Tagself development

Stage Presence

Stage PresenceThe X Factor. Engaging the audience. Capturing the crowd. Having “It”.

There are some dancers that just seem to own it. From the moment they step onto the stage you are drawn in. It might be a walk, a look, their costume. The dancer might not have even moved yet, or be on stage, but their choice of music and/or pose has you mesmerized by their mystery.

These are the shows I want to talk about. The ones that stick in your brain for years to come. The performers that you can watch again and again. They are the shows that make your dinner go cold as you sit there frozen, moth agape, unable to turn away.

A few years ago I joined a small group to train with Jamilla Deville as part of her Extend Yourself training program. Over two days we learned some great pole tricks and cross training advice but we also talked extensively at this elusive “it” factor.

Like many abstract concepts, it was easier to describe what it wasn’t then to truly grasp what it was. No one could put quite their finger on it.

One thing was for sure, however, we knew what it was when we saw it!

If you are seeking to understand stage presence and begin to learn how to capture it yourself, my advice is this,

1) Start studying dancers who you see have it.
Short Instagram videos are great for mini tutorials and finding new tricks, but you are going to have to watch entire performances to begin to understand stage presence. You can find many full clips on YouTube of pole competitions and showcases. Pole Ranking offer live streams of the larger comps too. Add your favourites to a short list so you can return to them again and again.

2) Go and see a live performance.
It doesn’t even need to be a pole performance. Check out some local plays, or head to a burlesque night out on the town. Small intimate venues will let you be close enough to the action to see their movements and get a feel for how they are putting on the show. Larger venues, like Miss Pole Dance Australia at the Enmore Theatre, will give you the chance to see how great performers can dance in front of 1000s of people while giving the impression that they are solely dancing for you.

3) What elements make these performances the same?
Aside from the fancy pole tricks, sensual body rolls, and legs for days, ask yourself what else are these performers doing.

  • Are they making eye contact with the audience? When? As they walk out on stage, during pole tricks, during floorwork?
  • Are they telling a story? Contemporary and lyrical pole performances can be particularly enthralling when done well.
  • Are they using props that help you understand the story? Your narrative is only worthwhile if the audience knows what is going on.
  • Do you notice the soundtrack or is the music working seamlessly with the choreography? Everything doesn’t have to be on the beat, but a sense of musicality goes a long way to helping a performance look polished.
  • How long are they holding their poses for? Even with a fast song, a good performer knows how to draw out their pole poses and floorwork so the audience has time to see and understand what they are watching.

If you can start incorporating these elements into your own routines, you will be well on the way to a brilliant performance. Begin working on these ideas as you are writing your choreography too, then they will be ingrained into the routine just as well as your pole tricks.

For extra tips about feeling confident on stage and developing your performance skills I recommend reading, Feel It, before you try and say it and Everyone is Talking About Sexy Pole. Or if you are on the look out for some inspiration, I have linked to my favourite dancers here.

What happens if you fall?

Image by Leen Isabel

Image by Leen Isabel

“What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?”

When Erin Hanson wrote these 12 words I am pretty sure she was not thinking about pole dancing. It is, however, a quote that gets thrown around a lot in the studio as people muster the courage to try a new move. Instead of focusing on the risks, it channels our energy into looking at the possibilities.

This approach is great in helping people reach outside their comfort zone and overcome self doubt, but sometimes it is important to understand the dangers.

Falling from a pole can be serious. I’ve fallen a number of times, once from about 2 meters up, head first, giving myself a concussion. I was off pole for a fortnight and it has been a long road to recovery, especially when asked to revisit the transition that caused me to fall.

Our focus on “what if you fly?” appears to have allowed pole dancers to skip over important details in learning how to fall safely. We dance on with the mantra of “well you just don’t fall”. In other disciplines one of the first elements of training involves learning how to fall. Martial artists, parkour athletes, circus performers, and stilt walkers, all train their bodies to fall safely in controlled environments, building muscle memory patterns and understanding of body mechanics to help them if they ever encounter an accidental fall.

Aside from this article from a silks performer, discussions about safety while pole dancing seem to be limited. Suggestions include to use a spotter, have adequate grip aid, and ensuring your pole is installed properly.

These are important tips, but all the Dry Hands in the world is not going to save you if your legs suddenly stop holding on when you’re upside-down. Being tired, over-training, or not understanding the right contact points of a pole trick, can all be causes of serious accidents.

Let’s talk about how to fall properly.

 

Breaking your fall
It is a natural instinct to put your hands out to save you during a fall, but when you’re pole dancing, there are usually safer alternatives. Our wrists are made up of hundreds (edit: only 8 it seems, but all still delicate!) of delicate bones, and although breaking your fall this way will save your head hitting the ground, coming down hard on your hands may cause serious wrist injuries that will hinder your future pole dancing.

Depending on the nature of your fall on the pole, you might have the opportunity to grab hold on the way down, slowing your descent, or allow you to re-position your body to fall on you butt instead of your hands or head. An author talking about how to fall safely when inline skating makes note of which body parts are safer to fall on than others. Landing on “one side of your buttocks and the thigh, not the fragile tailbone area, [will] … absorb the majority of the impact. The bone in your thigh is the biggest, strongest bone in your body, and since it is supported by lots of muscle and connective tissue, it is your best support system in the event of a fall.”

Depending on the height of your fall you will probably still get a nasty bruise from landing this way. A bruise, however, is a lot easier to heal than a broken tail bone. Emotionally too, your recovery time after a fall with a safe landing will be much quicker than the roller coaster of fear and anxiety caused by breaking bones after a serious fall.

 

In this video I fell out of an extended butterfly. Grabbing on to the pole, I managed to re-position myself into a shoulder mount position, stabilizing the fall and allowing myself to dismount into a seated position on the floor. All of this happened through instinct. There was no conscious process of telling myself that a reverse shoulder mount would save me. But I was thankful that my strength training, knowledge of various grips and positions, and body awareness took over and quickly found a familiar position that stopped my head hitting the floor.  My friend’s watching even wondered if I had invented a new combo! But no, you tell as I catch my breath at the end that my lucky save surprised myself!

 

The Brace Position
Let’s consider that even with a crash mat you can still hurt yourself by falling the wrong way. Coming down on your head, neck, wrists or knees can cause serious injuries as these joints and connective tissue are not strong enough to take the impact of a fall.

Five years ago there was an incident where a pole dancer was paralyzed from a bad fall from a Cross Knee Release. If you find yourself slipping in this position tuck your chin to your chest, so the point of impact will be across your shoulders instead of the on the delicate bones in your neck. You can practice this movement to make it habit by dismounting with control from the CKR position. Hold onto the pole with your hands, or place your hands on the floor in a handstand position. As you slide yourself towards the floor, tuck you chin to chest and let your shoulders touch the floor first. From here you can use your hands to stabilize as you take your legs off the pole and to the side, allowing your body to roll out into a supine position.

If you find yourself coming down face first, your can brace yourself with your elbows and forearms in front of your face, and use your arms to help you roll to the side protecting you face and neck. At first this seemed counter intuitive to me, however it makes more sense when you understand how to roll with the fall.

 

Roll With It
Imagine you are in a headstand away from the wall. To exit the position you can lower your legs down to a straddle or a crouch and then sit up. But if you overbalance, what is the safest way to exit?

Chin to chest and roll out.

Here is a video of me practicing this dismount. The momentum from the roll may even allow you to come back up to your feet, the energy flowing through your body rather than impacting on your joints.

Returning to the “face first” fall off the pole, if you use your forearms to push away from the floor, tuck your chin to your chest making sure the and try to land on your shoulders as you roll out, you will protect your face, head and neck, and finish the fall on your butt or feet depending on the amount of momentum. It’s like a forward roll, creating sideways momentum to exit safely rather than the energy compacting your joints through downward pressure. In an ideal case your head would also not contact with the floor at all.

