I feel like we all probably have the same reasons. Here are mine. What are yours?
Me and my boobs are A STAR
So like 9 months ago I participated in a student photo shoot at Body and Pole.
They were having actual students from all the different classes take pictures doing what we normally do in class to make some images for B&P’s new website.
I gave up hope long ago of ever seeing these because it had been months, but lo and behold–I go on the site to sign up for flex class today and OH SNAP it’s my boobs!!
No literally: just my boobs. That’s me (right boob, technically) in the pink, right behind Kelly WORKING in this photo. Check that demi-pointe action, are you serious???
So yeah, only my boob is in this photo, but you know what? I will take it. Because I’m confident that I was doing something weird with my face anyway.
Luckily, BOTH my giant boobs made it into the flex photo, though unfortunately, my neck was nowhere to be seen.
😐
In my defense, we had to hold some extremely uncomfortable poses for a very long time.
But definitely check out the new B&P website–especially the level descriptions for pole, which have a very helpful video breakdown of what you learn in each level. It helped me I.D. a few things I may have been skipping over. Good stuff!
Body and Pole Bingo: Giddyup. (Also: teeny reviews on the new classes I just took!)
So here’s an optimal way to slack–I’ve been bad about blogging because I’ve been spending too much dancing!! :D!!!
Body and pole is doing “bingo” (complete with cards) where you knock out spaces on your card by completing class-taking tasks. Examples are taking class with a certain teacher, or an aerial art (pole, hoop, fabric). There’s also conditioning, flex, and time-specific tasks, like taking one before noon on a weekday, or after 8pm.
At first I was like, “whatever, I’mma do me–I don’t need a card to get my butt to class!” but honestly, seeing the progress on a card is completely addictive. I went from being like, “okay, I’ll black out 5 in a row and get 20% of a package” to “OMG I’M SO CLOSE, I can black out this whole card of 25 classes and treat my bellydance girls to a pole party!”
The promotion ended Tuesday and here’s what my card looked like:
You guys I was one space away from a free pole party. I WANTED THAT PARTY. But Brenna is a hugely popular instructor and I couldn’t make it into one of her sold out classes 😦
But anyway, I took SO many classes–let me quickly give you an overview of my favorites while they’re still fresh in my head.
1. Liquid motion
This one was a HUGE discovery for me. I always stare longingly at pole girls who do fish flops and slinky split transitions on the floor, but like, in the same way I longingly watch gymnasts do kips and shit on the uneven bars: beautiful, but where the hell am I going to learn that?
HERE. HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN LEARN THAT. B&P has these classes in the big rooms so you have plenty of room to roll around and make it nasty. Not only did I immediately add tons of cute, stylish moves to my repertoire, I also got a nice lowerbody workout–re: a break for my calloused, calloused hands–and they have kneepads and stuff too, so you can have all the fun of oozing around on the floor but none of the rug burn or bruises. Highly, highly recommend. It upped my pole freestyle game after ONE class. (I took this with Emily Sanderson who can do absolutely no wrong in my book, but Jeni Janover teaches it too and I’ve only heard good things!)
PS. In case you doubt the power of mixing things up a little, here’s a three-day bruise tracking photo series that documents what multiple aerial classes for three days in a row looks like.
2. Pole Level 2 with Kelly
Remember what a hard time I was having with Level 2? How every time I get there it’s a bunch of Level 3 people and it’s more a “review and combine your moves” atmosphere than “literally learn where your hands and feet go for these moves” type thing?
Yeah, Kelly’s class was a huge game changer for that. For each move she gives three versions: the straight up version (a leg hang, for instance), a way to make it harder (windshield wipers), and a way to start working towards it (leg hangs from being on your back on the floor).
I mean, I always KNEW I could do leg hangs from my back on the floor to practice placement, but when the teacher doesn’t say that out loud and I’m the only one on the floor… that shit is embarrassing! It made the hugest difference to have legitimate options for everything so I never just had to stand there, hanging my head in shame, or feeling bored with a move I already had down. Fabulous, and exactly what my morale needed. Thank you Kelly!!!
3. Flex Level 2 with Isaac
Oh jesus, here we go. So, you’ll notice looking at the picture on my card that Isaac’s face is on there. He’s in the studio for only a couple of classes–mainly advanced flex and contortion. I was really trying to fill up this card, so, I swallowed my pride and attempted an int/adv. flex class that I had no business being in.
