers and pole burn on my wrists. I DID however work out my chair spin, which is looking nice and really felt good about the routine at the end of the second hour. Pheon took video, so here we go!
pheon was supposed to make it to open pole this am, but wasn't able to due to work, so there were only 3 of us in open pole today. Anna did a good job taking her time with each one of us, going down the line and working with us on what we wanted to do in that hour. one girl was inverting, another was working on her illusions and I continued my testing. I should start working on my routine for August, but I'll do that on Sunday. it proved to be a good decision on my part because I checked off a few more things!
- lunges (spins) - CHECKED OFFoutside hook, making sure that knee is against the pole like a regular front lunge is, while the back leg is straight. start off with a basic star prep move and fall into the spin, using that outside leg to swing around and gain momentum for the spin. make sure not to look at the ground, but rather over your shoulder at your back leg. one thing that Anna mentioned is that once I put my stilettos on, I get a great deal of height, but I'm not using it to my advantage, I need to whip that leg around and get some spin on it.
- sundial/double attitude - still not checked off. this is the double attitude move that I described before. still need to get my torso straight and core tight, position my hip out and back, pulling my back leg back and towards the other side of my body. when I stood at the pole and Anna helped me just put my leg in the air, in the position it's supposed to be in the spin, damn that hurts! still have to work on this one, but I think I'm getting a bit better.
- straddle (spin) - ugh! keeping your body straight and your core tight is hard. it's all the little things that you have to think about that makes pole dancing harder than just whipping yourself around a pole. need to get those legs straight, even if they're not as high as they should be.
- floorwork - CHECKED OFF pedals, straddle waves, in/out, shoulder rolls (first time doing them! like a backwards somersault)
- transitions - CHECKED OFF hip circles, body wave, dips
I get a few great tips from Anna this morning: - she told me to overexaggerate my moves, don't be afraid to mess up, because it will force my body to reposition itself correctly (keeping core tight and straight). - she noticed a blister on my right pinky finger (damn it hurts!) and pole burn on my wrists. this is because I'm gripping the pole too hard and dragging my wrists against the pole. I need to LOCK my wrists when I do my spins and hold my arms correctly or else I'll end up with more pole burn (which was killing me today) and tension in my forearms (which I am totally feeling right now).
great open pole! can't wait for class with my friend Heather tomorrow morning then a semi-private class with Suzanne, Shirley and Pheon on Sunday evening. gotta get ready for the recital!
there were four of us in class last night and the routine was a lot of fun. it was actually just a spin class, we didn't get to any climbs. probably because we were working on out freehang angel legs spin into outside hook (fireman spin). making sure that your body stays away from the pole, you keep your body straight and don't go flying everywhere takes a lot of work, but I did well with it and went into the outside hook after a few tries. ok, not just a few tries. a lot of tries :) but it definitely felt good!
the routine started with 2 half divets, followed with a full divet (repeat this 3 times), step into a full turn around the pole, a half illusion, stepping your inside leg out far enough so you don't get caught up in it during the next part. bring your outside leg to the inside leg, stick it out in the air and slide down the pole on your back, with one leg straight and the other bent. the floorwork included some flutters, straddles and rolling into position to pick your legs up from underneath you into a straddle and then onto the floor in a squat position. I was better at getting that straddle in on my right side, didn't do it on the left. once up, we took it into that freehang angel into outside hook. not took crazy of a routine and it was great to work on that freehang, which I'd only tried once before.
I returned from Maryland on Tuesday night and jumped right back into the thick of it with a beginner's climb & spin class with Kira on Wednesday morning at 11am. Pheon also decided to take class with me and it was just the two of us :)
the top of my right foot that got all scratched up last week from the brass pole is still healing, but my right hands have healed completely. however... I think I must have jammed my left hand somehow b/c it seems as if my middle and ring finger on my left hand are stiff to the point of aching and unable to grip things as tightly as before. last night I put a splint on the middle finger, but I think something is messed up around the middle knuckle, b/c that's the area that hurts. I will say that my hand still aches now (Thursday morning) and it was definitely hard to grip the pole with my left hand, especially when we were doing the routine on my left side yesterday. we'll see how today goes.
back to the class. I had never taken class with Kira before and she was very different than the other teachers. she had us practice our chair spins and climbing with a stag descent before going into the routine. then we just added those into it. I had attempted the chair spin at home at Xpose, but Kira really cut it down step by step so you had an understanding of what exactly you were supposed to do to get into the spin. the same with the stag descent. we worked on (at the top of the climb) really taking the time to get that bicep grip in place before moving our body to the side of the pole, straight legs, then going into a stag, with the outside leg bent and the inside leg straight. Kira said that my bicep grip was looking really good and it felt nice to slowly take the time and get the fundamentals down. She is all about getting the basics down and taking the time to do so. it was a great class. I look forward to taking another class with her since my days are open.
Wed, June 9th: pole level 3/4 @ Xpose Fitness in Annapolis, Maryland
I've been home in Southern Maryland since Fri, 6/4th and it was about time that I made my way to Xpose for a pole class. I only knew that this studio was here b/c Lauren (from NY Pole Dancing) started pole dancing at their Towson location years ago. I called the other day to ask if I needed a reservation and if I could wear my stilettos. NO & NO. damn, so my (well, Annie's) broken stilettos made it all the way to Maryland for nothing! a little disappointed that I couldn't dance in stilettos (your heel has to have the surface space of atleast a quarter), but I happily went barefoot and everything was ok. I figured I could skip to levels 3 and 4 b/c I know how to climb. it all worked out for the best :)
first it was super easy to find, off of Riva Road in Annapolis and everyone there was super friendly! from the front desk to my instructor, Rachal and my fellow classmates, it was awesome. one thing that I was not prepared for was the existence of brass poles in the studio. damn. I could tell my fingers were hurting more than ever, but I didn't realize that trying to do the spins on the brass pole was actually rubbing my skin to the side and opened up like a blister would. brass poles are used by top level dancers b/c they are "stickier" than chrome poles (which we use at NY Pole Dancing). my hands (and tops of my feet) were not prepared, as you can see!
in the beginning of the routine, Rachal demonstrated a carousel spin, where you are basically in a sitting position and you whip around your outside leg, ending where your outside leg is straight and your inside (pole) leg is bent. I tried this, but had trouble keeping my core straight and legs up, so I did a chair spin, where it looks like I'm sitting on the outside of the pole while I spin around. I just need to work on getting my legs up and not just underneath me, dangling for dear life!
Rachal took that straight into a reverse hook spin, which I had previously worked on with Lauren during a few sessions. I knew that I jumped into them and am still working on getting that height from pulling up while going backwards instead of jumping up and into the spin, allowing my inside leg to hook around the pole and my body to spin backwards. all the other women in the class were able to combine these two spins into one combo, but I was just working on touching down for a hot second between both to get my position correct.
after that and some figure eights, we took it into a climb. just a regular climb and I can tell you that I did feel a difference there with the brass pole. my legs definitely stuck to the pole. that explains all the pole burn on my legs and wrists (from spinning). at the top of the climb, Rachal took it into a straddle, where (rightside) her right arm was across her body at her chin, gripping the pole at her elbow and her left arm was at knee height in a reverse grip. once secure, she sat back from the pole and held her body away from the pole in a straddle position. since I hadn't done this, she introduced me to the push-pull effect. instead of gripping the pole with my bent arm, she had me (rightside) sit down from the pole and place my right hand high up on the pole. sitting back a little allowed me space to space to place my left hand in a reverse grip at the height of my knees. now all that was left to do was to push away from the pole with my left hand (bottom) and pull with my right hand (top). It was relatively easy! that is a fantastic grip! getting that bottom grip was a little testy a few times and as soon as I started to push my body away from the pole, I started to spin. you can see this in the video I'll post at a later time. just gotta get those straddle legs up and hold it for longer than a second, but I feel really accomplished about this one :)
between the limited air flow in the room and that fact that I was determined to nail these new moves, I was sweating buckets. no joke. even said so. I don't think I've sweat that much in a pole class ever!
