Tagchoreography

Everyone is Talking About Sexy Pole

 

Everyone is talking about sexy pole. Maybe it’s because Valentines Day is tomorrow, and every studio is putting on a special Chair or Lap Dance class. Pole dance and being sexy go hand in hand with it’s background in stripping and many women acknowledge that the context of pole dance itself helps them get in touch with their sexuality. But there are many different styles of pole dance and this variety and creativity sets pole dance apart from other classical forms of dance.

Bad Kitty and Pole Freaks have both published articles about how sexy pole dance is viewed by both dancers and those watching.

For some dancers they may live and dream sexy pole, donning heels and skimpy costumes and drawing in their audience with come-hither eyes and sensual flow. For others, dancing sexy is a style they might only explore in their lounge room with the lights turned down. The body rolls equally as empowering but something they keep for themselves.

Holly Munson, blogger from Pole Freaks, suggests that sexy pole dance should be part of your “skill set”. Therefore giving it just as much significance as learning strength based tricks, contemporary flow, and training both spin and static pole. This comment also recognises that sexy pole is something you will need to train and practice. It may seem like some dancers are just able to ooze sex appeal, but what seems to come so naturally is also a result from hours and hours of training and dancing that way. Just like those who have contemporary dance training, pointing their toes and having graceful lines is something they have learned.

Over the last four years, I have tried to explore a range of dance styles in my choreography. Last year at Solotude 2, I took on a dark, sexy edge, contrasting to my Miss Summer Trick Star routine which was fun and goofy. With an emphasis on creativity and a constant strive to break out of the mould and try something new, I feel that pole dancing has the freedom to encompass the range of dance genres. Exploring each style in different routines is an essential part of my practice as a dancer.

There is probably a time in everyone’s dance journey when dancing sexy, dancing strong, or creating flow feels right for you. If you are using dance as a form of expression, and relating honestly to emotions, ideas, or events that come up in your life, your style of dance will change over time. Dancing as a response to pain, stress, happiness, grief, success, and failure, will look different. A strong trick can bolster the need for strength facing a challenge. A sexy dance can build up your self esteem after a week of feeling low. A loud song and dynamic moves can be just the therapy for releasing heartfelt pain.

Pippi Parnasse who writes for Bad Kitty adds,

“Coming into your sexuality can be very empowering for a woman. But sexuality is far from the only power women have”

In line with the author, I believe no one can tell you how to dance. All dancers possess limitless creative potential and should be able to express themselves in ways that feel right for their body and state of mind. There is no one size fits all. Your dance is as unique as you are.

In my opinion, the best dancers are those that offer an expression of themselves. When watching dance videos of sexy dance, contemporary, lyrical, floorwork, or trick battles, one element brings them all together – confidence. Regardless of what they are expressing, their confidence in how they are expressing it shines through.

And as the saying goes, confidence is sexy.

It’s sexy because it’s a sign you believe in yourself. Dance that self and you can never be wrong.

Choreography Workshop

Choreography intensiveHave you ever dreamed of taking the stage for a solo performance? Do you have a list of songs that you would love to dance to, but don’t know where to start? Would you like to share your vision in a supportive environment with fellow polers who can help you refine your ideas?

Join me for a Choreography Intensive at Sydney Pole on Sunday 27th December!

Learn how to unpack songs, sequence your favourite tricks and combos, and put the finishing touches on your routine!

The workshop will consist of two parts, 45 minutes each. Using a song of your choice, I will lead you though a step by step process that will teach you to listen to and identify thematic and musical elements of a song, and use them to enhance your performance concept.

During the second half of the workshop I will teach you floorwork and pole exercises that will help you connect to your music and ensure your routine is as unique as you are. These techniques will be useful for choreography to any genre of music and will help you find movement and expression in your own body, revealing the dancer within.

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Ok, yes! It’s a shameless plug for my workshop! But I’m so excited to be able to give back and help inspire others to get up and dance! I believe that I have a strong appreciation for musicality, clean lines, and genuine expression, and would like to offer a productive and supportive space to help others bring their performance ideas to the stage.

If you’re in Sydney or know a dancer who might be interested, let them know!

Book in through Sydney Pole

Open to all skill levels and dance experience!

Miss Summer Trick Star – The Debrief

MSTS - Canberra, November 2015

A fortnight ago, I was in Canberra for Miss Summer Trick Star. An amateur pole dance competition organised by Trick Fitness held each year.

 

 

Previous winners include Miss Nikki Anne, who I met at a training workshop earlier this year. The support of having a familiar face at the comp encouraged me to sign up. Traveling interstate for pole turned in to quite the big deal, and if anything, it was amazing to be able to represent my studio outside of Sydney.

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There were 16 competitors on the night. All had different styles, some sexy, some cute and funny, some sporty. Some of my competitors were older too, not seasoned pros, but mature age women who’s confidence and self awareness came through in their stage presence. Great motivation to be be poling when I’m 40 too!

 

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My routine was to Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys. I nailed the crowd appreciation factor for song choice and prop!

 

 

 

I didn’t place, and looking at the video of my routine I can see where it went a bit pear shaped. I still have lots of excuses in my head for why, including having to take two weeks off training in October while being sick. As much as it’s important to want to enter a competition and think you will win, instead of sulking, it presents valuable learning opportunities for myself and for my progress as a dancer.

The girls at the beginning of the show, myself included, were all pretty much of the same skill level. We had some key tricks both flexi and strength based and some standard floor work. My routine had more of a story and I included a number of drops, a pegasus combo, and off-the-pole floor balances that I thought could set me apart.

