[Orchis]

Oh dear, I wish I could! It's taught me a valuable lesson – not to buy willynilly from Gumtree 🙁 The seller was moving abroad and therefore selling her pole… obviously she's now gone.

I tried to get along with this 50mm but it's really hard as I'm just not used to it! So I'm back on the quest for a 45mm… but not until I can find a home for the 50mm…

[Orchis]

Haha, first pet/street name = Odyssey Empire. Could not make this stuff up!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Orchis]

Too true! I was never more disheartened than after/during my second lesson – I rather ill-advisedly had it just two days after my first ever lesson (all on spinny poles might I add) and I had NO strength or grip whatsoever. As in, every single move I tried (even fireman!), my pole just kept THROWING me to the floor. Yet all around me, my felllow students were going upside down at the drop of a hat! It didn't help that the teacher didn't even approach to help me. I left feeling like a failure.

I think it was only in my fourth lesson that things started sort of clicking about the basic moves. ..

I've discovered I am by NO means a "natural" on the pole (sadly, despite having a dance background) but with some work and a bit of throwing-caution-to-the-wind and just launching myself at the pole, I am starting to puil the basics off!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

[Orchis]

I'm really very new to viewing pros on the net (well hey, the whole pole thing is pretty new to me right now anyway!), but recently I was sent a link to one of Oona Kivelä's performances and kapow, did she blow my mind! So graceful and balletic, yet fearsomely strong; It's like she tells a story with each move. Totally my new pole-crushhttps://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_heart1.gif

Here's the link if anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rruEGkKuYJ4 

Otherwise, I live off watching beginners' routines and tutorials on YouTube – they feel inspiring because they seem achievable. My favourite to date is MissDirdyBirdy's channel – I love the way the moves are broken down, and also the way that they're so slickly and inspiringly performed! It's thanks to those vids that I'd branch out a bit after class to experiment with moves that I'd not yet been taught – the fireman into standing spin, for example, or the "angel" pose. Gosh, if I lived in Oz I'd totally be knocking on her door for lessons, haha!

That said I'm now totally going to start YouTube searching all the names that have popped up so far in this thread. I consider this my introduction into the world of pro-pole performance!