Harriet came through for me on this one–the weird move I was trying to describe (and did so very poorly) was called a Capezio (at least by my instructor, the hilarious and cool Rica at B&P) and possibly a dolphin by Angela’s teacher.
As Angela pointed out in the comments for the last post, this one’s great for intermediate beginners because there’s so many points of contact–but you do have to be comfortable enough in a thigh hold to lean back and regrip below your legs. Definitely a bit of a spooky experience the first time.
Here’s a video I shot 10 minutes before leaving for a belly show this weekend (hence the false eyelashes and pin curls). Yes, I arrived sweaty and late.
If you want to try this one at home, I definitely recommend practicing first 1. thigh grip sits with straight legs, then progressing to 2. leaning from one side to the other and noticing how you can lock in your legs with a “push pull,” 3. leaning back in this tilted “push pull” position with your top hand gripping near your waist and your bottom hand grabbing under your bum, and finally 4. opening your legs into this jazz split/half stag position (but remembering to push against the pole with your top, bent leg).
This WILL hurt a little, and I have the crotch bruise right now to prove it. But it’s so cute!
If you try it send me a pic or vid!! I wanna see!
And speaking of pics, here’s some of the show the pin curls were for! We were channeling some Britney vibes circa Me Against the Music. Very fun 😀
The fabulous Maki moves created something called “cha-cha fusion” for us set to an Arabic version of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.” We got to throw our hats, so obviously I was thrilled.
XOXO
Photos by Michael Ortiz: (except for the backstage shot, that’s someone’s iphone 😉
#hair
that moment when you think you’re smiling but it’s barely a smirk
Pirouettes are such a reveal in pole. They weed out the polers from the pole DANCERS, in my book.
It never stops being shocking for me seeing advanced tricksters perform stilted, stuttering pirouettes. They race through them and seem a little panicked before getting back into their comfort zone (insanely difficult pole tricks that make pirouettes look like baby stuff), but the impression is made.
Not my most beautiful or technically correct example but the only one I have a gif of. #priorities.
So why are so many incredible pole dancers struggling with pirouettes?
A few hypotheses:
Racing to the good stuff. Pirouettes are considered “fillers,” so the averaged jazzed new poler will want to skip over them and get to the more impressive, upside down stuff.
Balance confusion. Most spins in pole require being OFF balance (ie. letting hips pull to the side to generate momentum/centrifugal force, etc etc). This doesn’t work so well with pirouettes (but I’ll get back to that in a minute).
Spotting confusion. Where am I looking? Fuck it, let’s do something else.
One too many banged elbows and knees. See the above conclusion.
Inability to relinquish control and relax. I mean this is a sport that requires full body death grips on the pole so like… relaxing into a tension free, friction free turn with no push/pulls can be freaky.
Whoops, that was more than a few, but oh well. Let’s talk pirouettes–off the pole.
It wasn’t until I attempted a little ballet that my pirouettes on the pole stopped confounding me. This is not a coincidence. I fully believe that to be able to do a pretty pirouette on the pole, you need to be able to at least stand still in a pirouette position without holding onto anything (ie. a position you’ll end up in at any ballet class ever).
No seriously, try it. Stand with one leg in passe (bent, toes touching the standing leg at the knee, either parallel or a little turned out, do you). Then rise up onto the ball of your standing leg. Hold.
Can you do it?
Are you annoyed if you can’t, but you think “If I only had a pole, I could totally do this, just let me hop on really quick”?
NO, bad poler!! BAD!
Here’s why you can do it on the pole and not free standing: your ass is cheating.
Maddie Ziegler like “lol u mad”
That’s the bad news. The good news is, you have no incentive to continue to cheat because the signs of your cheatish cheating are obvious, so you might as well, like, not do it.
The ugly truth: if you’re cheating pirouettes (ie. relying on your pole), your standing leg is probably bent. Your supporting arm is probably supporting you WAY too much (ie. half your weight is on it and it shows in your shoulder). Your body is likely not fully centered over your standing leg, but rather slightly to the side–your comfy, familiar spin position. You might be SURVIVING your pirouettes but they feel unpredictable, uneven, out of control, and you might even dread them a bit, not knowing how they’ll go at the crucial moment.
Let’s fix that!
Assuming you know the basics of how pirouettes work, let’s do some quick trouble shooting:
Straighten up. Practice this off the pole, and correct your form in the mirror. Your hips should be even (one hip not higher than the other), abs should be in tight, chest and head lifted and aligned as though pulled on a string. Now lift a leg into passe. Got that? Try to rise up onto your toes.
Spot. I had a pole teacher once instruct me to look at the pole for a spot, and it works for me. As you go into your pirouette glance at the pole and lock your eyes there until the last possible minute. Whip your head around and look for the pole again. Try to do this at eye level (not up or down) to help keep your alignment.
Practice letting go mid turn. Is your weight centered? Let go of the pole and find out! A good drill for pirouettes is to use the “waiter” hand on the pole to initiate the turn and the release that hand for the turn. Were you able to complete it? If not, what happened? Which side did you wobble to? Work to identify and correct your weight imbalances. It’s worth a little practice, I swear.
Lean a bit forward. Another trick from an old pole teacher: if you must lean, lean forward as you begin a piroutte–not from one side or another. I don’t know why this works, but it does, especially if you’re performing multiple pirouettes.
GET ON YOUR LEG. Sorry for screaming, but that’s the only way to deliver that sentence, right? Whenever I’m wobbling a bit I give myself this directive (which is short hand, in my mind, for centering your weight, straightening your leg, and pushing through that leg to pull your upper body up). It almost instantly helps to tell myself this. Magic? Who knows.
Do you struggle with pirouettes or love them?
