KuriKat
Forum Replies Created
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I’m very wary of appropriation myself. It’s especially risky if you don’t know much about the cultural tradition you are “borrowing” from. For example, a lot of white people wear First Nations’ headdresses at music festivals and it’s generally considered very offensive. This is because those headdresses aren’t just “decoration”; they signify status. It’s similar to wearing a Memorial Cross (or a Medal of Honor for Americans) when you didn’t actually do the things that would normally earn you the right to wear that insignia. Veterans would be quite rightly upset if someone who wasn’t ever in combat started ‘appropriating’ their honours and symbols of valour, and that’s exactly what we do when we put on headdresses and other FN paraphernalia as costuming.
So, before borrowing a tradition from another culture, ask yourself: Do I really understand how this is used in the original culture? What does it mean? Am I perpetuating a stereotype about this nation or ethnicity? Does the symbolism still make sense in my work, or am I just using it because it’s more “exotic” or “unusual” to my eyes that something from my own cultural traditions? Am I acknowledging and giving appropriate credit to other artists in the source culture? (If you don’t credit it, you’re kind of plagiarizing in your art.) I don’t think you can get to a simple “do or don’t” answer, but if you can’t answer those questions or the answers and reflection makes the choice less comfortable, then you should probably choose something different.
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One of my legs does that still. Like you, my knee joints have easily hyperextended since I was kid. However, I broke my left knee in a bicycle accident several years ago and the cast/brace only allowed movement between 180 degrees and 90 degrees, so now the left knee will never hyperextend.
I don’t think it’s a big issue for pole as long as you’re not putting too much pressure on a hyperextended knee joint in any poses. My contortion instructor has told me to avoid hyperextending the right leg when practicing splits though, so I focus more on my hip/hamstring mobility, for similar rational as what CatsEyes describes.
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It’s not the hardest or the fanciest, but I love the Jagged Edge –> Superman –> Hip hold combo because it looks impressive to a non-aerialist and always feels secure to me. If you have a good Jade, you could do that instead of hip hold, but my Jade is really hit or miss (I often slide a lot), so it would be risky for me to bust it out if my goal is to impress someone, haha.
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Unfortunately, their SEO and web marketing is terrible.
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Oh I tried to do an inline link, but I guess that code isn’t allowed here. Anyway, here’s the poster for the comp: http://www.strutfitness.ca/#!2014-cpfa-abpole-fitness-championships/c1tqt and workshops taking place the same weekend: http://www.internationalpolecamp.com/2014-event.html
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I’m an Edmontonian – I think there’s a great pole community here.
If you’re closer to Calgary, there is a pretty big pole community there, too. They’re even hosting the Alberta Pole Fitness Championship this weekend. I was considering going, but decided the prices for the workshops + registration were too high for what was on offer. But you might find that you can attend a drop in at a studio there and meet other polers in person.
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I’ve been trying to keep in mind how far I’ve come when I’m struggling with a move, especially one that I know will not come quickly or easily. Lately, I’ve been trying to work towards Iron X and deadlifting into my handspring position, mostly by kicking up and trying to descend in slow negatives. It feels like I’m not progressing noticeably at all. So, I try to put in perspective by remembering a time when I couldn’t kick up into handspring at all. It was probably a year that I was trying to do that unsuccessfully.
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I always understood the distinction to be the same as amateur versus professional in any other kind of sporting competition: it wasn't considered fair to have people who practice for pay, and can dedicate their entire life to perfecting a sport pitted against those who are holding down day jobs and competing for fun and passion.
Although, I can see how it might make less sense in pole than it might in say, hockey, or weightlifting, because, as you say, the professionals often do not perform many tricks and aren't really encouraged to. I see this as another case where taking something from an artistic/theatre world and applying a sporting competition filter to it is causing conflict.
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Thanks for all the replies. I definitely don't have the height for drops or anything like that – it would just be to practise wraps and poses. I'm not sure it will warrant a professional, but luckily I do know a few people with that coveted iron ring for some engineering advice. 😉 Lots to think about anyway.
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Yeah, those do look pretty neat. I used to have a backyard, but decided to downsize to a condo to be more centrally located. I guess I'm discovering the first downside to condominium life: no room for an outdoor apparatus. Oh well, in Alberta such things would be a summertime only option anyway. 🙂
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I don't watch this show (not sure it even airs on the channels I can see as I'm in Canada and work during the time it would typically air anyway), but I'm guessing due to the image being the same that they are discussing this Vancouver class? http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/09/14/New-Posers/ I had commented at the Tyee article because I was pretty disappointed at the tone it took (and surprised as the Tyee had done a pretty good profile of a pole dance busker awhile back http://thetyee.ca/Life/2011/08/30/Public-Pole-Dancing/ that I really liked).
I would give the studio the benefit of the doubt that they tailored the children's class to be more childlike and focus on the playful and fitness aspects rather than the erotic. There is for sure an erotic history to pole dance. But that's the case of many art forms. Ballet, back in the day, was very much *not* a persuit for proper ladies (to put it as mildly as one possibly can!), but now it's a completely acceptable class to get kids involved in. Some modern ballets can still be quite erotic, but those aren't the ones that we get kids to dance in. I'd expect that would also be the case here, so I can't see exactly what the fuss is about.
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At first, my mom was kind of jokingly negative, "Making a career change, are you?" but I showed her some Pole Art and other videos and her reaction was really positive, noting how similar pole dance is to gymnastics. Now it's not really any different in her calculation from any of the other fitness and artistic activities I'm into like trapeze or silks or dance.
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Awesome thread. It’s really interesting to see what everyone does here.
My career has been a little bit all over the place. I started at a bank writing policy and operating manuals after getting my masters in international relations and then quickly focused on translating antimoney laundering and anti terrorist financing policies to our manuals. Somewhat irritated at the privacy invasion I was supporting, I got into privacy and started a certificate in privacy law. Then I spent 6 months working in a horrible office doing work I loved until I bailed for my current easy but unrewarding job in a federal government economic development agency. I’m now entertaining an offer that would get me back into privacy and access to information with the provincial government.
Do any of you discuss pole with coworkers? Only the admin assistant at my current job knows that I pole, as she’s pretty cool. Otherwise, I just refer to my “dance class” or some such. I think attitudes are still such that I’d be judged for it unfairly by some coworkers.
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Oh! A blog post within the site – I was looking for something external. Thanks.
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What's the link? I couldn't find it by Googling. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif
