Trying to get back on the horse after a week away… but pimpin’ ain’t easy. I’m dragging ass today, and I’m not even wearing uncomfortable heels yet!
Listening to this to get pumped up for class…
Speaking of comfort, is it just me or is it no longer balls-hot anymore?!
Hooray! I might actually be able to dance at home again (no AC) without blowing a week’s supply of dry hands and going through a creepy amount of washcloths.
See y’all at 7!
And don’t forget–no classes this weekend! Because Labor day, betch.
So first of all, HI SNITCHES! I’ve been away… doing a little of this:
And a teeny, tiny bit of this:
Baaaaaaaaaaaallin’.
So basically, my birthday happened (eww, getting old, gross) which meant a pilgrimage to my home country (upstate New York) to hang out with my parents and re-enact parts of my childhood, like looking at my mom’s flower bed, walking around the block with my lil sis, and going flying with my dad.
My dad, who’s closing in on his 1000th hour in the sky, has been flying since the 70’s for fun…. because people did weird shit like that for fun in the 70’s.
I was raised on 20 minute trips to the Oneida County Airport, saying “Niner niner!” and the gumball machine by the Upstate Flying Club sign out counter. (Gum helps you equalize your ears, which was always my excuse for begging for some, pre-flight).
A few years ago, while I was still coming home for the summers, I was even working on my pilot’s license, to my dad’s delight. I had a female flight instructor named Adina that I paid for with my lifeguarding money ($75 an hour!), studied my flash cards, and wrote in flight sessions in my log book. All until I ran out of money and moved to New York City to be A Writer.
Now, not so much to my dad’s delight, I dance on poles. And write! But it’s the dancing on poles part that I know bugs him.
My mom’s having a hard time with my new hobby too.
They were both okay with my illustrious bellydance career (I was in an off-off-off broadway show!), but, though that arguably involved less clothing, it was more easily put in the “art” category of dance.
Now, even when I try to tell my parents about climbs, spins, and inversions I’m working on (so not sexy! This is totally a serious sport!) they tell me I’ll paralyze myself.
You’ll shoot yer eye out, kid!
It’s impossible to win: do spinning and floorwork, you’re too sexy. Do inversions and holds, you’re PUTTING YOUR LIFE IN DANGER, CATHY.
*sigh*
Truth of the matter is, pole IS sexy. It DOES involve your body, and scantily-cladness.
Maybe that’s okay.
Our manager likes to say at EDC that it takes balls to call ourselves “Exotic Dance Central,” while it’s easier to go by “pole fitness” something or other, and not offend anybody.
But at the end of the day, whatever stereotypes or fears people have about connections to The Industry That Shall Not Be Named, pole dancing is still dancing on a pole. Some people are going to call it exercise, some people are going to call it stripping. But what is really is is dance.
Use it to get fit. Use it to feel sexy. Use it for whatever you can get from it, and enjoy every minute.
Just don’t use it for approval from others–because that might be a taller order.
I especially know my dad will be a hard sell, since he still sees me as a 5 year old wearing a huge headset and chewing gumballs. But I’m going to keep working on him. I have this hunch that when you’re doing things with a pure heart, other people will come around.
Meanwhile, I did get SOME family approval during my trip–from my little sis (not so little at 23). She picked up my camera while I was out and found a few practice videos. I was immediately concerned when she told me she watched them, but she just smiled and said… “That was really cool.”
Gotta love family.
How do you guys talk to your family about dance? Do you feel like you get a lot of judgement from people?
Spins class tonight at 7–I’m back and getting straight into the swing of things 🙂
The weirdest thing happened to me this week: everything I ate and drank tasted like salt.
At first I thought someone was punking me. Then I thought something might be wrong with my tap water. Finally, I wrote it off as stress, or maybe dehydration, and vowed to just power down more (sea)water and try to mellow out more.
