Pole Dance Challenge

I have decided to set myself a pole dance challenge. I want to improve my flow and make my pole dance more fluid and graceful which is something I feel I lack at the moment. It takes me so long to master new tricks I just seem to spend all my time doing that and the overall art of it all suffers as a result, so I have decided that I need to do something about it.

I am going to do regular freestyle dances and video them and post the videos here (possibly. I might chicken out of that last bit to start with!). Hopefully if I manage to keep it up regularly I should start to see some improvement. I’m going to start simple, with mainly dance and floor work elements and then as I get more comfortable with it I’ll start adding in more tricks, although it’s not about seeing how many tricks I can jam in, it’s about making sure that what I do put in fits and flows and is well executed. Hopefully this will also help improve my stamina as well because at the moment the only time I dance to a full song is when I’m in training for a competition.

Of course I’ll still be learning new tricks as well and I’ll keep up the occasional posts on how that’s getting on (I’m currently working on improving my split grip Ayesha / Straight Edge and the Holly Drop).

I’d be happy to receive song suggestions if anyone wants to send me any. I mostly like rock / metal but open to most music really.

Also if anyone has any comments / suggestions / constructive criticisms on the videos feel free to send me those as well. Oh, and if you think I’m not sticking to the plan feel free to give me a kick up the backside and tell me to get on with it!

I'm planning on doing the first video after class tomorrow so hopefully I'll be posting it sometime on Wednesday.

Looking back at 2011 and goals for 2012

2011 started off badly, I was going through some tough times personally and it affected my pole. I managed to lose pretty much all of the progress I had made at the end of 2010 when training for Pole Divas which was disappointing. Things started picking up though and by the start of the summer I felt I was beginning to progress again. I was tempted to enter the UKPPC but decided I wasn’t ready and so just entered the Bristol Pole Championships (BPC) instead which gave me more time to train and prepare. Leading up to the BPC I was considering pulling out on several occasions but I’m glad I went ahead with it as having the competition to focus on really helped my pole training and I feel I started to make more significant progress. I was not that happy with my performance on the day, I messed it up in a few places and it should have been neater but I’m I did it and I will probably do it again this year! Since the competition I have managed to keep my momentum going and have still been improving. Most notably by getting my Ayesha and straight edge which I have been working on. They are still not 100% but I’m getting them most of the time now so I think it won’t be long until they are reliable. I managed to get in a bit of practice over the Christmas and new year break. Normally I end up doing nothing for two weeks but I only went one week with no activity this time. I’m hoping I can keep up the progress into 2012.

My pole goals for 2012 are –
Get my Ayesha / straight edge completely reliable and neat
Be able to lift my shoulder mount
Get more new moves (I’ve been doing quite well with this lately so hopefully that will continue)
Make everything neater, remember to point toes etc.
Do more routines to help with flow, grace and stamina
Do more work on moves that I tend to avoid (mostly layback related stuff)

I think they are all pretty obtainable!