[Charley]

That doesn’t sound too bad actually. I charge $25/hour for group classes. Most of my classes are an hour and 15 minutes for beginners – 2 hours seems like an awfully long time on top of the fact that a lot of my students are mom’s and it’s difficult for mom’s to get 2 hours to themselves.

Since she is MPD Germany – I think that it’s an even better value.

Good luck and let us know what you decided to do! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Charley]

I’m with Notradaya – these poles should not be danced on. When I was 110lbs I brought one down. I was very lucky not have gotten seriously injured but other people have. One story I’ll never forget – an instructor said a student of hers bought the peek a boo, it came down (ofcourse it did) and she spent 4 days in the hospital with multiple injuries.

These poles are very dangerous even if you’re only doing spins. Many people have seriously injured themselves and many have not returned to pole dancing because of the magnitude of injury.

Peek a boo poles do not have reinforced joints which means they can break in half – I’ve heard of the CE pole breaking in half. They also rip out of the ceiling and if you spin counter clockwise the pole will untighten.

I’m sorry a few of you have gotten stuck with these poles – I did too in the beginning and after the first time it came down I stopped using it and had to wait a while to get a new pole but it was better to wait then to dance on something that is unstable and you never know when it will come down.

I still have my peek a boo and cannot bring myself to give the POS to anyone or let them try it. It’s always fun in class to bring it in and bring it down – it takes nothing to do this.

So I really want everyone using these poles to be forewarned. I don’t sell poles, I have nothing to gain by urging people not to use these things. I just don’t want to see people get hurt. I know what it is like to have to buy a second pole when you already spent $100 on a pole, I know what it’s like to be afraid of pole dancing, I know what it is like to have to wait and save up – I know that disappointment. But it’s better to pole safely – even if that means not at all for awhile.

I hope you can get a real pole soon.

[Charley]

I believe Chicago is about a 5-6 hour drive here.

[Charley]

Hi Hotkiss – the workshop is an hour and 15 minutes. It’s going to be in Commerce Township about 5-10 minutes from Novi.

This workshop is more focused on people who have already started pole dancing but will also be open to people who have never touched a pole. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

I am getting so excited!!! I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a really long time.

[Charley]

Hi Azriel,

When I cartwheel or handspring my weaker hand is on top and my stronger hand is on the bottom – same as if to do it from on the pole. But there is no right or wrong way.

A couple of things besides strength that would keep you from getting it might be not committing to the moved. You want to make sure your bottom hand is low and that you’re head is low too.

Can you do the CM to the extended butterfly? This really helped me get the cartwheel.

I don’t see any reason you couldn’t do it on your opposite side, afterall we are supposed to be doing moves on both sides. It might take a little longer. You could always try changing your grip when you’re on the pole or try practicing the cartwheel on both sides but I think in the end it’s about getting comfortable with the move. I do stop myself a lot of times half way through because I feel slippery or notice something I might kick.

So keep your top arm slightly bent, your bottom arm will be straight, make sure your head is going low enough to get your body inverted and practice! I know you’ll get there.

If it makes you feel any better I just got this mount late last summer. I had been poling for nearly 2 years. And it took almost 4 months of a lot of practice dedicated to it.

[Charley]

I was the same too Veena, I could cartwheel and handspring long before I could do a split grip aysha.

It’s really up to you which you want to practice first. I think the ability to an SGA is helpful but not necessary because you’re talking about two different ways of getting into the SGA. The CM is easier in the sense that you can adjust your body as you go up and find the right balance where as coming off the pole you may not be getting yourself far enough away from the pole thus not creating the right environment to get the balance. However being able to do the SGA eliminates the fear of going up as your body is acclimated to the SGA position.

A good CM practice is to aim for getting your foot/ankle on the pole instead of going completely up into the SGA position. CM up into an extended butterfly once you start getting the EB every time use your foot/ankle to push yourself further into the inverted position and bringing that back leg in towards the pole so you can tip your hips toward the pole. The SGA works the same as any other gripped aysha you want your hips tipped toward the pole.

[Charley]

I think you’re a pole dancer when you commit to pole dancing. I think a lot of people try it out and see how it fits but you become a pole dancer when it becomes something that you are really passionate about.

Remember it’s not about how many tricks you can throw. There are different elements to pole dancing. Dancing is a big part of that and moving into tricks with ease and then ofcourse performing those tricks in a polished, finished manner. It’s really tough. Even if you showed someone a simple spin – and they repeat it – it doesn’t mean they can flow into and out of it and into the next thing creating steady stream of seamless movement.

Being a pole dancer takes determination, dedication and practice so if you have those things -which you do, then you are a pole dancer.

If we always chalked being a pole dancer up to how many tricks you can do or how long you’ve been doing it – none of us would ever give ourselves the title https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[Charley]

I am considering ordering it. I’ll probably wait until the reviews are in. I hope the instruction is really good because she has some fabulous moves.

[Charley]

There are a couple of things you can do to get better with the cradle.

The first thing is be good with other split grip spins and half bracket spins – The Chair Spin and ALL it’s variations and the Carousel and Boomerang. Once your really good and controlled with those spins the Cradle will be easier.

Secondly, work on it from the static position. Think about tipping your head sideways – this will make it easier for your brain to understand that you are going sideways (haha I had the worst brain block on side ways spinning.)