The girls who came on after intermission were in a league of their own. Hand standing and splitting all over the place, these girls were amazing! They were all Canberra locals too, nothing like batting on your home turf!

We all were quick to see that they were winning material. My cheer squad knew it too as their supportive comments about my routine were soon overshadowed by their awe of the performance on the stage and their mental notes of new transitions to try next time they are in the studio.

If I had nailed my central combo I may have been in for a chance, but the feedback from the judges has also helped me unpack what went wrong.

Firstly, it was a Trick comp – Miss Summer Trick Star. I had some cool tricks and made sure to include both strength and flex, but if I choreographed it again I would have included more. It would have sacrificed a bit of my story (always a balance) but reflecting on it now, the judges were expecting more tricks.

Secondly, nerves! The judges commented that “my nerves got the better of me” and although it didn’t feel like it on stage, I can see in the video why it would come across that way. It wasn’t as relaxed and smooth as some of the other routines, and after my mess up, I composed myself but the it did shake up the ending.

Thirdly, something I’ve always been trying to work on, engaging with the audience. The judges pointed out that during my floorwork I did this well (hooray!) but when I got on the pole, I missed opportunities to make eye contact and maintain that engagement. I was too introverted and focused worried concentrating on getting the tricks right, that I couldn’t just relax and show I was enjoying it too. Which may be telling that I didn’t know the tricks as well as I could have, but it’s definitely something to think about for future performances.

I didn’t get much feedback from peers or instructors before the competition. I was time poor and most of the people that saw it were just full of compliments and support. I wonder if these things would have come out earlier if I showed it to more people and polished it with more time to spare. All things to remember for next time.

12366273_823379814442314_6295897550700074880_nA consolation prize … photos! I’m so pleased with them you could almost forget that I messed up a combo!

I hope this post gives others a way to move forward after a competition. When things don’t go to plan it can be hard not to lose motivation. The points outlined from my feedback are applicable to everyone’s dancing too. So if you are prepping for a comp, keep them in mind, especially how you are engaging with the audience.

 

Happy Poling!

Four years of pole dancing

20151108_200722I have blogged before about my pole journal and how important I believe it is to document and reflect on your dance journey.

I started my journal in 2011, about 6 months after I started dancing, as a way to record my first pole performance.

I still remember the night – The Art of Pole Christmas Party. Held at the Vanguard, Newtown, it was a daunting venue for my first time on stage. The whole night was surreal, sitting in the audience watching the show, then heading backstage to warm up and get into costume, and then in a matter of minutes, resuming my seat to watch the finale. I remember thinking, did I really get up on that stage, that Jamilla Deville is now dancing on? Were the crowd really watching me?

Brad from Vertigo Photography was there and he gave me a few shots from the night, that confirm it wasn’t just a blur of a dream. And they, along with choreography notes are in my journal.

Four years later, I just wrote on the last page in this journal. What a milestone! Over 15 solo routines, countless showcases, 2 Encore! Sydney Pole Shows, and a couple of comps.

Moving into 2016, I’m about to start Book 2. Will it be four years until I reach the last page? In 2020?

What I do know is that I’ll still be dancing 🙂

 

Obsession – Fabric

fabricIt’s day 26 of the Miss Filly Pole Challenge, and she has asked about #FrillsandThrills – “What’s the most extravagant thing that you love to death?”

So .… I have a confession to make.

Aside from making my own costumes, designing, sewing, and sequinning …  I have a fabric obsession!

So much so that I have choreographed four routines that directly involve dancing with fabric – lacy, long, stretchy, flowy, sensual, enveloping FABRIC!

 

fabric 2My most excessive was a 6m long piece of stretchy white lycra. The sheer size of the piece meant it was too large to train with properly at home, so I spent hours in the studio flying around at the top of the 4m poles, engrossed in making sails as it spun around underneath me.

 

JDPS Showcase - August 2013

 

Slightly out of the box, I also made a dark, stretchy, tube that wrapped myself and the pole inside. Inspired by an article from Lisa Faulkner for BodyBinds.  I wanted a way to impose limits on my movement, and thereby explore the possibilities of freedom within those limits. This is still one of my favourite routines to date, and I can’t wait to further explore this idea.

 

 

This year, I also created a beach routine for 5th Encore! Sydney Pole Show, where I used a large beach towel. And for Solotude, my burlesque inspired routine involved a fifties style, large, lacy, flowy night dress.

Maybe this is a sign I should get into silks, but I just love the way the fabric flows behind you on a spinning pole, highlighting your movements and exaggerating it’s meaning. I’m in heaven!

Have you ever danced with fabric?

Feel it, before you try and say it

feel itAs much as training for a showcase is fun, or prepping for a comp makes you incredibly motivated to smash your pole goals, sometimes I just like to turn the lights down and dance.

 

I have a pole playlist on my Spotify account that I return to again and again. A list of songs that I can put on and just flow. Some are fast, hip hop beats, others are slower, melodic, and sometimes instrumental. All of them ring true in someway, and reach a place in me, no matter how many times I hear them.

Last night I taped my freestyle, but didn’t really have any expectations that I’d be able to share anything from it worthwhile.

But then I really surprised myself.

Watching back, I saw a fluidity and grace that is often missing from my choreographed routines. A flow and sense of movement that comes from just being with the song.

There were no big tricks, I don’t even think I inverted. Just spins and floorwork that became amazingly cathartic and gave insight into how emotions could be represented in my dancing.

The pressures of a competition or performance night can shroud the flow and grace that comes from just moving and dancing.

Perhaps a way to overcome this is to freestyle to a piece of music for a while before laying down the chorey. To feel it before you try and say it.

Something to ponder.