Remember though, instincts often take over and landing statically with your hands out will put a lot of strain on your wrists. Practice this forward roll dismount with a spotter in a controlled way, learning the body positions and direction of the fall.

 

Breathe
My research into falling techniques lead me to many articles from martial artists. One of the key elements of their fall training, involves being relaxed and moving with the breath. You can imagine that a stiff, tense body is not going to roll or move with the direction of the fall. A relaxed body guided by an exhale will flow with the roll and be less likely to snap or break.

Our nerves and concentration when up the pole often cause us to hold our breath during pole tricks. If you were to fall at this point your body would be tense. Remembering to breathe through your movements on the pole and on the floor will help you stay relaxed and be more prepared for a fall if it is to happen.

On a final note from this author,

“There are no great falling techniques, but there are good ones. A good fall leaves you conscious, alert, with nothing broken, major lump and abrasion free”

Even if you come away from a fall unscathed, it can still affect your confidence. Hopefully this article will help you and other pole dancers start to train for falls, so they simply become stepping stones and not road blocks in our dance journey.

We all want to get back up and fly!

A Story about Stretching

2015-12-06 11.29.25For anyone involved in the pole dance community, you would have had a thousand involved conversations about flexibility and stretching. Studios everywhere offer conditioning classes to compliment your dance practice, and most people’s pole goal list is dotted with dreams for flat splits and bendy backs. After a few months of dancing you may have also amassed a stash of foam rollers, thera bands, and spiky balls to support you on your journey to flexiness!

 

Coming from a yoga background, I already felt I understood the benefits of increased mobility. But it wasn’t until I started pole that I really focused on stretching and learning about muscle groups and how I could work towards my flexibility goals.

StudioVeena was my first inroad into dedicated stretching in 2013. She still offers tutorials for front and middle splits and back flex and encourages foam rolling as part of a warm up to increase blood flow and support muscles relaxation. The tutorials are between 20-30min, the perfect length to fit into my schedule. After riding home from work, I was already well warmed up and could foam roll and then stretch before dinner. Doing this nearly everyday, I was making amazing gains on my front splits.

I also purchased Delavier’s Stretching Anatomy book, which offered 130 stretching exercises covering the entire body. The diagrams and clear details about how each stretch targeted different muscles really helped me articulate to myself how each stretch was benefiting my body. I could also begin to see how different stretches related to different pole moves, discerning how a strong and stable Butterfly pole pose would require strength and mobility in my back muscles, chest, shoulder, hips and glutes.

It was around 2014 that I started to learn about the difference between dynamic stretching and static stretching. My yoga classes and the StudioVeena series at the time were using static stretches. Cleo had just released her Rockin’ Legs N Abs DVD and I was excited to spice things up.

As well as a being a high intensity warm up and cardio challenge, Cleo worked through exercises for dynamic flex with lots of high front kicks, side kicks and back kicks. The women on the DVD are incredibly flexible and strong and inspirational in their range of motion. It was a great full body workout, but I have found that I don’t use it as much as I had hoped.

Sometimes dynamic stretching gets a back rap, the concern that if you bounce through a stretch or kick your up into a split without the proper strength to hold it there, you risk injury.

Personally, I am very careful with dynamic stretching. It’s important to remember that pole, like yoga, is a body work practice, and you need to listen to your body. After tearing both hamstrings, my physio advised that to reduce the chance of re-injury, I should take it slow with my tendons. If you have grown up with dance and ballet, your muscles and tendons may respond differently. I’m a massive advocate for “it’s never too late to start” but please remember that if your body is older and you don’t have a background in physical activity, diving in to the Rockin’ Legs N Abs video may be too dynamic for your body to handle.

