Hey y’all. No real news, except that I got to do a photoshoot this past week with Body & Pole for their promo materials and website! Actually it was two separate shoots: one for poleography, and one for flexibility (good thing I walked to the studio because I was warm enough to split on command without popping anything, eek).
I’m excited to see the pics, but also concerned about how crazy the smiling looked when combined with long, painful pose holding. I’ll share ’em when I see ’em!
Hope everybody’s enjoying this gorgeous September. Is there really any better weather than “light blazer over your sundress” season? Yes please.
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??
Julia 😀
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.
I discovered orange lipstilck… while I was supposed to be getting ready for the movie.
shockingly wearable!
Like… are you kidding right now.
Other stuff that happened: I met this guy whose banter game was ON POINTE.
And another one!
I went to my best friend from home’s wedding shower with my mom and my sister 🙂
And I did my hair/put on eyeshadow for the first time this summer in real life (ie. excluding shows).
Speaking of shows, we had one!
oh yeah and then it was just the usual suspects on Tinder. #brooklyn.
Glass Animals Songs I Like (presented without comment because this post is already hella long).
Awwww yeah, it’s that time of year again. And this time BeSpun’s Flow challenge is less about freestylin‘ and more about choreography, which I love.
Especially because it looks a lot less complicated that what I’m usually expected to learn in less than an hour of choreography classes on the pole 😐
(if only y’all knew what this was SUPPOSED to look like… and there was another minute of totally blundered choreo after this. You’re killing me Tatiana, haha).
So, Flow Challenge. Are we insies? Please share any videos with me if you participate, because I’m a nosy motherf***er and I wanna see. Here’s a link to the first installment of the challenge, and make sure you follow their facebook group to get new vids as they come out!
If it looks like I’m dancing through debilitating back pain in this video, it’s because LOL, I am. More on that later.
I was really into this choreo (and this SONG, mah gawd), but it’s super fast, so I sadly shit the bed with most of it. I mean, there’s only so much you can learn in 45 minutes. But I totally have this song on my ipod already and I can’t wait to practice it more when my pole is up, so, we’ll see if it gets better!
The pole tricks in this one are a fan kick, 2 gallops (variations on chair spins where you walk your legs), a juliet spin, and a “switch split” which I’d never done before–you lead with your outside leg and then kick it back as you bring your inside leg forward in one quick snap. Pretty snazzy!
Aside from that I was LOVING the locking (which I never get to do, wheeeee) and a little moonwalky-sequence. There is also some mild twerking in this video, so hide yo’ wife, hide yo kids! Again, I was dancing through some pretty intense low back pain, so, sorry if this looks a little geriatric.
Tatiana–the instructor filling in for Kelly and the choreographer for this bit–is the one in the white top, so please refer to her for how kickass this SHOULD look.
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.
I think I wrote before about how I was struggling with what felt like a contemporary style in my poleography pole classes (Body and Pole choreography class, holla!), and I finally feel like I’m starting to get with the program!
I was struggling with taking myself/my movements seriously when they weren’t sexy, and oddly enough, I think ballet has built up my confidence with this. (Yes, I started taking ballet once a week because, while I sadly let my Groupon for a Real Dance Studio expire, my gym has a class taught by an excellent, real ballerina… that is totally included in my membership. She’s 100% legit–constantly correcting our form (nicely) and telling us how movements should feel–and I LOVE HER.)
So now that my head is chock full of “PULL UP” and “LINES” and “GET ON YOUR LEG” it’s easier to turn off the part of my brain that helpfully narrates my dancing with “OH SHIT OH SHIT I LOOK STUPID.”
Progress!
So anyway this isn’t anything particularly graceful, but I was feelin’ it and I think it shows.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the past year (probably because of that mid-year review blog hop going around), and how this was the year that I just kind of threw it on automatic. These days, I don’t think about it too hard–I just get my ass to the gym. I just stretch after every workout. I just go to the studio for pole twice a week and ballet once a week. I just. fucking. do it. And I stop immediately checking for results every time I do, because it’s a lifestyle, and I’m down with that. As they say in the ballet world, love the pain.
And you know what? I’m starting to see huge, permanent changes in my dancing. My lines are better. My flexibility shows. My hands and feet aren’t “dead,” even when I forget about them. These are huge wins for me!! It’s those things that make the difference between “looking terrible while learning choreo and then kind of making it passable” and “looking OK while learning it, then making it beautiful and emotive when it’s mastered.”
This is going to sound weird, but my body-mind connection is getting stronger too. Now, when I think about a movement I want to make, what I see in the mirror or video usually resembles what I WANT to see. I cannot stress enough how much this was not the case before. I would practice at home for hours thinking a routine looked great and then not even recognized the choreography once I saw myself doing it on tape.
These are small things that feel important to me because they’re real changes. I’ve learned tricks and then lost them a few weeks later, but these skills feel “for good.”
I hope.
Haha!
What changes have YOU made this year? What were your biggest accomplishments? Let’s pretend it’s still July and blog-hop this bitch!
Okay, so, I was learning this routine in a pole choreo class that was… to be frank, way the hell outta my comfort zone.
It was what I would categorize as modern… ish, maybe with some hip hop influences (guessing here because these are both forms of dance I have never taken classes in). The shapes were angular and purposefully a little awkward, baby-giraffe style. The movements were jerky and syncopated. There were BENT ELBOWS, you guys. That’s a serious shock to my inner belly dancer. Actually I’m hearing my teacher schreech “SOFT ELBOWS” right now. You mean, you bend your elbows on purpose? I don’t understand?
So anyway, I tried my usual tricks to make things look pretty (graceful, light arms, sweeping limbs), but, with the sharp choreography, I just looked sluggish.
At one point during class, still not looking like the instructor no matter how hard I tried, I began to channel my rage at an innocent blonde dancer who was dancing her heart out at the front of the class. She was whipping her hair around and throwing elbows and wrenching her back, and I was just overwhelmed by the need to punch her in the face.
Listen, I’m a bad person, I know.
But, right in the face. That’s real.
Anyway, I thought about the routine for a long time after class. The steps were so foreign to me (and I sucked so thoroughly at them) that I became obsessed with cracking the code. Why does that look cool and purposeful when the instructor does it, and why does it just look like a confused, hot mess on me?
I searched our song to see if someone posted our choreo (with the terms “Dark Horse,” (the song by Katy Perry) and “pole”) and here’s what I got:
Okay, so, first impression: oh yeah, that is not my class.
Second impression: MEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH.
Not to disparage the dancers–this is very well danced! This is standard pole choero too, I guess.
But… this is everything I already know. Hip pops? Hair whips? Yeah, I’m bored with this.
So that’s when the light bulb went off: I really want to do something fresh.
And that’s only going happen if I try things that feel uncomfortable.
I’m going to have to push through my resistance to learning new things. Because that’s what it comes down to, right? WHY AM I NOT INSTANTLY GOOD AT THIS, RABBLE RABBLE, I HATE IT!!!11!!!
I’ve made a point of going back to that teacher’s class, same time every. She’s got shit to teach me. I wanna learn.
Anyway, here’ s a video one of our classmates took (on the night I cried on the way to class btw, SO META) of a new routine, (post “Dark Horse.”) It’s ROUGH and a little awkward looking, but, hey, it’s a Brand New Style, mang! I’m digging it.
The Spin Diaries: Your Guide to Everything Pole and Aerial 