It was…. humbling. As you’d expect any flex class to be when people are doing chin stands and split bridges. But Isaac has a really relaxed, soothing attitude to flexibility (he said multiple times during the 1.5 hour class “don’t kill yourself, we’ve got a lot of minutes left”) and gives plenty of variations to make things harder or easier. Like with Kelly, I always had something to work on, even if I couldn’t quite sit my ass on my head like some people in class 😐
Funny moment: he came over to me while I was doing a foot-grab pigeon thing and said, “Are you an aerialist?” He was adjusting my arm/shoulder placement as he said this so I immediately blushed and said, “…yes” thinking he’s noticed my muscles. “Then we really need to fix this shoulder situation.” (ie. SHOULDER FLEXIBILITY DISSSSSSS). That’ll teach me to have an ego, haha. Again, #humbling.
BUT… the class overall was an incredibly intense, focused session and I think I’ll try to start going regularly. Isaac sets a very supportive tone for everything, and has a really nice way of encouraging everyone (later that same class he moved me to a better position and said, “YES! Now that will get you in the circus!” which is quite possibly the best compliment I’ve ever gotten in a dance class ever, haha).
If nothing else, this class really inspired me to try to hold poses longer and use breathing to get into muscles I’m targeting, because it really makes all the difference when you’re pushing your absolute limits (which I was… eek!).
Okay wow this post got long… I’ll tackle reviewing another three next time!
Here’s a teaser image of a bruise I got attempted hoop level 1 for the first time!
And a video of me taking intro to fabric! (REALLY REALLY FUN, HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
OH, and the Fire Blossoms are back in action because Maki’s back from her world tour of Silk Roads! We have a show this Saturday night–here’s a sneak peek of our routine 😉
Finally… how good is the Hollaback Girl portion of this video? I literally cried. (Disclaimer: the linked video is total nonsense and has nothing to do with dancing).
Baby’s first video for J-School and of course it features the pole
My classmates must be like… wut.
So the assignment was supposed to be telling a story using natural sound (ie. stuff that happens in a scene that you capture right while filming–not music of effects added after the fact). But, like… I had already asked my polin’ friend Irene to help me make a video for this class before I knew what the stipulations would be, so, this video was going to be about pole.
Sorry not sorry.
Huge thanks to my friends who did things at multiple angles over and over again, and a huge sorry to Irene whose dancing was very constricted by lack of light and the fact that I wasn’t allowed to pan for this project (ie. move the camera with her to capture her moves). She also ripped her leggings on an errant nail in my floor. I’m sorry my home is so ratchet and attacked your clothing, Irene 😦
Big ups also go to my PA Alan who played a game of freeze tag all day while we shot this because my floor was creaky and I was always asking him to move stuff out of the shot and then FREEZE or it would make noise captured by my giant, oddly phallic shot gun mic. The patience was next level.
This video is a hot mess but it was really fun to learn as we did it and pretend to be serious filmmakers. Here’s to more and better pole-themed movie-making in the future!
Gone campin’
Not dead. In the Adirondacks for my little sister’s birthday. Doin’ it for ourselves!
There are ducks and shit, it’s awesome.
Also, just saw MY BEST FRIEND GET MARRIED in Boston. It was nuts. She was a gorgeous bride and my extremely talented lil sis did all the hair. Oh and it was in a BARN which was actually stunningly beautiful all lit up, plus a great place for dancing (before I stepped on an uneven board and went down in my platforms in front of everyone. Whoops. I love a stripper heel, LET ME LIVE). There were also chickens and pigs around. So basically this past week has involved 95% more wildlife than I am accustomed to. It’s been great. Especially since my older sister and niece live in Boston so… I GOT TO SEE THE STINKER! 😀
Other stuff that happened: my sister and I left a bag of bagels unattended for ONE HOUR inside of another bag inside of a screen tent and a little bastard chipmunk got in and destroyed two of them. So we fed the rest to the ducks. They were super greedy. But one of them did tricks!!!
And here’s some unwashed camping pics!
Hope you all are sucking every last bit of sunny happiness out of this last week of summa!!!
Reflecting on a summer of poling (lightly)
Hey bitches.
My mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year (tomorrow) and this is the list I gave her (from which she could pick an item or two):
-Ballet slippers
-OR just a package of black socks. Exactly the same thing, practically.
-An over the door pull up bar (like, self explanatory).
-Ear buds.
This is an accurate reflection of my interests this summer.
I signed up for “summer school” at Body and Pole, which, in hindsight, was a mistake.
For one thing, I didn’t calculate how many weekends I’d need to be out of town this summer–camping trip, wedding shower, wedding-wedding, special visit home to visit the Lil Stinker who looks like this now, CAN YOU STAND IT??
My favorite classes–and frankly, the only ones I’m fit enough to do in a row–are all on weekends: ballet, flexibility, and poleography.
The classes available on weeknights are too early (5pm???? Body and Pole you need to calm down, you’re a half hour away and I get off work at 6), or too freaking advanced (we all remember my foray with “floor fusion”).
😐
The upside is, without feeling guilty about spending precious pole $$$ on flex classes, I did definitely did get super into flexibility this summer. And that is (sorry, I have to do it again), 100% due to the lovely teachings of Emily Sanderson, who was just made flexibility director/czar/empress/etc at Body and Pole. Coming back from that low back disc issue, I could weep tears of gratitude at the zero-pressure atmosphere she creates in her class. With her cues and notes on where things should feel “interesting” and plenty of modifications, I always know HOW to push a little harder if I want to, but I never, ever feel shamed into doing stuff that doesn’t feel right. I only wish this was true of all of my fitness classes. #SHADE.
Okay stopping gushing now, I also had a blast with Polegraphy–and omg, I discovered so much amazing music. Body and Pole had a studio-wide “Glass Animals” movement and now that’s my whole stretching playlist.
Here’s a sample of how sick this music is for pole (this is Emily from flex dancing to Gooey. BTW, COULD YOU JUST DIE at her fluidity???):
I could post a shitton of videos here, but, I just did a dump on instagram, so click the the link to the laptop-friendly version of all those. (Re: instagram: yes, I have one, yes I’m still intimidated by other dancers, and yes, I’ve decided to embrace mediocrity and put it out there. We need more examples of what “intermediate” looks like, or MARION CRAMPE WINS).
Huge ups to Tatiana, Kelly, and Irmingard of B&P for their beautiful choreo which was unfortunately butchered by my willing, yet not terribly able body. The struggle is real, but so is the progress!
What have y’all been up to?
Are you on insta? Can I follow you? I don’t know anyone. Come find me at @thespindiaries!
Now enjoy these pictures I took from”Movies with a View,” plus other miscellaneous summer picks. Movies with a View is basically free movies under the Brooklyn Bridge, and the night I took the pics we saw “Dr. Strangelove.” It was motherfucking hilarious. PROTECT YOUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS.
Oh, and after that, I’ve dropped a few choice yummy jams from Glass Animals. I HIGHLY recommend you use them as Pandora/Spotify inspiration, they’ll turn up some great pole music.
Glass Animals Songs I Like (presented without comment because this post is already hella long).
1. Gooey (the song Emily’s rocking above)
2. Black Mambo
3. Hazey (Click here to see a clip of some dope Tatiana choreo for this!)
4. Toes
5. Gooey Rework
I saved this one for last because we’re working on choreo for it in Kelly’s poleography class tonight–stay tuned!
XOXO
If straddles hurt your outer thighs, READ THIS
Hey guys,
Enjoying summer?
I’ve been taking some time out to do summer stuff and generally chill in my time off, instead of spending it hunched over my computer as during the work day. So pardon my hiatus!
I did want to drop a quick line though because I haven’t stopped training (though I’m mainly doing flex, ballet barre, and poleography–no hardcore pole right now because my favorite teacher hasn’t been in in a while and I’m STILL having bad experiences with other peeps. *SIGH* Just want to get through a Level 2 without wanted to cry y’all). Anyway, I love my other classes, and as usual when I take class with my utterly fabulous, professional, knowledgeable, infinitely patient, etc etc teachers I I LEARN SO MUCH.
Our flex teacher (WHO I LOVE, OMG YOU GUYS, SHE’S THE LITERAL BEST) asks for requests sometimes, and I recently issued a weird one: butt stretching.
Here’s the background: I have a horrific time with frog/straddle stretches. I’m used to some intense stretching, but while other people say they feel these stretching in their inner thighs, they make me feel like my outer thighs as well as hips are being broken. Like, wishbone-being-pulled-apart style.
