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Help! Students trouble with gemini poc’s
A large number of my intermediate students are having trouble getting the contact points in their gemini (outside) leg hang and cant let go of both hands. The right positioning of the knee pit seems to be the biggest issue, but also getting the side pocket on the pole is difficult for them. I have tried having them work it from the floor but when they take it back up to standing everything gets lost once they are upside down. Has anyone had these issues? I tried explaining it many ways and they are usually receptive to my corrections, but I worry that i am missing some key point in this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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8 Replies
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Try explaining that the hooked leg/foot isn’t pointing away from the pole (like the other free leg) but rather the leg rotates allowing them to point the foot down towards the opposite hip. The rotation is like sitting cross leg on the floor. The contact isn’t with the whole knee pit but the outer half.
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here’s a short little video I made several months ago to show my students…it goes kinda fast but you can pause it to see the tips/placement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkdQ7dfpaM Often students have a hard time getting the pole in the pocket, as you said. It tends to be up on the ribs/crossing toward the front of the body.
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These are great tips. I cant wait to beable to pole dance again
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I find that when my students struggle with this aspect they are not pulling into the invert enough. What happens is they invert but not all the way up – essentially trapping the hand understand knee and having half their belly off the pole. Having them pull their bodies up the pole- driving the hips to the ceiling- will lengthen the body to the pole and connect in the back of the arm.
Hope that makes sense 🙂 -
Thanks Veena, I had tried explaining that they have to circle the foot toward the opposite hip instead of bending the leg straight toward the same side butt cheek- the crossing legs tip may just be what they need to think about when maneuvering into the knee pit. Shelbsy, I think the invert issue youve mentioned is an issue with about half of them. Some of them are still scared to tip all the way back. Thank you ladies 🙂
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Hopefully that might help. And as the others said if they don’t have a solid invert down getting the positioning correct for gemini will be difficult. If they have to toe scramble to get into basic invert then have them keep at it before moving on.
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Also make certain that they are opening the chest to turn the outside shoulder and chest AWAY from the pole. Many students tend to turn their chest in toward the pole and twisting like that prevents them from getting the pole in the pocket.
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Yep to what everyone else has said. Getting the pole positioned at the knee correctly is soooo important and is very difficult for a lot of dancers. And I’ll add this: you might try to have them place the exact back of the outside kneepit on the pole, then bring the heel of the outside foot *straight down* toward the inside hip and keep actively pointing the outside toe down–just “hanging around” using skin contact is not allowed! This way of getting the positioning creates some very uncomfortable twisting lol … but it also results in solid contact and a closed leg angle which you really need. If the angle opens up even just to 90 degrees it’s going to be really tough for them to keep the hold.
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