[GatorGirl4Life]

HOW do you booty pop an aysha???!!! I really really want to pop the booty in an aysha in my routine to go with the lyrics of the song I am working with and I just can’t seem to get it. Maybe it’s because I have no booty…. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif I think it might be more of a case of me arching and straightening my back to make it look like I’m popping… very different to being right way up and not fighting gravity…lol. Will probably put a vid up sometime this week of my inverted booty fails…heh heh.

The way I booty pop in the Aysha (or any invert) is by using the "pop" method that Veena instructed in one of her videos. You thrust your pelvis back and forth, using your lower back muscles and not just the booty. You could also use the Booty Bounce method Veena talks about, by squeezing and releasing the glute muscles, or the Booty Shake method, by moving your inner thighs in and out and relaxing all of your muscles so your booty jiggles! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_bounce.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

On a side note, when I was learning this move, I would put a lot of grip aid in the elbow pit that I was gripping with (my sub hand) and was able to grip hard enough to pull my feet away from the pole. Remember to tighten your core muscles and really lock the bottom arm for stability. Be patient, this move can take a while to get….

[GatorGirl4Life]

How about a challenge where you do everything on your weaker side? I did this as a challenge for myself a few months ago and BOY WAS IT A CHALLENGE! not only physically, but mentally as well! I caught myself standing there thinking, okay, wait, how do I do this the opposite way?? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif LOL like doing the pirouettes doing to the right instead of the left for me was quite the mental challenge!

[GatorGirl4Life]

We teach on spinny poles here at the studio I instruct at, and I tell students to spot something moving WITH them, i.e. their fingers on the pole, their foot, etc. and not focus on the world spinning around them. This trick has helped me overcome the dizzyness and I have had other students tell me that it has helped them as well. Since this thread started by referencing ice skaters, I also tell my students that your speed on spinny pole is in relation to your body posture and distance from the pole. Like an ice skater doing really fast pirouettes on the pole, when they let their arms and legs out, they slow down and when they bring the arms and legs into their body, they speed up. Same with your body on spinny pole. If your body is close to the pole as you spin, you will go very fast, but if your body is away from the pole, you wont spin as fast. I give a demo on this by doing the regular fireman spin and pull my torso in and out from the pole to show the difference in speed. It’s a personal thing that people just have to experiment with themselves, but those two tips I give seem to get a good response from my students.

[GatorGirl4Life]

You know the way I read the article, because they spoke about Mai Soto so much, I would just assume readers would think that is a picture of HER and not you. I know it’s not, but it doesn’t really show your face, and you have nice pointed toes! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[GatorGirl4Life]

video taping is the best way to go. Those little Flip video recorders are so easy to use, that I would recommend getting one! That way, you aren’t concentrating on looking at yourself in the mirror and creating bad habits with your technique. By video taping yourself, you can create a video journal of your progress! I was just watching some of my first videos that I made 3 years ago and refer back to them every time I feel like I’m having an "off" day on the pole. Seeing how far I have come along from those first videos always makes me feel better about the bad days I have sometimes.

[GatorGirl4Life]

I whole heartedly agree with Yannori’s blog post. I do not need the Olympics to accept pole dancing to justify it as a sport for me. I know how much time, hard work and dedication it takes to get to a certain advanced level with pole, and I don’t need the Olympic committee to tell me whether or not it’s a sport. We as a community know how hard it is to do the things we do – all of the blood, sweat, tears and bruises – so why do we need to legitimize it as a sport? I think there are enough competitions for pole dancing (more and more popping up every day) and that’s enough for me. I think gymnasts would take over pole dancing in the Olympics and it would be more like Chinese pole and Vertical Gymnastics than pole dancing. Let’s not rip this art from it’s original roots and forget that DANCING is a part of it all…..

[GatorGirl4Life]

My problem now is that I can no longer work at the studio I was employed at. I ran into differences with the owner who accused me of micro-managing. I believe I was offering her suggestions on improving the pole program by offering safety advice, workshop suggestions, and certification information. The owner didn’t want this, she just wanted her pole program to be ‘fun’ and ‘not taken too seriously’. I don’t want to work under that philosophy. This sucks for me because here I am ready and prepared to teach, with no place to do it. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cry.gif

I guess the bottom line is that studios all have different standards. Some studios require certification, most don’t. There are no prerequisites or qualifications for teaching pole dance. I hope that given the lawsuits and injuries that are happening that regulation will come. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Students are the ones that need to push for it. The problem is that so many people are so driven to take lessons that as long as someone is teaching them something (correctly or incorrectly) they are satisfied. It’s a supply-demand issue. Since the interest in pole has exploded there are thousands of people across the US buying lessons. But I’d guess there are less than 200 ‘qualified’ instructors out there.

