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Low Suspension Pole Work
Hello All. I wanted to get some feedback on a new idea. Two years ago, I tore a bunch of cartilage in my right wrist while poling. The only way to correct this is surgery, but since it is optional, I have kind of been dragging my feet about it–there is rarely a good time not to have use of your dominant hand. That said, poling has been a real challenge for me, and as such, I’ve mostly been working on flow and floor movement, but before eventually putting on my big girl pants, and going under the knife, I wanted to explore low suspension pole work; the kind of thing that keeps you from having to hang by one arm. This eliminates swing tricks and inversions, but it does open doors for the kinds of stuff Olgo Koda is doing. Does anyone know the names of any of these sorts of tricks or the names of anyone who is really good at teaching these sorts of tricks? Kind of long winded, sorry.
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7 Replies
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Hey there!
I’m sorry to hear about your wrist- it really sucks to look at the future and wonder how you’ll get through your day without use of your dominant hand. However, humans are extremely adaptable, and you’d be surprised how much you can do with your non-dominant side, especially with days of practice and immersion!
That said, a lot of the tricks you’re looking at that are low on the pole DO require both hands. In the inverted pose you’re showing in the picture, both hands are working hard to keep Olga’s body upright and balanced. I would be wary of practicing these sorts of poses if your wrist is unhappy. Also, of course, practicing both sides is often key to being able to execute a move well, and making sure the body is appropriately balanced.
Most of these moves, though, I find most often when looking at floorwork videos for pole dance. I really love the exotic style of pole, and floorwork is a big part of that! I’ve seen this particular move done many times, and even taken into some other interesting moves with a similar grip/balance. I have also seen spins done low down, as well as other moves like Superman done from very low, and things like Cross Ankle Release.
I don’t know of anyone who specifically teaches these tricks, and in fact, many of these kinds of tricks do not have names. That’s the trouble with exotic pole- a lot of things that are done aren’t named, because they often look a lot like transitions, enough that they cannot be separated.I wish you luck with your wrist and your healing!
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Thanks so much! That is really helpful!
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Hi! Low pole doesn’t mean easy so you might want to just focus on working your non dominant side and getting the surgery over with. Heal quickly!!!!!!
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Bailey Day is very good at low flow – but as has been said, it’s really advanced! It’s very hard on the wrists as a lot of it is akin to yoga hand balancing – so definitely not an easier option if you can’t invert/spin without pain
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Personally, I am super conservative and avoid tricks that have you swinging and hanging from one arm. Better safe than sorry! As others said, low flow can be as hard as “high” flow or aerial tricks, it’s another type or hard though, in general less muscly and more about coordination, balance, etc. Maybe you can focus on advanced floorwork (leg swirls, rolls, shoulder stands, etc.) and wall work until you heal. Some low flow tricks can be adapted from pole to wall easily. I think that wall work is super sexy BTW. I like Alethea Austin and Polina Ginger for floorwork. You can check them out in Youtube and other social media platforms. StripXpertease has tutorials on wall, also Youtube. I believe they have Skype lessons too.
For Veena, what about wall dance lessons? New for 2017? 🙂 -
And of course, flexibility! You may want to avoid some backbends that are hard on the wrists, like wheel.
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Thank you, everyone. Super awesome of all of you to chime in. I think I need to just take the dive like Veena says and get the surgery. Boo! In the meantime, wall work will do just fine. Kisses, Wolf.
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