It sucked because I’ve been HUNGRY, but everything I put in my mouth made me feel sick. I threw out so much food! So sad.
And the most annoying part of all of this, of course, has been keeping my energy up for practice and classes when everything tastes… wrong.
The quick fix for me turned out to be peanut butter-banana smoothies (sucking those calories down with a straw like a soldier!), so thank god for blenders. But I’ve been missing my normal dance foods, hard.
Thankfully, I figured out what’s wrong, and it’s soooooo silly: my new mouthwash! Apparently this particular brand has had tons of complaints about messing with peoples’ taste buds, some for weeks at a time. So I’m off the stuff, and things are slowly starting to taste normal again.
Best part: getting back my favorite “dance fuel”! Oh whole grain bagel with peanut butter, how I have missed you! You too, peppers-and-eggs with toast (and way too much ketchup).
I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but I have done some trial and error with pre-dance foods, and I’ve discovered that my favorite pre-class meals have something in common: a mix of fat/protein/grains.
A bagel and jelly or butter alone, for instance, tastes great, and gears you up for like an hour. But… that’s basically my commute to the studio! When my stomach is growling two classes later, shit is not poppin anymore.
Thus, as cute as you want to look in your tiny pole clothes, you can’t skimp on small servings of fat and protein with your carbs if you’re going to really dance. They’ll carry you through practice long after that sugar has burned off.
The key is to keep it all in moderation (you don’t want to be sweating bacon grease or anything….ew). Also important: make sure your portions stay on the medium side, and finish them up two hours before you get moving. That should help stave off any tummy woes.
Finally: WATER. Omg, so important. It’s easy to forget how hard you’re working in a dance class because you’re having fun, but you need to be hydrating before, during, and after. It will help you digest your food better, avoid cramps, and NOT PASS OUT. In the summer months especially, that’s a risk, so take it seriously!
I’m sort of bad with this because I loooooove coffee, but I make sure to put extra ice in there if I’m drinking it cold–and to refill my bottle with water as soon as I hit the studio.
So what are your favorite dance foods? Any tips or tricks to keep your energy up?
First layback and first chopper achieved in the space of one week. Also hitting my first successful headstand mounts. All those reverse crunches are paying off!
Awkward still of Chris Brown showing his abs in the “Strip” video. Why? BECAUSE I CAN.
Hey Y’all!
Sorry I haven’t written in so long… shit has been CRAY CRAY.
Luckily, it’s all in good ways–classes have been intense, and we just had a packed open house. I taught a few intro pole classes, but the best part was sitting in on the “exotic stuff” that I usually don’t get to see… lap dancing, the “wiggle it jiggle it” booty class (booty booty booty rockin’ everywhere!), and an amazing chair dance demo.
Of course, half the fun for me in watching the other instructors was sneaking a listen at their playlists. The music is a huge part of why I love dancing. And getting to pick my playlists for class? YES PLEASE. So sorry students, but we DO have to listen to “Creep” by TLC at least every other week. THAT’S HOW I ROLL.
Anyway, after shamelessly incorporating a few new jams from the routines I saw last week, it got me thinking…. let me share my weird-ass favorite pole songs!
I know when I was just starting out I was desperate for good tracks to dance to. So here ya go–10 sweet-ass tracks to get you started, and, with one or two exceptions, I can guarantee that you’re not sick to death of them!! Cause they’re super-weird, guys!
I bold faced stole this from the lap dance demo I saw. Sexy but not raunchy, it’s a great performance song… even if your audience is just a bewildered guy in a chair.
Sometimes I get tired of hip hop (very, VERY rarely) and this little bit of grit is such a palate cleanser. Great for floor work, and lots of bump and grind level changes.
Ugh, so. frickin’. sexy. Great spin song, especially extended ones, with a little pirouette work. It’s got the perfect lilt for a little bit of playing around between moves.
6. Keep It In the Closet, Michael Jackson (For extra fun, this vid is an amazing pole dance by Miss Pole Dance Ukraine, 2011!)