It’s been a long road to recovery after my hamstring injuries. Physically it has taken nearly two years for my hamstrings to feel like stretching again. Emotionally it has also taken nearly two years to work through the fear that I might tear them again too. Attending a flexibility class or even just stretching at home used to bring up a lot of anxiety about damaging my body and I would get flash backs from the moment of injury. Thankfully, time away from stretching my splits allowed me to focus on other goals – back flex, strength tricks and dance flow have been the main focus on my dance practice for the last 2 years.

I still dream about the splits, and my feet touching my head in a back bend! Recently, a friend told me about the Easy Flexibility series and after doing one video with her I bought a split stretching series. I was pleased to find the videos offering a balance between static and dynamic stretches and stemming from an awareness of anatomy that made sense to me. It is also refreshing to be able to complete a video and not be sore the next day. I have been able to get back into a routine of stretching everyday which is great to make progress towards my flexibility goals but also supports range of motion and general well being.

Last month, Indi Pole Wear also released a stretching guide for pole dancers
outlining a sequence of 22 stretches for back and hip mobility. The stretches are familiar (cobra pose, pigeon etc) but also show how you can use a chair or pole to correct form or increase the stretch. The authors also comment on how important your breathing is to promote a relaxed stretch. I’d recommend the sequence to anyone starting out on their stretching journey but like all tutorials that can be used without the spot of a trained instructor, be aware off what your body is telling you in each exercise and take it slow.

Stretching can be a wonderful practice to do on your own, even meditative and insightful as you engage with the process and movements of your own body. But when pushing yourself to get flexier, if you don’t have a teacher to correct your form or remind you to breath, you do run the risk of injury.

There will be a summary of this story in the Cross Training Series, including tutorials of my favourite stretches, as I genuinely believe stretching is beneficial for your pole practice. But I hope that this story inspires you start or return to stretching, either in a class at your studio or at home with one of the methods I have used. If you have a great stretching practice I’d love to hear about it too! Please comment below or get in touch with me through Instagram or Facebook.

Safe stretching!

Turning Towards Fear

Today was a moving day. To tell you about today I need to start this story in the past. Writing this was as much cathartic as the Epsom salt bath I had afterwards. For anyone experiencing fear and anxiety while trying new moves, I hope it is as worthwhile for you too.

 

Last year I fell off the pole, two metres up, attempting to windmill/body swap through a Tammy. Landing on my head I suffered a concussion and have unintentionally yet clearly avoided the move ever since.

In class with Bailey each Sunday, she has been throwing challenging moves at us all term. Many have been based around this Tammy transition. For seven weeks I’ve avoided it. Using excuses that my elbow grip is not steady enough to land after the transition. Or, it’s on my goofy side. Or I just kind of make myself look busy until we move on to something else.

I’m not sure what changed today, but something in me wanted to try it properly. I was open about it. I started to share my difficulty with classmate Oryx, “I just can’t turn around into the pole.” Immediately pinpointing the problem, she asked, “how do you feel in your tammy?”

Boom! There was no hiding now!

Revisiting the story of falling, Oryx knew, she was also in the class when it had happened. She smiled and talked me through the motions of the transition.
I try again and Bailey offers pointers. Stumbling I pull out, a half arsed attempt really, and tell her about my fall. She shares a knowing glance and then gets straight to the point.

I’m jittery, angry, tears well in my eyes.
“Bring that circling leg around. Point it to the floor it will squeeze you in and hold the top leg on.”
I hear her but my body is flooded with fear.

She stands an arms reach away and waits for me to try again.

Deep breaths. I try to shake off the fear. Bailey does a jump and shake too. Let’s do this!

I step into a slow spin going backwards. Straddle to an inside leg hang and stretch my inside hand down the pole. My outside leg begins its circle to close over the pole in the tammy position. Every spin I see Bailey’s toes and I can hear her voice.
“Pull that leg down, toes to the floor, yes yes… ”
And then ha! My stomach is facing the pole! I’m so low my bottom hand is now on the floor but my legs aren’t going anywhere. It’s stable.

