Help With Ballerina Pose Even If You Have Dinosaur Arms

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

So here’s a recent picture of me stretching my shoulders.

Trexbig

And here’s a picture of me FINALLY doing a ballerina after years of frustration.

ballerina

 

The difference was a teacher who flat out admitted “this pose is not for everybody,” and that she struggled with it for years before getting it because of her specific build. How encouraging is it for pole goddesses to say stuff like that? “Not every pose is going to be right for your body, and that’s okay”??? I love it. <3<3<3 Kelly!!!!

So anyway, even if you DO have shoulder flexibility, chances are you’re going to be in that forward fold just reaching fruitlessly for pole and finding air. This doesn’t look super cute but it’s also scary and extremely frustrating when you’re already in an uncomfortable position and high off the ground. So these are Kelly’s tips for getting yourself a sweet, sweet handful of pole on the first try and  locking into the pose comfortably (and safely). Worked for me, and again–I have no shoulder flexibility. So I’m fairly confident that this will be helpful to most people!!

So to get started, take a climb or two, release your arms, and wrap your body around the pole in the same direction as your front leg. If you’re climbing with your left leg in front, you’ll be leaning towards your left, twisting over your left shoulder, and grabbing the pole overhead with your left arm. Now you’re ready to tweak a little and make this easier.

Lean ALL the way over the pole

A halfway bend won’t do you any favors. Commit to touching your toes in that forward fold before attempting anything else.

Twist your torso

This is a huge assist toward getting that grab and doesn’t require crazy shoulder flexiness.

Turn your body at the waist and look back towards the pole as you reach down between your knees to grab with your outside hand and get ready to grab with your inside hand. Which reminds me…

Make room for your lower handballerina prep

Don’t be afraid to loosen your knees a bit on the pole to make room to grab with your lower hand. Kelly says this also gives you a little more room to twist and reach behind you. As you can see from this janky pic taken right before or right after the money shot (I’m not sure which), my knees are a bit open and I’m relying more on my ankles and shins for grip. According to Kelly, this is totally okay and you shouldn’t be afraid to do it (despite your instincts telling you to grab on for dear life with everything you’ve got).

Make T shape with your outside arm before reaching back to grab the pole

I don’t know why this helps but it does. If you don’t believe me, try doing the T shape first and then grabbing the pole vs. doing a backstroke motion and grabbing. Even if you have super flexible shoulders, the first should be a lot easier than the latter. And done slowly, it can look just as lovely and dramatic.

Once you’ve made contact, rotate your shoulder back and slide your hand up the pole to lock in

You’ll know you’re doing the rotation right if you’re exposing MORE armpit, not less, and you’ve made contact with your lat on the pole. Solid! Now you’re in a shoulder-safe position to let go.

I know this pose comes super easy for some people, and for others its a total nemesis move. Have you tried it? What do you think? Even if you can get into the pose it’s a little rough on ya, right? (Looking at my underarm bruise as I type this, haha).

Good luck and please share any tips you have for getting in (and out) of this pose safely and cute-ly.

And have no shame in your dinosaur arms. It’s a lifestyle!

TRex Arms

Back to School–I Got to Make a Video!

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

So the less stressful dealing with Adobe Premiere gets, the more it seems I enjoy video assignments as homework. This one was quite fun!

The project was a 30-40 second bio video that either shows your likes and dislikes or a special skill.

I’ll bet you can guess which one I picked ;D

Me and my used-used AC (meaning, I got it used from somebody who also got it used) were not really enjoying this heat dome thing, so my pole was a bit of a slip and side. BUT, a few insights: Urban Decay No-Slick Makeup Setting Spray will allow you to sweat THROUGH your makeup (????) somehow but keep the makeup in place for the most part. I mean I was honestly dripping from the face and toweling myself with a rag, and my makeup looked good enough at the end of a three hour shoot that we decided to take advantage of the lights and nice set up to snap a few headshots. My application technique, if you’re curious, was basically: foundation–spray the shit out of my face–powder–spray the shit out of my face–blush/bronze/eyes–spray the shit out of my face–and then one more spritz at the end for luck. $28 well spent. I had a little wear around my hairline where I was aggressively rubbing with a towel, but otherwise, nothing moved.