High energy and “different.” Perfect practice track to throw on when you’re exhausted and frustrated with inverts 😛
Vintage pole song! This is unbelievable sensual, emotional, and romantic to dance to. Also, a great build up on the last 30 secs to toss a big trick in. Try it on your S.O. 😉
You guys, I don’t know why I like this song. It just kinda kicks ass. I like the words. LEAVE ME ALONE. Personal preferences aside, this is great for a trick-loaded routine. It’s very well suited to snappy movements and hair flipping.
Also, “You can’t make up for what you’ve done, but you still try to be the one” is every girl’s life, right? 😛
Oh PS, my studio’s having an AMAZING promotion right now–45 bucks for $115 worth of classes (ie. a 5 class card). Having been to at least half of the studios in the great NYC area, I can tell you that you’re almost never going to do better than $25 an hour… and this breaks down to $9! GET ON IT, it’s only up for 2 days!
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to request MOI for your first lesson ;)Here’s the schedule, snitches, come get me!!
I’ll be brief: THEY DON’T HURT LIKE A MOFO ANYMORE!
They still hurt, but, as I cheating on my studio yet again last night, I found I was able to maintain a pole sit indefinitely while waiting for the rest of the class to even climb. We’re talking at least a minute. (!!)
Also, CLIMBING! I need to start timing myself because I feel like I was getting major air over and over like a freaking monkey.
I’m not blathering on about this to brag, but because I remember all to clearly trying these things for the first time.
They were impossibly hard, and painful, and I remember thinking, There’s no way I’ll ever be able to do this.
(*Freddy Mercury fist*)
Practice makes perfect guys, it really, truly does.
It also makes killer biceps 😉
OPEN HOUSE TONIGHT! EDC studios on 5th and 28th St at 6pm! I’m teaching intro and spins, starting at 6:30, but there’s tons of great non-pole classes you can sample too! Totally free.
Swap out the skirt for shorts and you basically have my class outfit.
Try not to get too turned on.
Can we have a come to Jesus talk?
Because everybody and their mother seems to think pole dancing=stripping.
*insert rage face here*
Okay, I get that the two are related. They’re not exactly mutually exclusive. But just as every stripper is not a pole dancer, every pole dancer (or even “exotic” dancer) does NOT remove clothes for an act, or dance for money. Or men, even. Speaking for myself, I don’t think I could ever come up with the balls to! My usual audience is a room full of women in sweatshorts 🙂
Funny enough though, a lot of people get the idea that all pole dance instructors come from a gentleman’s club background.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that–that’s where many AMAZING dancers got their start–it’s just not fair to assume.
So allow me to set the record straight with my own fascinating story:
October 2011, I bought a Groupon.
Why? Because it sounded like fun! And it was like, 30 bucks for 5 classes. Having taken $15/hr belly dance classes for years (and those classes don’t even involve expensive props!) I knew this was a deal.
So I bought the shit out of it.
Here’s what happened: it kicked my ass. I had no idea how hard it was going to be.
I walked out of that first class bruised, stiff, chafed, and bloody (the skin came off both of my wrists).
I thought I was in shape, and boy was I wrong. But throughout all the pain and frustration, in my first class, I achieved exactly ONE spin. Out of at least 30 attempts.
One weightless, thrilling, wind-blowing-in-my-hair, HOLY CRAP BOTH MY FEET ARE OFF THE GROUND spin.
It was the most fun I could remember having in months.
I was hooked.
I bought a 5 class card for that studio in Brooklyn, and then one in Manhattan so I get could my fix 5 days a week–in my borough on the weekends, and in Manhattan on my lunch breaks and nights when I wasn’t working my evening job.
I bought nice shorts… then several bottles of Dry Hands… and then, shocking myself, my own $400, professional pole. Not the cheapy kind meant for prancing around, looking sexy next to, but the kind that could actually support your weight for serious tricks.