I hated them (I always felt out of control) until I knew I would be tested on them for my teacher training. Then I drilled the shit out of them (with the above tips in mind) and almost never have a problem with sticking or falling out of them now. Muscle memory is real!!!
Do you have different tricks or tips than me? Or just not give a rat’s ass about these things? Let’s talk.
I have been getting some awesome fan mail lately, which makes me wonder if I’ve been accidentally sending out “I feel like I don’t have anything to offer anyone now that I’m not teaching anymore, might as well just give up on this blog” vibes and y’all just happen to be lovely supportive people like that.
One of my first (and slightly lopsided) choppers! Note the straight arms, dropped head/upper body, and lifted hips.
But THIS ONE got me so excited, because it asked for my help.
(I am nothing if not DESPERATE TO HELP, especially when “helping” involves me being a know it all. Like, you all know me by now, right? This is my jam.)
So anyway here’s a question I got from Sharay:
“I am having so much trouble inverting and doing an open v spin. Am i too heavy? Do you have any tips? Thanks so much!”
First things first (I’m the rilllllest): you are not too heavy.
Why do we always assume that something is mortally wrong with us when we can’t do something right away? This reminds me of being an 11 year old in 1997 when every piece of clothing was cropped and made of lycra and I remember thinking “I AM JUST SO FAT AND WRONG, I SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO GET DRESSED.” Now I’m all LOL, it’s because I was going to turn out all curvy and bangin’, and high-waisted side-zip clam diggers look good on no one.
But that was a tangent.
Sharay, you are not too heavy. Just saying.
OKAY, so from there, please know that inverts are fucking hard. It took me about a year to get mine, and even then, it was sporadic (could do it one day, not the next) for a few months. I still can’t aerial invert, but a large part of that is simply not attempting to.
Assuming you ARE attempting (which please, keep doing that, you’re getting stronger every time you try and fail, trust), here’s some stuff that might be messing you up:
1. You are not allowing your upper body to tip back
This one gets a LOT of people. It’s like you want to keep your head up so you can see yourself chopper, but duh, no one can anatomically get their legs over their heads unless their heads drop. Once you crunch your legs to your chest, let your arms straighten and TIP YOUR UPPER BODY BACK so that your head is lower than your hips. Scary? Fuck yes, this is terrifying, which is probably why your body may not be letting you do it. Get a patient, ballsy spotter who’s not afraid to position you correctly and get used to this position. You’re gonna spend a lot of time here when you get your invert!
2. Your arms are too high
You should be grabbing the pole about chest level, maybe a tad higher, while you’re standing (before attempting an invert). But if you let your hands creep up to eye level or worse, your arms will already be straight, and it will be impossible for you to drop your upper body once you crunch your legs in (see above).
3. You’re not pushing your hips up like your life depends on it
Do me a favor. Next time you’re near a pole, lay down next to it with the pole tucked into one of your armpits. Grab it with both hands as you would for any invert, then slowly draw your knees to your chest. THEN, push up from your hips/butt and open into a V as your booty lifts off the ground. Try it a few times slowly, both in and out. (This is conditioning by the way, so feel good about that!). Is inverting 80% abs? Yes. But that little hip/booty bump is what gets you up and over. And I have a feeling that’s where you might be stuck. So practice this exercise to get comfortable with the movement before you’re all OMG I’M TRYING TO INVERT AND THIS IS HARD AND TOTALLY DISORIENTING.
I’m too lazy now, but let me see if I can shoot a quick vid to visually illustrate these issues. Anybody else want to weigh in? Community effort!!
Today in Things Everybody But Me Probably Knows About: PoleFreaks.com has routines (with breakdowns!) that you can download for free after signing up for their newsletter. This is a pretty awesome alternative to pole choreo classes that many people might not have access to. It’s super fun to work on a routine at home, if you have a pole. And most of the moves appear to be beginner level, at first glance. Get on that!
They also have workouts that cost a small amount ($3.99) which is something I might look into when my class cards run out and Christmas shopping has got me hella poor.
Sorry if this came off as an advertisement–I genuinely just found out this existed and thought it seemed like an awesome resource. The blog looks interesting too!
Anyway, I know I’m being really naughty about writing pole posts, so here’s a party favor for stopping by:
SONGS I AM CURRENTLY DESPERATE TO POLE TO:
Again, this is kinda-sorta a half ass attempt at blog hopping. I need to get on that…
1. TeeFLii feat. 2 Chainz, 24 Hours
This is sexy, but upbeat enough to keep me choosing the cute creative moves over endless hairflips and body rolls.
2. James Blake, Retrograde
I saw one of my (belly dance) teachers perform to this recently and it actually brought tears to my eyes. Understated but gorgeous song.
3. Tinashe, 2 On
Yes this is all over the radio, but it’s so. fucking. smooth.
4. Jeremih, All the Time
Another one all over the radio, and yes, it’s filthy. Sorry. This is a good rolling on the floor jam.
5. Misery, Maroon 5
Okay clearly this one is as old as the hills, but it popped up on my ipod the other day and I realized it would be for some really dynamic, story-telling choreo.
OMG and one last thing–can we talk talk about Nicki Minaj’s chair choreo at the VMAs? I know everybody was all about Beyonce, but I’m way more into the moves from the Anaconda set. She was CRISP LIKE CELERY on those tick-tocks. Love it.
Here’s the video a couple of scrolls down on Jezebel because Amtrak thinks MTV.com will be porn.
So, here’s that marketing project I was telling you about: a “promo” vid, which I decided should be a tutorial for the Jenyne Climb instead of anything promotional, because ewww, promos.
Enjoy!
Oh and BONUS: practice vid of me warming up/dicking around for a bit before my friend could come back and shoot the tutorial. Butterfly action!
The Spin Diaries: Your Guide to Everything Pole and Aerial 