now from the straddle at the top of the pole, we went directly DIRECTLY into a figurehead pose. this was awesome to watch. I do it in the video and am not very graceful, but it did get easier and easier as time went by! and it looks kickass. you pretty much look like the woman at the front of boats. like I said, kickass.
it's sort of hard to explain, but I'll try (rightside): place your right hand high, fling your body to the front of the pole, while hooking your left leg around the pole and straightening your right leg, hooking your right foot behind the pole. now reposition your left hand, so you manuever your head/torso underneath your right arm and you're in front of the pole. now bring both hands down behind you on the pole and lean forward, arching your back. at this point in time, Rachal mentioned that depending on your strength, you could do a lot of things with your legs. you could keep them bent and straight, or bend them both and do some kicks. I think I'd need to work on grabbing the pole higher up n my thighs for me to feel comfy letting that right foot loose from behind the pole. but it was awesome and two moves I'll be putting into my August routine.
we finished up the routine with some floorwork, some booty pops, some butt scoots (which I could not do without shoes or socks on). Lauren would have been proud- I'll have to show her :)
the atmosphere was awesome and of course I had to buy a tank and tee to support the studio. called Suzanne and left a distracted message on her cell's vm (I was in target) and talked to Pheon on ym way home. told her all about the brass pole and my hands being torn up and she recommended that I not go to any more classes until I return and let them get back into shape. I had been thinking about taking a classes tomorrow and saturday mornings, but she's right. along with my Dad. my hands need to heal if I want to take class and not hurt next week at NY Pole Dancing AND do my semi-private class with Gabby, Suzanne and Pheon on Sunday the 20th. gotta prepare my moves for the August student recital!
so, this was a super long blog post! I promise to keep up as I continue my pole dancing journey and to post the video of the straddle and figurehead pose asap.
I had my last open pole scheduled for today, but it was cancelled by Wendy due to scheduling conflicts. Shirley was actually the one who caught it and informed me on Facebook of the issue. I told her that I was going home for a bit and thankfully she extended the expiration date for the opne pole and gave me an extra class! now I have until June 24th to take two open poles and I can't be more excited to get back in there and continue to test! :)
woohoo! I've enjoyed taking class with Brynlyn in the past, so I was excited to take an open pole with her. and even more excited when I learned it was only the two of us. I had her all to myself! AND she had me start to test into climb & invert.
at NY Pole Dancing, you have to complete a testing sheet in order to advance into climb & invert classes. which I think is a great idea b/c you should have your basics down before you start going upside down. I'd like to feel confident in what I can do right side up before attempting to flip my body weight upside down and around a pole. hey, that's just me! but don't think I'm really close to doing that... the testing sheet includes spins, transitions, climbs, descents, etc. and is about 4 pages long. I have a ways to go, but I'm excited to have checked off a few things. as small as they may be :)
- outside hook spin - CHECKED OFF remember to step out of it, but end at the pole
- lunge spin - make sure that you are looking at the pole, your hooked knee is angled in and that back leg is straight!
- sundail/double attitude spin - hip back & out, look for your back foot over the shoulder of your bottom hand.
- inside and outside skater spins - CHECKED OFF (I like these)
- inner thigh spin - fallfallfall !! with your leg behind you & when the inside leg hits the pole, switch legs and catch high on your thigh (not just above your knees like I've done in the past)
- spinning climb 1 - outside hook w/one leg in front and back of pole, grip thighs to stop spinning
- spinning climb 2 - right climb with your left leg straight, right leg behind pole, grip thighs to stop spinning
It was really great to have the one on one attention b/c Brynlyn would do it, then I would do them over and over again on both my right and left sides. keeping these notes are def going to help me in the long run, so I can remember how do do some things. I also need to start YouTube'ing some tutorials just so the basic moves are fresh in my mind. it's hard not having your own pole to just work on your hand positions.