Sadly this is the case at a lot of pole studios. It seems to me that a lot of pole studio owners know very little about fitness and or the business aspect, and are just trying to jump on the bandwagon because they think they will get rich by opening a studio. The problem is that pole can be VERY dangerous, and those who don’t take it seriously and just want it to be "fun" are running into a lot of injury problems and bad technique that later leads to even worse injuries. The only thing I can advise is that students really research the studio they are planning to take lessons from – how long they have been in business, how experienced with sports, what certifications the instructors have, injury prevention, safety mats, spotting technique, etc. When I first started teaching at the studio I am with currently, the instructors they had were VERY inexperienced (one instructor – no longer with us – was having students perform just about every spin with the split grip) and after a while, a lot of students were coming to me with wrist and forearm injuries, as well as chest and rib injuries and shoulder pains from incorrect technique and inverting before they were ready. Pole dancing is fun, but shouldn’t be taken lightly with the serious risk of injuries at hand. I guess all the studios who are seeming to ignore the safety aspect will be soon out of business when a student gets seriously injured and decides to sue the place….. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif

[GatorGirl4Life]

Thurs
3:30 – 5 pm: Allegra spinning pole USPDF – ottersocks, GatorGirl4Life redke71(karol)

Oh great, me and a whole bunch of USPDF competitors. On spinning pole. Prepare for major embarassment. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif

BTW, folks who are in the cancelled Saturday B&P workshops might want to update their enrollments on the running list in this thread. (Too anal, had to say something, sorry…. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_queen.gif )

Aww, E, think of it as you getting a GREAT learning experience with greatly experienced people around you! Sometimes it’s a good idea to surround yourself with greatness and it tends to rub off on you! Don’t worry about being embarrassed, I’m sure Allegra will show us a couple things that will humble us ALL. I’m looking forward to learning things I can’t do yet, myself! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif

Here’s the update with the B&P Saturday classes removed:
Thurs
2pm – 3:30: Jenyne USPDF– GatorGirl4life
3:30 – 5 pm: Allegra spinning pole USPDF – ottersocks, GatorGirl4Life, redke71(karol)
4pm – 5:30: Contortion B&P– amyxshi
5pm – 6:30pm: Alethea USPDF- TrophyWife, PhillyPoleJess, PoledanceVienna
6:30 – 8pm: Jenyne USPDF- amyxshi, ottersocks, Phillypolejess, PoledanceVienna

Fri
9:00 – 10:30 AM Michula Nunez USPDF —
10:30 – 12:00 PM Spinning pole w/Allegra USPDF —

Sat
9:30 – 11am: Estee B&P–ottersocks, bauderlady
10:00 – 11:30am Wendy Traskos USPDF —
10am – 11:30am: Spinning pole with Allegra (MPD Australia) USPDF – Fleur
11:30am – 1:00pm Jenyne USPDF–
11:30am – 1:00pm Amber Richard USPDF–
1pm – 2:30: Brooke USPDF–ottersocks
1pm – 2:30: Jenyne USPDF– terp258
2pm – 3:30: Contortion B&P– PoledanceVienna
2:30 – 4pm: Alethea USPDF-amyxshi, tracee, dayanara, GatorGirl4life
4pm – 5:30: Miss USPDF winner–
5:30 – 7 pm: Karol USPDF- TrophyWife, terp258
7pm – 8:30pm: Amber USPDF- amyxshi, tracee, Foxy_Rei
8:00 – 9:30 pm: Karol USPDF-

Sun
10am – 11:30: Amber B&P–PoledanceVienna
12:30 – 2pm: Leigh Ann B&P- sandybrown, PoledanceVienna, LuvlyJ, Gatorgirl4life
2:15 – 3:45: Alethea B&P- PoledanceVienna
4:30-5:30 Alethea B&P – LuvlyJ
7:15 – 8:45: Karol B&P- amyxshi, sandybrown

[GatorGirl4Life]

I know this is kind of off topic here, but if you really want to show people your passion, why not ask a bar downtown if they would be willing to let you put up the Xstage and do a little performance? I know there are clubs around that allow people to do this without stripping off clothes. Pole Kat in Tallahassee performs every Monday night at this night club called Rain and has posted vids of her performances on YouTube. A school may not be an *appropriate* setting now but perhaps in due time it will be ok. I’d look around at other venues in town to see if you could set something up. It could be beneficial advertising for the bar/club and for you to bring your friends to watch without judgement!

[GatorGirl4Life]

Thurs
2pm – 3:30: Jenyne USPDF– GatorGirl4life
3:30 – 5 pm: Allegra spinning pole USPDF – ottersocks, GatorGirl4Life
5pm – 6:30pm: Alethea USPDF- TrophyWife, PhillyPoleJess, PoledanceVienna
6:30 – 8pm: Jenyne USPDF- amyxshi, ottersocks, Phillypolejess, PoledanceVienna

Fri
9:00 – 10:30 AM Michula Nunez USPDF —
10:30 – 12:00 PM Spinning pole w/Allegra USPDF —

Sat
9:30 – 11am: Estee B&P–ottersocks, bauderlady
10:00 – 11:30am Wendy Traskos USPDF —
10am – 11:30am: Spinning pole with Allegra (MPD Australia) USPDF – Fleur
11:30am – 1:00pm Jenyne USPDF–
11:30am – 1:00pm Amber Richard USPDF–
1pm – 2:30: Brooke USPDF–ottersocks
1pm – 2:30: Jenyne USPDF– terp258
2pm – 3:30: Contortion B&P– PoledanceVienna
2:30 – 4pm: Alethea USPDF-amyxshi, tracee, dayanara, GatorGirl4life
4pm – 5:30: Miss USPDF winner–
4pm – 5:30: Jenyne B&P- sandybrown, GatorGirl4life
5:30 – 7 pm: Karol USPDF- TrophyWife, terp258
6:30 – 8pm: Alethea B&P- sandybrown, PoledanceVienna, GatorGirl4life
7pm – 8:30pm: Amber USPDF- amyxshi, tracee, Foxy_Rei
8:15 – 9:30: Karol B&P–PoledanceVienna (Canceled!!!)
8:00 – 9:30 pm: Karol USPDF-

Sun
10am – 11:30: Amber B&P–PoledanceVienna
12:30 – 2pm: Leigh Ann B&P- sandybrown, PoledanceVienna, LuvlyJ, Gatorgirl4life
2:15 – 3:45: Alethea B&P- PoledanceVienna
7:15 – 8:45: Karol B&P- amyxshi, sandybrown

So at first, I signed up for the classes at B&P, but today Lian said that Jenyne and Alethea may cancel their workshops there (Karol already canceled hers), so I booked with USPDF today for one of the last spots in Alethea’s and a spot in the one that just opened up with Jenyne on Thursday. Depending on if Jenyne and Alethea stay with B&P, I will cancel the USPDF ones because they were more expensive =[ I hope everything gets worked out…..it would totally suck if Jenyne and Alethea back out on a full class at B&P….

Edited to add my spot in Allegra’s class!!

[GatorGirl4Life]

A good way to make your boots not so grippy is to add a LITTLE bit of baby powder on them. It will coat the boot enough so that the grip won’t be as intense. Experiment with the powder a little before you go whole hog on the boots. Good luck.

[GatorGirl4Life]

Hay Allie….will you be teaching your amazing TG Lift in the advanced class? All your youtube videos look great by the way thanks for sharing. I’m from Tallahassee and am trying to make it there if I dont get too busy at work….. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

I will be more than happy to teach people who are interested in learning the TG lift how to train to get there. I’m not one of those people who try and keep all the secrets of the tough stuff, I want people to succeed and be great! I hope to see you there!

xoxo

Allie

[GatorGirl4Life]

Like everyone else has said before, the stronger you get, the more your muscles will hold your body and your skin won’t pull as much. As far as callouses go, it’s a good idea to use vitamin E oil rubbed directly onto your callouses at night. It will soften the skin and prevent "rips" from happening (rips are when the callous builds up so much that it begins to ‘rip’ off the skin exposing the raw layers of skin underneath, very painful!). I know this sounds a little inconvenient, but if you want to, you can sleep with a sock over your hand to allow more vitamin E oil to soak over night. When you are in the shower or have soaked your hands long enough for the skin to soften, you can use a pumice stone and gently rub away the dead, built up skin to keep the callouses from getting so big. It’s a maintenance thing, but I have also noticed that the more "grip aid" I use, the more pronounced my callouses become.

[GatorGirl4Life]

those prices are amazing! it’s great that you are able to offer your classes at such a great rate =) if only it was closer!

Yes, I made the prices reasonable so that anyone can attend. I want to help people out in these tough economic times. No reason why it should be unaffordable…..Hope to see you all there!!

[GatorGirl4Life]

I don’t know of any competitions that include men as of today, however Vegas would be a good place to look for male pole dance and aerial performing.