These were taken at the end of an EXTREMELY long and sweaty day. Not bad, Urban Decay! (I wish they paid me, but they don’t.) Last shot is my favorite. I feel like I was really expressing myself! As always, I’m doing free advertising for Victoria’s Secret in this shirt. God damn it.

The other insight is that if you already know you’re not going to use the audio for a shoot, it’s really fun to bitch and complain about every pose while smiling 😀

Overall, this was a fun weekend, and of COURSE I used the finished product to plug this blog because what else even matters????

Bracket Holds!

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

Pop quiz: which is my bad side??? I know, I can barely tell either. (looooooool jk jk).

Half_Bracket_Hold_on_the_Pole.gif

After about 3 years of casually struggling every time I remember to try it, I finally got my half-bracket hold last night! I kind of credit this (along with all my other recent pole gainz) to doing pull ups. Seriously, the back, core, and shoulder strength you get from these is like having a pole super power. Highly recommend!

But aside from that, here are a few technical tricks that really helped me. Maybe they’ll do the trick for you too:

1. Use your elbow as a shelf for your rib cage

I always thought this was cheating. It’s totally not.

2. Retract your shoulders

SO key, both for execution and for the safety of your poor, hardworking shoulders. You can see on the right side of the video that my lower shoulder is scrunched up (not ideal).

3. Use your back

Once your grip feels safe enough to let go with the legs, use your back to arch a bit and pull your legs back and up (just like that back conditioning drill your teacher has you do on your stomach during warm ups!). I’ve found this changes your center of gravity and removes some of the strain from the lower arm. #magic

4. Turn your chest towards your lower arm

…or as my teacher Rica said, “turn towards the opening” which I found slightly confusing at first because OH GOD EVERYTHING’S OPEN I’M GOING TO FALL. Opening your chest and angling it out away from the pole really helps anchor your bracket hold and help you brace better. And again, opening my chest is something you can see I’m clearly not doing in the “fail” side of the video. Don’t be like me.

5. Start low

I was working on this hold with a class of other girls as part of a climb sequence and we all had some serious “Oh Shit” moments while attempting it from way too high a height. I’d definitely stick to one climb’s worth of height while getting comfortable with this move. You need to feel safe enough to get your legs away from the pole, and that’s asking a lot if you’re 6 feet off the ground. Bonus: if you fall from one climb up, it will be more like a tiny, adorable jump than a splat situation.

How do you feel about floats and bracket holds? I know some people have wrist and elbow issues that make this move a no-go. My forearms are definitely a little sore today, so I feel that. Also, how annoying is it that you just completely can’t do this with sweaty hands? It’s so all or nothing!

Drumroll: It’s called a Capezio!!

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

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

 

If You’re in NYC, Go See Aera’s Fades Away Tonight

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

So many of my favorite teachers from Body and Pole are in this, and, to quote the guy next to us at the show, they really should have charged more because “This is a SHOW. ”

fades away 2
Not to sound like Stefan, but this… experience… has everything:  men 9 inch heels, latex, opera on the pole, lip synching, Ben Affleck (not really tho), wall climbing, jumping from silks to pole, BDSM, pasties… the list goest on.

The dets:
Friday nights April 8 – April 22, 7 PM at the House of YES
2 Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11237
Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.com

Oh and I guess there’s a party afterwards tonight. Check the Facebook page for specific info if you’re going and let me know what you thought!

PS. Word to the wise: ear plugs.

fades away party

Me and my boobs are A STAR

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

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???

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 3.24.19 PM

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.

😐

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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!)

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

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:

Photo credit to Armando at the front desk who had to painstaking verify that I actually DID go to this many classes/have this much time on my hands. Thank you!!
Photo credit to Armando at the front desk who had to painstaking verify that I actually DID go to this many classes/have this much time on my hands. Thank you!!

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).

 

Cuter pole pirouettes (hint: STOP RELYING ON YOUR POLE)

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

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.

a1n3rI
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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. Spotting confusion. Where am I looking? Fuck it, let’s do something else.
  4. One too many banged elbows and knees. See the above conclusion.
  5. 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"
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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

Baby’s first video for J-School and of course it features the pole

Posted on by Cathy Vandewater

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!