All the obsessive practice at home paid off, and this past spring, after class one day, the instructor said the manager of the studio wanted to talk to me.
The manager asked if I’d be interested in teaching.
Several months of training, studying, and assistant teaching later, I’m an instructor.
I love it, and the best part is–I can tell my students are having as much of a blast as I am.
What I am not: a stripper. Or a go-go dancer. Or anything that has an iota of connection to titillating men, earning tips, or pleasing a single person but myself and my students.
A few other things that might shock you:
1. I wear shorts and a T-shirt or tank to classes.
So do my students. Nobody comes in hoop earrings and thongs (although if that’s what makes you feel good, WEAR IT–no one cares!)
If it weren’t for the poles though, it would mostly look exactly like any other exercise class.
2. In almost year of dancing and training, the only people who have seen me dance have been teachers and students
There are exactly two exceptions to that: a friend who wanted to learn how to climb (he couldn’t do it!!! LOL, pole is tough, bitches!), and another friend I showed off a new spin to. That’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I love guys… they’re just not really the reason I dance.
3. I teach because I’m ambitious… not because I’m “retired”
“Driven” doesn’t really cover it… I’m a hustler, baby! When given the opportunity to turn a hobby I love into something bigger–a livelihood, and a way of sharing something I enjoy and believe in–I had to take it. And I’m so glad I did. That said, if I were in the strip game, I’m sure I’d be making more money, so why would I retire at 25 to teach?! Logic, people.
4. I’m not slutty, and I don’t have low self esteem
If anything, having such an expressive outlet has made me respect myself more than ever–and I see that effect in my students too. On the whole, they’re the classiest, smartest, most confident group of women I see all day. Considering that this is New York, and I also work in a corporate office, that’s really saying something. Pole dancers are BOSS girls.
Probably because they don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
As for me, if I wanted to show off my sexy, I’m sure I could find any easier way to do it than busting my ass trying to hang upside down on a pole. Let’s not get it twisted.
And while we’re on the topic of bodies, since starting such a demanding sport, I see mine much less as a decoration and much more as a machine. I don’t care if you think it’s pretty. I care that my legs can hold my body weight.
So there you go. I’m not a prude, but it really bugs me that people consider pole dancing so intrinsically sexual. For me, it’s always been challenging, fun, AND gorgeous to look at. It’s time to get those descriptors in the mix, too.
Diane Lane, looking guilty after doing dirty, dirty things in Unfaithful…aka how I look on the way home from ANOTHER DANCE STUDIO (gasp!)
Le Femme Suite, Zack’s, EDC (which I now work for! 😉 ), ECP (ack, the acronyms, so confusing!), Sacred… let’s just say me and my pole get around.
Well, not really my pole. She stays at home.
To be fair, I hung out with most of these studios before my current “relationship” with the studio I now teach at.
But I do still grab a class or two at a new place just for the thrill.
Usually it ends up being more stressful than just practicing at home, because I like my “conditions” a certain way. Yeah, I’m picky.
Also, it’s really hard blending in with a class full of people trying pole for the very first time. I know that sounds arrogant, but anybody who’s spent almost a year on the pole would look very different from somebody in their the first couple of weeks (thank god).
Oh yeah, and then inevitably the instructor starts interrogating me about my dance history in front of everybody like I’m a spy from another studio (wait, am I?! OMG) and then chasing me down after class to ask what club I dance at. (Yes, this really happened. And in case anybody else was wondering, NOWHERE. I’m a civilian, if ya catch my drift). And when that happens, I have the urge to confess everything–I’m not really a beginner! I’m a spy! I work… SOMEWHERE ELSE.
DUM DUM DUM.
Okay, it’s not really that dramatic.
But more than anything, I usually want to say something along the lines of… how come you guys don’t space your poles further apart?
Because I’m a persnickety pain in the ass, you guys.