This cannot be normal, I thought, so I googled “are straddle splits impossible for some people.” Because it feels that bad to me, and I have seen NO progress, despite making visible gains in all my other flexibility–including shoulders, aka fixing my dinosaur arms. (whaaaaat? I know! Miracles happen.)
What I discovered from a gazillion message boards is, sometimes the issue with painful straddles is not necessarily the muscles that straddles stretch (inner thighs) but the opposing ones: hips, outer thighs, and glutes. By targeting these muscles with stretches like figure four or T-band stretches (I don’t know the name for them but they usually involved turning your leg out and pulling it across your body), you have a better shot at getting to the muscles you actually want to stretch: yo inner thighs!
Class was mostly the typical order of operations, with straddles at the end. I don’t notice anything different, except that our figure fours and T band stretches (I admitted to the teacher when I asked for “butt stretches” that I actually didn’t know any besides these, the ones we were already doing) came right before we went into straddles.
Then a miracle happened. My straddles/froggies hurt like a bitch (lol what else is new), but for the first time ever I felt the pain in my inner thighs!!! Then we did some rolling of the hips and weight shifts and sure enough, I was able to go a little deeper. ie. I MADE PROGRESS.
I asked the teacher after class what did we had done differently (because that was MAGIC), and she said nothing–we had just changed the order. We weren’t doing any additional or different stretches, we were just doing those outer hips and glutes ones right before center splits. The teacher said she felt a difference too, and that she going to do her class like that from now on, which made me feel like less of a wackadoo for asking for “stretches for your butt” while others were requesting classy things like “heart openers.” #elegance
So what’s going on with y’all? I definitely didn’t bother with the flow challenge like I thought I would because my air conditioner has just not been keeping up with this heat. When I get home I just sit on my couch and pant like Jabba the Hut, it’s pretty attractive.
I have been learning some cute combos in class though–I’ll post some poleography clips in another blog. But for now, look at this HAWT routine I saw at “Shtick a Pole in It.”
Shtick a Pole in It is a combo pole/comedy show. No, the dancers don’t tell jokes and the comedians don’t pole haha–they alternate! The comedians were surprisingly hilarious and the dancers were top freaking notch. Like, SICK.
I had two favorites performances but in one of them the dancer (terrifyingly) fell so I don’t think they’ll post it. She was fine and actually resumed the routine after a quick break to wipe the pole down, but it was really too bad because she was obviously a pro and her performance was out of this world until her fall. To her credit she was doing an insane trick combo at the time, so I guess it just goes to show that a slippery pole can strike anyone at any time.
Anyway, here’s my other favorite. My friend said she’s a NY Poler and her name is Anna. You can’t see it in the video, but she had a really lovely ease to her dancing and cute facial expressions which took an already sick routine to the next level. I’m fangirling here but I don’t even care because it was perfection.
Check her out!
And if you’re New York in September, catch the next show! I think they said it would be the last Sunday of the month, but that have yet to post. Check the Facebook group, I’m sure it will be up soon!
I learned how to make a pole dancing gif!
WHEEEE
I love gifs. They’re so weirdly mesmerizing.
So anyway, I was messing around on my pole this weekend (hence this gif), and decided to try a handstand.
And I was like… wow, okay, that went better than expected! It was definitely hard (you can see me shaking!) but I didn’t feel as scared or as disoriented as I usually do in an upside down, free-standing movement. Progress!
Note: this may seem obvious but it was helpful to me: I just started (literally, one class under my belt) this floorwork/capoeira-inspired class, and the teacher tells us to PUSH against the ground through hand-based movements. Really helpful for handstands on or off the pole! (LOL as if I have ever done a handstand off the pole, but I’m using my imagination).
I also got yet another failed try at taking my leg warmers off without stopping a dance. Listen, I don’t care, I WILL NEVER STOP TRYING TO MAKE THIS WORK. I’m convinced it can be done, somehow, someday.
Oh and here’s a still of my shirt flying up in a handstand with a filter, because why the f*** wouldn’t I put a filter on this? Filters on everything.
Here’s a photo of how red my thighs were afterward–without a filter because my thighs are majestic on their own and don’t need one. (Sorry that this is also a closeup of my crotch, the proximity of thighs to crotch could not be helped. I made it small so as to be less offensive).
