Mel Nutter as Baudelaire

Aerialist

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How well do you know that pole trick?

July 20, 2015 /

martini croppedIt’s Day 20 of the Volare Magazine July Pole Challenge and my submission of a spin combo started a discussion that got me thinking.

What are your standby combos? Have you explored another way to get into your favourite trick?

After dancing for four years, I’ve lost count of the many routines I have learned in the studio as part of groups. In an effort to cater to everyone’s skills and create a routine that people can remember and achieve, the combos are often very similar.

For instance, a beginner’s combo might be a layback – hello boys – hangback/cross knee release. Or in an intermediate class you are probably going to be asked to straddle/invert – outside leg hang – starfish – cupid.

There are definitely benefits to practicing and refining these basics, but I also think it’s important to try to learn new ways to get in and out of tricks. For the sake of your own creativity and for that of the audience!

I heard an instructor once say that this is something she strives for, noting “you haven’t really mastered a trick until you can get in and out of it from three different transitions and be able to do it on both sides!”

There are not many tricks that fit such a criteria for me! But I have been working towards expanding my repertoire of transitions.

Which brings me back to the comments on my post for today’s Pole Challenge. A fellow pole dancer commented on my transition into a martini sit (pictured above).

When I first learned this trick we came from an outside leg hang, climbing above and swinging the straight leg around to the front of the pole to catch with the inside hand, knees together.

 

martini combo 1

 

Switching this up, I presented a new combo –
hollywood – layback – stag layback – thread top leg through to hook behind the knee – straighten the outside leg – catch with the inside hand.

 

martini combo 2

 

If you’re a competent pole dancer you might also notice a possible transition to a Q/Dangerous bird.

By learning a variety of ways to transition in and out of your favourite tricks, your combos will be more interesting and your choreography will also benefit.

Now to just do it on my bad side *sigh*

Pole Challenges

July 11, 2015 /

IMG_20150701_070402This month I’ve joined the Volare Magazine Pole Challenge on Instagram. A week in and most of the tricks have been familiar to me, but it’s been great motivation to get on the pole everyday.

I’m not sure how people go about entering these challenges when they don’t have a pole at home. Being in the studio everyday is tough (and expensive!), but I also recognise that poling at home can be difficult. You don’t have a peer group to motivate you, you don’t have a spotter for harder tricks and sometimes life just gets in the way.

Having a pole community is so important to the effectiveness and longevity of your practice. Instagram and Facebook and other types of social media are great in helping you build that community and help you learn new tricks or just feel inspired to dance.

So I committed myself! For the month of July, I will stick to his challenge. It’s winter here in Sydney, so this is also extra incentive to get up and get moving.

Check out my Instagram to see where I’m up to! Maybe I’ll even win a few prizes!

Solotude!

June 23, 2015 /

Solotude PosterWhen you train at a studio with a high caliber of experienced dancers, and two of those dancers are also skilled in event management, what happens? Solotude happens!

I’ve been training hard these past few weeks, adding the finishing touches to my performances and collecting props and costumes. The vibe at the studio is amazing as everyone is nailing their tricks with extra motivation to get their choreography solid for the show.

I have already written about the benefits of entering showcases, so I’d like to use this post to talk about how I put together my performance (and to plug the show for all my Sydney readers!).

Being a showcase, there is no pressure to put in all the best strength and flex tricks into the routine as you would in a competition. There is space to tell a story, pare back the tricks and emphasise the aspects of making it a show.

Over the years, I have worked hard on my stage presence and engaging with the audience. With each new routine I try to choreograph gestures, facial expressions, and points to connect with the audience. It’s hard, and daunting, but it has helped me improve.

The routine I have started for Solotude begins with me talking to the audience. I found a clip from the end of a Yu song of an elderly woman with a thick Boston drawl reminiscing over old photographs. In my 50s lace night gown, hair in rollers, and reading glasses dangling off my ears with a gold chain, I mime the lady’s story and share the photographs with the audience.

As the music starts, Count Basie fills the stage with burlesque class and I am drawn to relive my days as a younger dancer.

The props and costume for this routine were as vital in telling the story as the pole tricks and poses. I also had to think about how the older woman would have danced, did she break free of her nightgown and reveal a sexy lingerie set highlighting body rolls and hair flicks? Or did she emerge from her gown slowly, like the unfurling of a memory, only to be completely immersed in her recollection at the end of the song?

Thinking this way made sense for me. I didn’t want to just separate the two parts of looking through the photographs and then dancing. They had to transition and be threaded together. It’s a story, it has emotion and feeling, not just a sequence of tricks.

A picture tells a 1000 words, and this will make more sense with a video. I’ll post it up after the show, but if you’re in Sydney and keen on seeing some Pole Drama next weekend, come on by to The Vanguard!

Oh! And guess who’s derriere is on the poster?!? *wink*

Showcase!

June 7, 2015 /

IMG_0820Four years ago (when this photo was taken!) when I walked into Art of Pole studios on Parramatta Rd, I would have never anticipated pole dancing would have affected me the way it has. I didn’t even know who Jamilla Deville was, but as soon as I saw her spinning and twirling with such grace and strength, I felt it shake something up inside of me.

Despite the Art of Pole studios being rather small – a single room, 50mm static brass poles, wooden floors, and an outdoor toilet! – Jamilla and her team were keen to run studio showcase events. They valued the idea of offering students a safe and supportive place to dance.

This ethos has been threaded through the studio as it has changed locations and changed hands. The owners, teachers, and students all recognising that showcase is a chance to foster aspiring dancers and offer a space for performance that is not a competition or paid gig. It’s a space for you to get up on stage, dance your way, to your music, in your style.

Daunting? Yes!

Hard work? Yes!

Worth it! Hell YES!

My first showcase was at the Vanguard Theatre in Sydney’s Inner West. I danced to Numb by Portishead, and my biggest trick was an Ankle Grab (AKA Bat). Could I have placed in a comp with that routine? No way! But in the showcase environment, it was more than welcome, a sign of the studio’s acceptance and interest in hearing a new voice.

I’ve clocked up over fifteen solos since, all performed in the container of security and support that is my studio. I now have many more tricks than a straddle to an ankle grab, but the essence of that dance is still woven into my new routines. In that first performance I learned about choreography, interpreting music, conveying messages with my body, stage presence, facial expressions, costume, hair, make up … the list goes on! And the stage, lighting, backstage energy, sense of community, I was hooked!

A fortnight ago was our most recent showcase at Sydney Pole. I was invited to dance as part of a small group in what was aptly named the “Proposal Dance”. A friend surprised her pole dancing partner with a “Will You Marry Me” dance! We choreographed a short routine and then brought Kat on stage for her surprise. It was magic! And it highlights the whole showcase concept – it’s about community, acceptance, support, and openness.

My pole journey started with a showcase performance. Every time I get on stage I learn something more about myself, and more about dancing. I am so grateful for the studios who offer this as part of their program and highly recommend you get yourself into one! Or at least come along to watch at Sydney Pole sometime, I’m sure you’ll get hooked too!

Oh, and yes, she said “yes!”

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