Anyway, after yet another guilty experience cheating on EDC last night and having it feel sooo not be worth it (Skinny poles! 3 girls to a pole! No Dry hands?!!!), I’ve compiled a list of annoying stuff about “Other” studios (aka Out of My Comfort Zone, ahhhhh) to keep me on the straight and narrow:
1. Training wheel poles
Let me explain: standard pole width is 50mm. CHEATING ASS POLES are 45mm. These skinny bitches will trick you into thinking you’ve got a great grip, until you hop on a regulation pole and promptly slide off it and onto your ass cheeks. More on these in another post.
2. Teachers who don’t teach
Half the reason I take other classes is to get fresh perspective on explaining the moves, or admiring another teacher’s style. Now, I know the fairy spin. I don’t really need it explained. But the rest of the class that’s totally baffled by the fact that you “taught” it by simply demonstrating… yeah, they’re gonna need a little more than that. Come on, TEACH something. Because I’m in the back of the class doing the work for you. And I’mma start passing out my business cards while I do it, girl!
3. Too much booty work… or too little
Okay so pole is like ball room dancing. Stay with me, this is going somewhere sane, I promise. Now, you can do the Rumba… or you can DO THE FUCKING RUMBA. You get me? There’s a way of technically doing the moves that completely misses the art of the dance, and that’s by leaving out the passion (ie. Dancing With the Stars rehearsals).
On the other hand, passion alone is a junior high school gymnasium at the homecoming. Humping does not art make.
SO. My point: if I’m taking a pole dancing class, I expect to learn to dance on the pole and not roll around on the floor with my legs open, true. But that said, instructors who just teach you a series of tricks without any transitions or accents… they’re doing a gorgeous dance a serious disservice.
4. TWA: Teachers with an attitude
I get it, it’s your class, you’re the head bitch in charge. But there’s never a reason to make fun of anybody in your class. True story: I ran into a new class late one day and didn’t get the memo about heels (NOWHERE was this on the website, or the registration email people). So the teacher–who’s instruction style I later realized is somewhere between “sarcastic” and “just plain mean”–targeted me as “new.” As in, after going off about how clueless Some People in her class were, she’d end all her verbal instructions with “Don’t worry New Girl, I’ll help you with this one.”
It was really satisfying when it was time to actually dance. Because by the end of class, this chick was my NBF and asking me to demonstrate the spins for everybody–“that’s how you should look, people!”–and then following me out asking if I’m a professional. How’s that heel taste in your mouth, miss thing? You wouldn’t have had to put it there if you were NICE.
Of course, I was friendly right back, because that’s how you treat people. Bitch.
5. Websites that tell you to wear pants
This is a small thing, but the idiocy of it really turns me off. I get girls coming to my class all the time in pants and leggings (even though our website recommends shorts), needlessly falling off the poles and having a terrible time. It doesn’t have to be that hard. Just wear shorts, girl!
But here comes the crazy: some studios will tell you pants are fine!!
…
*ahem*
PANTS ARE NOT FINE. PANTS WILL CAUSE YOU TO BUST YOUR ASS.
Okay, that’s out of my system.
…
But seriously, people.
I was considering taking classes with this one place until I saw on their website: “No shorts allowed–yoga pants only.” …Dafuq?
Needless to say, I didn’t go. I don’t really trust the expertise of a place that doesn’t know the #1 principle of pole dancing–“Skin Sticks.”
Anyway, that’s enough bitching for now, lovelies. Any pet peeves or bad experiences you want to share?
Heck, tell me about your favorite teachers or studios–I love a little healthy competition 😉
Oh, and best thing ever: an OPEN HOUSE (Re: free half hour classes) is coming up at our studio on August 2nd. Take a fun, totally free intro to pole class with me at 6:30pm, and stay for awesome pole stretch, choreo, lapdance classes that follow.
The Spin Diaries: Your Guide to Everything Pole and Aerial 