For real though, my thighs really hurt.
How’s everybody? Anyone want to do a music swap? Here’s what I’ve been listening to. Share something!
1. Otis Redding, Stand by Me
This version has the perfect amount of lilt for pole. #Classic
2. D’Angelo, Feel Like Making Love
D’Angelo on one of my playlists? Not a surprise. I don’t mind being predictable when it comes to consistently perfect pole music tho…
3. Jah Khalib, Out of My Head
I don’t know what language this is in. Russian? Give it a chance because the hook is hot fire.
4. ScHoolBoy Q, Collard Greens
This beat is really different from everything else on my playlists.
5. J. Cole, Wet Dreamz
Love the beat/vibe on this one.
XOXOXOXO
Extended butterfly: trials, errors, and falling on video.
Hey guys!
My friend Irene came over this weekend and we had a pole play date!
She was working on her butterfly, which motivated me to challenge myself too and attempt an extended butterfly. And also, with Irene there, I had someone to spot me/take me to the hospital if I busted my ass, so that was an extra incentive. (Spoiler alert: I did indeed bust my ass, and it’s on video. See below).
So I tried and failed a few different ways, and I’d love to get some poler feedback on technique here. (drop it below!)
On my first few failed attempts, I did my usual butterfly (top leg on the pole from ankle to knee pit, upper body turned out for opposition), but when I straightened my leg and slipped out to my ankle I lost the tension and… well… yeah.
Then I tried an (ugly) version where I hooked my knee first, which WORKED. I think it’s because the hook forced me into a straighter, more squared butterfly where my weight ended up directly overhead (instead of at an angle). With my weight pulling straight back when I stretched out into the extended version, my ankle locked in with the tension on my Achilles, which felt great, and shockingly, SECURE. (Before I was feeling the pull more on the side of my ankle, which felt (and obviously was) much less safe).
So I guess now I need to go back to the drawing board on my plain o’le butterfly and learn how to square it off WITHOUT the knee hook (because it really is ugly).
Aside from that we also working on cupids, and some cute Dirdy Birdy transitions that Irene brought clips of (and a notebook of moves with instructions because the girl is on her game. Seriously, I felt like such a slacker).
Don’t you hate when something that looks simple and easy takes more strength than going upside down?
(That thwacking sound is me hitting my knee, ps).
Irene of course did this beautifully, with much more an arch in the upturned, planky position. Which leads me to believe that hoopers have WAY more shoulder flexibility than the rest of us, and I should get on that.
Here’s DB working the trick: (or click this link to start at 2:03 in case the embed doesn’t take you there!)
What are you guys working on?! Any exciting new bruises?
Happy spring :D!
Personal Hell: The Musical!
I’ll be you guys thought this was going to be about depression but no–it’s about a show I’m getting ready for that’s based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, and guess what part our piece is about?
THE INFERNO.
Full disclosure: I have kind of hated every minute of learning this. It’s hard on your body (lots of stomping, neck circling, hunching, flopping, and spasming), and our “motivations” are really disgusting.
At varying times in the piece, these are the cues we’ve been given:
-“You’re puking in your hands here.”
-“You’re being electrocuted”
-“Satan is throwing you.”
-“Something is impaling you here (*gestures towards crotch*) and the it comes up and out of your mouth.”
-“You’re being stabbed.”
-Etc, etc, etc.
We’ve also been encouraged to think about our own version of “personal hell” for extra emotional motivation.
Of course Dani, who’s a friend as well as a teacher, called me out in class: “Cathy’s version of personal hell, for example, would be an eternity of hearing “Hey Cutie” on OkCupid.”
I had to agree with her.
(Quick slideshow of my personal hell: men in NYC.)
Anyway, we all feel kind of awkward acting this stuff out, but we taped the piece for the first full run through last night and I have to admit–it looks pretty creepy.
In other news: my favorite pole teacher has been on hiatus, so, after another bad intermediate class, I decided to focus on ballet barre and flex training as well as this Bellyqueen show for the time being. I hope she comes back soooooon!
And if you’re in the New York City area on March 29th/are really into demonic interpretive dance, here’s a link to more info on the full show! https://www.facebook.com/events/522870131186017/
The Spin Diaries: Your Guide to Everything Pole and Aerial 