Don’t practice the cradle with a bare torso – this will make you stick more and while we are in summer it’s so easy to stick.

Don’t worry about keeping the top arm straight. You are lifting your top arm and pushing with your bottom arm.

The Cradle can be used as a transition too – I would have to actually show you what it is but it’s a good practice.

Also try to cradle up from the floor as a spin up instead of doing the full spin down. You don’t have to spin around the pole as much so it’s easier in that regard and it’s a pretty way to get up – plus you are conditioning yourself for the spin down. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

[Charley]

I have some random tips on the superman – I can’t advise this early in the morning on the spinning part people are talking about because I don’t think that was ever a problem for me.

But obviously work on superman from the ground first – then as a dismount.

The easiest way I have found to get into the superman is from the inverted thigh hold – all you have to do is reach behind you and do a small twist rather than a 180 from gemini. Doing the superman from gemini is pretty painful on the thighs – you’ll want to have a good grasp on the move before you move on to doing it that way. make sure you can grip the pole solidly with BOTH hands. I can superman with either arm and I am not sure which I favor. I had to learn to hold it with my sub dom because you can’t just superman you must go into it out of a move so certain moves create a situation where you might hold with dom hand or others create a situation to hold with sub dom arm.

You can grip the pole with either thumbs up or thumbs down grip. Practice each way to see which way works for you. Personally I found thumbs down much harder but that may not be the same for you.

Practice dismount out of the superman separately and ofcourse practice your dismount first. The easiest way to get out of superman is the figurehead – practice doing this first so that you know how to hold it. Once your in figurhead let your whole body slide down and walk out of it – this was the easiest way for me to get out of the superman.

Once you advance with your superman you can do the superman fall out of it – you can shouldermount out of it you can do a figurehead slide down to your knees out of it or you can go back and shouldermount up the pole.

[Charley]

Yeah this will hurt really badly at first – only do a few tries a day and shelf it.

Be really solid with the pole sit too.

Some other moves you’ll want to be good with are the basic crucifix upright, the upright thigh hold, and variations onthe pole sit as they will help acclimate your thighs, https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

Take time too – layback moves are difficult and scary, they take time to get.

[Charley]

Try the layback in reverse first. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif If you are strong enough to pull yourself up, you’ll be string enough to layback. I’ve been using this for awhile and it seems to help.

for x knee:
lay at the bottom of the pole with the pole between your legs
walk your legs yo the up the pole
cross one leg over the other in a figure 4 position
grab the ankle of the crossed over leg
and using your abs lift up like a sit up.

Work on coming up to a pole sit.

Okay once you’re strong enough and comfortable enough with that…pull yourself up on the pole, do not climb up high. Pull up to a pole sit and be sure your bottom leg has the foot wrapped around the pole, now grab the ankle of the crossed over leg, keep one hand on the pole, unwrap your foot, slowly lean yourself backwards keeping your hand on the pole for stability, when your arm is extended straight slide it down the pole and slowly lean back more, keep your hand up there until the very last point where it is time to go completely backwards.

Keeping that hand on the ankle is going to increase your grip and keep you from sliding – there will be some slide.

Let yourself build up the courage so don’t go back until you feel ready it’s okay if as far as you get is the "plank" that’s fine. The more you do the plank, the sit and work on leaning back slowly the more courageous you will get, the stronger you will get and the easier the move will eventaully be.

Definitely work this in reverse though – it’s a great way to build up your abs a bit.

[Charley]

https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif Thank you so much Rouge!!!!

I love not relying on the guys to get info from – it’s a respect pole dancer thing.

We start filming our second episode of "The Real Trek" tomorrow and hopefully we’ll have all we need to produce a great show.

Yesterday was my first day on the cx100 and honestly I thought it lacked a lot in low light – which is typical, it performed better than most but I hate the auto focus feature because it seems like it takes forever. I haven’t filmed any stage shows yet where there is a lot of movement. hopefully today I’ll get some longer footage of things and get a good feel for then get home and put it together.

I love Sony camera’s but I’ve only played with Sony’s – my knowledge in the video department is heavily limited to products I used in school – I went audio, couldn’t have cared less about video…NOW that I have an opportunity to work in the AV field I wish I knew more about the actual equipment.

I’m going to search for the AP1 – I can’t think of which camera off hand that is.

I can’t wait to get home and play more FCP https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Charley]

the canon’s are FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!

I am playing with the Sony CX100 right now (I got the restocking fee waived at Best Buy – turns out there are special rules for pole dancers!)

I am thinking I will take it back – I am going to film some things at work today and see how it translates when editing in Sony SR11 shots. I wanted to stick with the same lens we are using to provide continuity. In the end though I really want the Canon. I was stunned at the clarity, picture and features of an $800 cam. For the money I think it delivers far more than Sony. We’ll experiment today but that Canon looked SOOOO good.

I am thinking the other guys need to sell their Sony’s and we’ll all go Canon. THANK YOU so much for the info!!!!!!

Ever used Pinnacle? I haven’t touched since I left school but the Best Buy guy said you can separate and clean up audio. This would be an awesome thing to have if it is true. Unless FCP does it – but I didn’t see anything like that, I’m an audio engineer though so may have missed it.

[Charley]

DId you get the Logitech model that has HD?

Are you recording at the highest quality?

If you give me the model # I can do some research for you. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif