Happy Halloween Pole People!

Remember when you were younger and went to group functions, and you THOUGHT they were going to be awesome, but then you ended up sitting in the corner, talking to the one person you sort of knew and texting on your phone all night while the popular people laughed and socialized in the middle of the room making it all the more obvious that they were having a better time than you were? No? Then I’m very glad for you and your lack of social issues but anyway, the point is last night was nothing like that!

Pole parties are my new favorite thing on the planet! For our Halloween party last night, there were brand new never-touched-a-pole girls and seasoned I-teach-classes-in-badassness girls and everything in between. Before I got there, I was really afraid that it would be the really really good people showing off and the rest of us hiding in the corners, wishing we could do what they can. Instead, pole vets were teaching us middle-of-the-pole girls how to improve our moves, and even I could show the new-newbies basic climbs and spins.

Everyone was just happy to be there and everyone had something to show everybody else. I seriously think I had at least one conversation with every single person at the party. It was one of those magical moments in life where you look around and realize “I fit here”. There was no text message corner-hiding for this girl. If my life were a bad 90s tween movie, there would be a perky theme song by a pop star playing in the background.  It’s like high school SHOULD have been, but wasn’t.

Giraffes Can't Dance

Took my first 201 class tonight. I knew that it was going to be rough when I looked around and the other students were the circus girl (dun), the amazing at everything awesome girl (DUN), and another instructor (dun DUN).

I spent the first half of class utterly frustrated, feeling like I couldn’t get anything right and that I was struggling through the moves by sheer force of will… and then I realized that’s exactly how I used to feel in 101. And now, I feel strong and coordinated and damn sexy in that class. By my powers of deductive reasoning, these two facts tell me that if I continue to struggle through 201 I will at some point feel as fabulous there as I do in 101 now.

Photo credit: http://www.tchliteracy.com/

I think it’s easy to slip into a comfort zone – to do what you know and you’re comfortable doing over and over again and not want to feel like a wibbly wobbly awkward giraffe and put yourself out there to try something new. That’s when you need instructors who refuse to leave you at “good enough”. Lucky for me, I’ve got four of them ❤

This silly little kids’ book kind of defines my pole experience. I tried so many other dancing things: I was too tall to be a ballerina, didn’t have enough booty to pop-lock-and-drop-it, tripped over my own feet in tap dancing class… but pole fits. It’s my moon and stars to dance to.

BiPOLEr

I think I’m pole bipolar. It’s either my favorite thing ever or I want to cry because I feel so inadequate, or sometimes both. I look at photos from three months ago and think “wow, I’m making progress!”, then I watch videos of Jeyne Butterfly and go “I’m going to suck at this forever”.

In rage faces speak I go from  to

 and back again at least a couple times a week. I’m strange, I know.

Yesterday was such a frustrating pole day – I felt like I had no strength, I was uber slippery, and everything I tried to do just flopped. It felt like I was back in July when I first started all over again and even though the instructor and my classmates were super sweet, I left feeling pretty defeated.

So, knowing my bipolar rage face zen, I went back today and KICKED ASS. No one else showed up for either class so I had an hour and a half private lesson! I CAN FINALLY CLIMB! Next time you see me, I’ll be hanging the from ceiling like one of those creepy kids in the horror movies. Bwahaha.

I got my lay back (still need to straighten it out some), and did gorgeous and chair spins. I’m also getting dangerouslllly close to my inverted-v.

What’s all this mean? Time to update the list! (Cue dramatic yet tacky game show music here)

Tricks I can do almost sort of do sometimes:

• Teddy
• Yogini
• Polesit
• Crucifix
• Basic climb
• Lay back
• Seat
• Basic invert
• Inverted Crucifix
• Ally-oop
• Inverted-V

Spins I can do:

• Dip Squat
• Goddess
• Fireman
• Firelady
• Princess
• One-arm fireman
• One-arm Herky
• Herky
• Dip squat into goddess combo
• Underarm turn
• Half underarm turn
• Gorgeous
• Chair

Transitions I can do (this I need to update but I can’t find names):

• Body roll
• Money maker
• Snake

Currently working on:

• Fan kick
• Wrist sit
• Martini

My Pole Mantras

Image Credit: http://nackmu.deviantart.com/art/Poca-Pole-Dance-310892439

I was never one for mantras, I always thought they were useful, but not for me. Who wants to think the same thing over and over again? Then I started pole, and now I find that I have two that go through my head .

One is for before I get to the gym to get me there, after I leave when I’m a sweaty mess, and when I’m bruising like crazy and it’s something that the person who introduced me to pole said to me on the first day:

“You are so strong and beautiful”

The other is specifically for trying new tricks and holds, in those few seconds before you pick your foot up off the ground.

“This is going to hurt, it’s going to bruise, and you’re going to do it anyway”.

Personally I think the first makes me sound less like a crazy masochist than the second, so that’s probably the only one I’d admit to outside the pole community 😛

So what about you? Do you have any pole mantras or words to live by? Anything that keeps you going?

The Politics of Pole

Can I rant for a little minute? No? Well, it’s my blog so I’m going to anyway 😛

You might have heard that this week was host to come out of the pole closet day (Thursday, I think?). Well, I posted, not even a picture of me, but the Bad Kitty pic that’s floating around the community with a quote about feeling strong and sexy when you pole dance. I got so much kick back from friends and family telling me it was inappropriate to post about pole dancing on Facebook.

Sometimes I wish we didn’t have to be “inappropriate”. For example, a few of my friends are swing dancers… like pole dancing it requires training, practice, special attire, and dedication to do it well. They’re as proud of their swing dancing as I am of my pole… but here in lies the difference – it’s socially acceptable for them to be proud, post pictures on Facebook, and talk about what they love in public.

They can invite their relatives to watch their recitals without fear of repercussion. They can send pictures of new moves to their friends without people thinking they’re coming on to them. They don’t have to censor themselves because they’re worried that it might influence their ability to be professionals outside their hobby. And I guarantee no one ever said to to my swing dancing friends “as long as you don’t start doing it for money”.

I was never good at sports as a kid, and I was so jealous of all my friends who had their parents come to all their games. I desperately wanted a soccer mom, and had a great mom who was more than willing to be one, but I sucked at soccer and I hated playing baseball. Now I finally having something physical that I love to do, that I’m good at, that I can show off… except it’s stigmatized.

Somedays I don’t want to be a political statement, I don’t want to have to go into a 15 minutes explanation about why pole dancing is a real sport, I don’t want to defend anything. I just want to be proud without apology, and have a fan club in my corner (with the exception of TGIL who already is :)).

Catharsis and Pole Kisses

Image credit: http://missdrusilla.tumblr.com/page/2

The past 24 hours have been really difficult. Like shitty, weepy, life kicking me in the lady balls difficult. I’ll spare you all the sob story, just picture the worst situation you can and then times it by like a hundred.

But this is a pole blog, right? So let’s about pole. In the midst of everything, I found something about pole that I never knew before… it’s cathartic as hell. ca

When life gives you situations where there’s nothing that you can do, it gives you something to do. You can trust your pole, its not going to move on you, it’s strong, it’s something steady when the ground feels shaky.  It physically grounds you in your surroundings, it bruises you so you look how you feel, it exhausts you so you can sleep. It makes my world bearable.

 

 

Lies My Pole Taught Me

Image Credit: http://bit.ly/QlYcej

 

There’s so much debate in the community about how you tell people you pole, when you tell them, how much you tell them and I tend to fall on the more liberal side of the debate – I’m proud of what I do and I don’t really care what people think.

But… I also believe in choosing my battles. Not everyone is worth debating with and if they’re only in my life for five minutes, I’m happy to let them think whatever they like and walk away happy. Here, some of the itty bitty white lies I’ve told:

To the 90 year old cardiologist: “Oh yeah, I do lots of cardio and strength training… kind of like yoga!”

To the nurse: “I fell on the machine at the gym… a couple of times… treadmills can be dangerous!”

To the lady at the grocery store: “I’m just really clumsy”

To my neighbor: “Going to the gym again :)”

To my coworker: “That IS a really weird place for a bruise, I have no idea how I got it!”

To the lady in my office when picking up my pole: “Yeah, this is a really heavy TV stand”

 

Am I the only one who does this? What lies have you told for the sake of keeping the pole peace?

 

Pole Care Package!

It’s been a sad, sad week for Jenna… I had Lasik surgery last Friday and I haven’t been allowed to pole since. I swear, the pole in my spare room has been TAUNTING me. I’m not crazy as long as I don’t start talking back right? … Right??

New Treasure Chest Shoes!

But a friend of mine, knowing my pole-sadness, send me a box of stripper goodies priority mail to get me through until Saturday when I can pole again. Remember those jet-set shorts I posted about? In the box! And some treasure chest shoes with light up balls to go inside (but I’ve been putting everything I own in them and taking pictures instead :P) I’m gonna try to put some Magic: The Gathering cards in them and make myself geek heels! 😀

Glowy balls to make light up shoes 😀

 

Do the chicken dance!

The Pole of Legend!

It’s here, it’s heeeeeeeeeere! Well, technically it was here a couple days ago but I wanted to wait until I had the full set-up in order to post 🙂

X-pole in Box

My shiny new 45mm X-Sport has been successfully installed in my guest room, complete with mipole light on top! I freaking love this thing, it changes colors in time to the music and took about two and a half seconds to install. I seriously just turned music on and sat and watched it go for awhile – kind of like slutty Christmas lights.

 

POLE installation on the other hand… well, let’s just say my pole sister’s husband had to come over and help me because my inability to find a stud affects more than just my dating life 😛

But here it is, and I’ve been playing on it every single day! I still love and prefer my studio time, but there’s something freeing about being able to play around without anyone watching or knowing that I’m holding someone else up. I hope this will help with my complete inability to freestyle for fear of looking like a Japanese child after watching Pokemon.

X-Pole… No… Nyan Pole!

ARRRRGHHHH I thought I would be posting about my awesome new X-Pole tonight but I can’t find the freaking stud/plank/whatever-the-heck in my ceiling to save my life. Yes, I tried a stud finder, the knocking method, the finishing nail method, the cry and pout and threaten the ceiling method. No luck.

So instead… here’s what nerdy pole dancers wear to the studio, just in case you were wondering.