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We felt our building sway here in Welly but had no idea about the devastation happening down in Chch at the same time. It all feels a bit unreal and I can’t even pole it out because of a shoulder injury. I hope any polers (and anyone you know in the area) are okay and all our love is beaming straight towards Christchurch right now

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I haven’t had a chance to watch all 3 but I thought your floor/chair routine was fantastic, especially those booty pops! If you’re feeling disillusioned with comps, are there many opportunities to get involved in burlesque/pole shows instead? You get the benefits of sharing your awesomeosity (of course that’s a word;p) with a crowd who clearly loves you having to worry about all that other stuff

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UT, the position of my upper leg prevents me pushing through with my hips properly but I don’t know how to fix it:(

Veena, I wish I had vid capability – would make getting advice much easier! I might just need to go back to your pole split lessons and try and figure out where my calf should be:/

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Nope, I go to both the Studio Pole Dance Aotearoa and Polaris, both of which are in town while KPF is out in the Hutt so not so easy for me to get to

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Maree from our studio is the one competing. I had a look at the criteria for the amateur comp but I don’t really fit that well into any of the categories! I might just have to stick to performance poling;)

I haven’t looked at the workshops yet but Amy R’s coming down here later in feb so classes with her might be enough for me:)

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Welcome – great to see another Kiwi! We're making the trek up to AKL from Welly for Miss Pole and I'm SO looking forward to it 'cos it was awesome fun to watch last year and one of our girls has been selected for the semi-pro section this year – I'll be screaming myself hoarse!

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I’m having exactly the same prob (except replace elbow grip with forearm grip:)) and it’s been driving me bonkers. I can recommend a youtube clip from simpllysweet about finding balance in the split grip, which has helped me a little bit, although I still come straight down just about as soon as I take my second leg off so don’t even really have the oopportunity to practice balancing!

Another suggestion I have if you’re solid in your jackknife is to get into that position then slowly lift your top leg up and over into the ayesha position – focus on keeping that lower leg in a constant position rather than letting it lift as your other leg raises. This was recommended to me by a really good teacher but as my jackknife is a bit substandard, I haven’t tried it since my one-off lesson with her…

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Just going to throw in my 2 cents worth here too:) I’ve been poling for going on 4 years now and I’ve been through so many ruts that I’m surprised my suspension ain’t broke (sorry, lame joke). I also watch people in my studios who have been poling for much less time get tricks I can only dream of and that twists the knife deeper. And if you’re anything like me, you religiously watch internet clips of all those truly amazing dancers out there and get a completely false idea of the minimum level you need to be to be a good dancer. Because you know what? Just starting poling and take it beyond those first few lessons already separates you from the crowd. Your first invert is an amazing thing. Putting combos together is fantastic. Just spinning round that pole, experiencing the joy of doing something you love is the feeling that keeps us coming back for more.

And touchy feely stuff aside, are you doing much strength training stuff aside from your poling sessions? Either with the pole or off it? I know personally I’m trying to do a little bit of pole strength training every time I have a session at the moment so I can at least know something I’m doing in a session is worthwhile even if I have a complete fail on the moves I’m working on.

And I think that continuing with the beginner lessons can only make you stronger too. And let the enthusiasm of the newbies and the reminder of just how far you’ve come since you first started buoy you up! I suspect if the newbies aren’t enjoying themselves, it may be your self doubt coming through. So relax, enjoy yourself, l augh a little, share stories about how you went when you were first learning a move – I’ve found these good hings to create a fun learning atmosphere. And maybe you could team teach with someone? Get some ideas from others about how they make the learning fun.

Sorry if this sounded more like an essay than a helpful comment! I just know how you feel and how frustrating it can be so I hope things get better for you soon:)

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Wow that was really good!!

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I normally find the opposite – that moves are easier on the smaller poles! Are your poles made of different things? Like, is it grip you're struggling with? Or did you warm up more when you were with your teacher? Did you feel more confident when you had her there for spotting all the time? Maybe you were just having a really awesome day – now you know you can totally own those moves even if it doesn't happen every time:)

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I did gymnastics briefly when I was much younger but I was too scared to try anything more advanced than cartwheels/round-offs. I switched to dancing and have danced on-and-off since the age of 11 (that sounds more impressive than it is – we’re talking once a week kinda classes with several years break here and there) and became a gym bunny when I was in my early 20s (I’m almost 31 now) so I can dance and have a reasonable level of flexibility, fitness and strength but there’s still so much that scares me about holding my body weight (my body type doesn’t help – I carry a lot of mass, especially in my legs from my love of running up hills:)) that I don’t progress very fast at all in pole (seriously, the number of new things I’ve managed to get in the past year or so could probably be counted on one hand).

I’ve been poling for more than 3.5 years and there are girls at my studio who have been poling for maybe 1-2 years who can do crazy stuff that I doubt I’ll ever be able to do. I get pretty depressed about it sometimes but it’s kinda human nature to look at what we can’t do and be sad rather than look at the awesome things we can do and be happy about it. For me, it’s sometimes hard to remember that I’m probably one of the better dancers (dance rather than tricks I mean) at my studios because all I can see is the people doing amazing aerial stuff and because that’s the main thing that separates pole from other forms of dance, I feel a bit lacking.

However, something I find is really good for reminding me that any pole moves I can do are impressive to "regular" folks (ie. non-polers) is to do a show and the simplest of moves can make the crowd go wild:) Also, I love having photos of moves when I nail them so I can show them off:) Showing non polers what you’ve got is definitely worth trying if you need that extra boost! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_salut.gif

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Nice:) I wish they still made movies with dancing like that

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A pleasure to watch https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif Some of your moves are pretty amazing!

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Gorgeous photos! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_salut.gif

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Roxy, Cheery and Queenie, I can give you some tips about what works for me when it comes to running enjoyment but it will be different for every person. I am by no means a natural runner and I’m not one of those people who goes omg I so love running, I’ve been doing it forever, endorphins endorphins blah blah blah. But I do love it, don’t get me wrong. I went from someone who could not run a km to someone who has run multiple races and has no plans of stopping any time soon.

These are the things that work/ed for me:
-Start slow. Train it up. Don’t expect it to be amazing straight away – with pole, you couldn’t do the awesome tricks straight away right? So build up to it – a lot of people recommend the Couch to 5km as a good way to start.
-Train in a group if you can. I have done most of my running through squads and I find having a group of like minded individuals around provides you with support when it’s hard, props when it’s awesome, and generally help you strive to get better. And for those days when you just want to putter along, it provides you with chatting companions and you won’t notice the kms clocking up. Also, knowing that you’ll be letting someone down if you don’t get out there is a great motivator on those days where you can’t be bothered.
-Find an event. You might not be competitive but having a goal to work towards and some kind of programme that shapes your training can make it feel less like you’re just mucking around without direction. And the adrenaline on race day is pretty awesome! From what I read online in runners fora, there are some pretty fun races round the States, where you can dress up etc.
-Try different types of running to see what kind you like. Personally, I’d much rather go for a crazy trail run than pound it out round the pavements. This can cause me some frustration though because the running I really like (hilly trail runs at a slowish plod) is not the kind of running that makes me faster (speedwork BLURK!).

Most of all, if you give it the old fashioned try and you still hate it, don’t do it. You shouldn’t do it just because other people do and say how they enjoy it! Not every type of exercise suits every type of person!!

Sorry about the essay! I hope it helps though:)