Woooosh!

The blood drains from my head from being upside-down and plays on a scale with the adrenaline rising in my body. I must look a bit dazed and confused but I have more focus than ever. Maybe I can do this?

Up again, a controlled reverse spin, gemini hook, I hear Bailey, leg is down, stomach to pole I’ve closed off … rolled in, hooked the elbow … holy shit … Bailey talks through the rest of the combo, “get the pole into your trap, catch on the ankle, thread the leg through”, extend……. dismount.
Ha!

I’m too excited, pumped, zoned out, or something, and not sure how to react. Bailey’s excited “YEAH! Jump up and down, shake that shit out!”

Exhale!

There is only five minutes until the end of class. I set up my phone to record the combo, and so next time I get the jitters I can watch myself succeed and prove this fear wrong.

You can see me psych myself up in the video. Bailey is not an arms reach away this time. It’s just the sign of confidence I need though. To really overcome this I need to do it on my own.

Breaking down the pole moves into stages I work through the combo slowly. First attempt – success, but a bit low making the dismount clumsy. I can do better. Second attempt I add a half climb further up the pole.

Slow and steady, it’s not time to get carried away.

Fear is something that gets talked about a lot in the pole dance community. For women and men, breaking out of their comfort zone and even attending a pole class for the first time can bring out a lot of fear. Anxiety about their body shape, sense of self expression, and failure.

There are even some funny memes about pole dancing fears but humour is usually the last thing on our minds when we are really in the grips of fear.

Your body has natural fear instincts that alert you to be careful when in strange situations. Even though it’s fun to hang out upside-down, when you’re asked to let go of one hand, or hold on with just your ankles, it’s understandable that your instincts flare up and say WTF!

I’ve seen girls have fears about many pole moves, simply the idea of it scares the shit out of them. When you fall out of a move, this fear is compounded. Yoga philosophy talks a lot of holding fear in parts of your body. The release of this energy is sometimes just as overwhelming as the fear itself, further compounding the emotional response to confronting the fear in the first place.

After pole class today I went to my usual weekly yoga session. I was still jittery and had a conflicting feeling of tension and release that comes from your body reacting to a high dose of adrenaline. Across the hour and half my yoga teacher chose some new and challenging poses. By the time were reached Shavasana I was more than ready to let the energy slow to a trickle. Easing into bliss I was buzzing but with less adrenaline and more joy. Joy and love that pole dance did that! That I faced a fear and came out on the other side, unscathed, alive!

It had been a roller coaster of a morning and a hell of a learning experience. There is a chance the fear related to this Tammy combo will resurface and ask me to turn towards it again but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I’m ready for an Epsom salt bath and some down time to let the feelings of the day settle.
If you are working through a pole combo/move and find yourself gripped with anxiety, here are a few ideas that might help you.

  • Visualise yourself accomplishing the move: if all you can imagine is yourself falling in a heap on the floor or cracking your head open, then that is probably going to effect the result.
  • Break down the move into it’s smallest components: thinking conscsiously about what your hands, legs, arms, knees, head, and toes are doing, even for the most basic elements will help you isolate the part that you feel most unsteady in. Identify the contact points and how to engage your body to work through the move safely. Even see if you can add a contact point by leaving a hand on for the first few attempts.
  • Ask for a spot: From an instructor or a trusted friend. Share your fear so they know what to expect when you’re upside-down
  • Talk about why you might be so frightened: Are you scared of falling on your head? Have you fallen out of a similar move in the past? Maybe you’re scared of success and this amazing pole move challenges your image of yourself? Sometimes just verbalising it and talking it out can be the first step in helping you let go.
  • Walk away from the move, for today. Some days it’s just not going to work. Sleep on it, try it again tomorrow, it’s all a learning process.

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.

Happy New Year!

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Shall we all smash our pole goals, have sticky poles, become amazingly flexible, and all achieve our aerial deadlifts in 2016!

 

Stay safe over the holidays!