[StellarMotion]

Makes perfect sense, thanks a lot! And I’ll see if the rubber mallet trick works on another day when I’m not getting ready to take Francine in for a show….

[StellarMotion]

Hi Hazel,

I am not sure exactly what causes this, but if I am understanding you correctly, I have had the same recurring problem. It seems almost as though something in the hip flexor is out of place and wants to "pop," even though there isn’t any bone right there! Mind you I am not well-versed enough in physiology to give you a description of what it is, but I can tell you about my experience with this problem.

For starters, I find that it is mainly triggered by extreme movements. These can be kicks, lifts, or stretches of any magnitude that is outside of my usual range of motion. Activities such as running, flexibility training, or strength training seem to precede the onset of it. I find, in general, that while it is in pain, stretching or exercising that area seems to increase the problem. I assume that some gentle stretching would be fine, but I tend to kind of have a problem doing "gentle" stretches. I have found, however, that after a few days time, or a week, or however long it takes the majority of the discomfort to subside, that to do some moderate strength training does wonders to help protect this area. After mine started to feel better, I began to do some very slow, controlled circular motions with the widest possible range of motion with both my legs, in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, and from both standing (with a wall or char nearby for balance and stability) and lying positions. Weak hip flexor muscles will "feel the burn" pretty fast.

For the most part, now, I can split, V-lift, teddy bear, run, and do most other activities and movements that involve extreme contractions, elongations, and exertions from the musculature along the hip flexor without pain.

One very good stretch for the hip flexor is the warrior pose from Yoga. Another is as follows: if you wish to stretch your right hip flexor, enter a kneeling position by lunging forward with your left leg. Slightly arch your back, and slightly turn your right shoulder forward so that your left pivots back. For a slightly more challenging stretch, you may raise your right arm and lean over to your left side. I’ve heard Veena recommend using the Dove and Bow/Bridge poses for stretching the hip flexors.

But I would suggest doing only very light stretches, or no stretches at all, until the pain mostly goes away. And when you do begin stretching and exercising it, don’t forget to have a good warm-up first. In my experience, rest has been of the greatest benefit for this problem. Ibuprofen and daily or twice-daily application of an ice pack may be helpful also if there is discomfort even when you are not exerting or stretching the muscle.

[StellarMotion]

I had to add… I really think that the "shoulder split" is an ugly move. But I love Jenyne’s variation with the trapped leg. Too bad that move is so difficult, I’ve got the basics of it down but it’s still looking kinda ugly when I try it.

Oh, and I absolutely despise watching anyone kick or leap into the twisted grip handspring. There’s a front handspring and a cartwheel mount handspring which are perfectly fine types of handsprings to kick or leap into. The true grip can also be used for "kicked" handsprings. But when I see kickoffs into twisted grip all I can think is "ouch" even if the rest of the dance is beautiful. Seeing this handspring kicked or leapt into distracts and disturbs me so much that it will entirely ruin an otherwise magnificent dance for me.

[StellarMotion]

Okay, so when I read this thread last week I tried to remember whether I had dreamt about anyone from StudioVeena before, and I couldn’t recall any dreams in which Veeners were present. So it’s changed now! Bear with me, there’s a lot of dream here but I think it’s really wierd and bizarre, so I’m going to tell the whole thing even though there is only one Veener who isn’t even there until almost the end part of the dream.

So most of this dream takes place in a Hotel, and it seems to be a luxury hotel of some kind. I’m sharing a suite with my parents for some reason (would never happen in real life). At the start, I accidentally went through the wrong corridor of the hotel and ended up in an employee-only area. When I found someone who could direct me out of it, he sent me into one of the banquet halls where a gay wedding was taken place. One of the men was dressed as the bride, and for some reason even though I didn’t know this couple, I had to stand in for the father of the bride and "give him away" at his wedding. LOL

After that I went outside through the Southeast exit of the Hotel where there was a river with a very tall bank. For some reason parts of this bank were paved with cement. My grandmother is there too now, so I take her with me to the river and we get on the first little boat that we find. This is unlikely in real life as my grandmother is elderly and feeble right now. I notice a bridge high over us made of rope and boards. The river is pushing us along quickly and I ask, "Mimi, is this too fast for you?" She replies, "Oh, no honey, this is just real neat! You know your Mimi never worries about a thing when I know you’re around."

Later on, for some reason, we were in some kind of open flying machine together and my grandmother was the pilot. I describe it as "open" because there wasn’t like a windshield, so it was kind of like a jet-ski with propellors. My grandmother was driving and I was standing on the platform behind her, holding onto a some handle-bars that were put there for passenger stability. While I am up there, I find these odd cards with people’s names on them in a bag that I was carrying with me and I know they’re either tickets or invitations of some kind. I put them away because I don’t want them to blow all over the place while I am on the funny jet-ski helicopter thing with my grandmother. I notice that my grandmother has some really cool viewfinders that she gets to look at the ground in and I’m curious about what she can see. As if by telepathy she picks up on my curiosity and offers me the pilot seat. "Oh, thank you Mimi!" Then we fearlessly do some daredevil maneuver to trade places on the narrow flying machine, each risking falling several hundred feet.

The two viewfinders have really cool perspectives. One is aerial and one is the ground below. We’re still passing over the area where the river we took our boatride was (I have no idea where our boat went, but who cares, the jet-ski helicopter is a lot more fun!) and there are people relaxing by the riverbank. This one viewfinder is so precise and sharp that I can read one person’s newspaper from the ground through it. Suddenly I remember my grandmother’s age and health condition and realise she is standing on the platform behind the pilot seat holding onto those handlebars. "Hey Mimi, are you okay up there?" I asked, and she replied, "Oh yes sweetheart, your Mimi’s doing just fine." I was slightly worried that she might fall off the flying device, but felt reassured that she wasn’t having any trouble staying on.

We are getting closer to the hotel where I’m staying, and I see that rope-and-board bridge that we passed under earlier, and I realise that I’m flying way too low. I then realise I do not know how to increase the elevation of this flying machine, but that my grandmother does. Unfortunately there is not enough time to ask or to trade seats again, so I bent one of the propellor blades on the bridge and thus began our rapid descent to the ground. We didn’t just do a dead drop straight to the ground as there were still some propellors intact and turning. I took hold of my grandmother and placed her over myself so that I could buffer her fall, but she is laughing at me because she thinks its really funny that I wrecked the flying machine and that we’re falling now. LOL

So our landing was rough. I asked, "Are you okay, Mimi?" She replied, "Oh yes, my darling. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to slow your Mimi down!"

We walked up the river bank back to the hotel and parted ways. I have no idea where Mimi was before or where she went from thence. Anyhow, I got back into the bag and started looking at those little invitation/ticket thingies. Meanwhile, my mother and Lian Tal of Body and Pole are having a fierce argument!!! Apparently most of the cards are for men, but Lian also needs to be there, and my mother thinks it should not be co-ed because the presence of women is going to be too distracting. I’m personally torn between defending Lian from my mother who is screaming and hurling a lot of ugly personal insults at her, and finding some kind of material upon which to print, write, or otherwise generate one of these documents for Lian! Defend Lian from mom, or make a document? Its so hard to decide! Ultimately I generated the document that would get Lian into the event, and then proceeded to go help Lian shut my mother down. After we were finished taking care of Mother, I gave Lian the document and explained why I didn’t come to her defense earlier. She was obviously still shocked and horrified by my mother’s behaviour, but told me she understood and thanked me very much for the help both acquiring the document, and with getting Mother to shut up and go away.

[StellarMotion]

Miss Julie, Bertysbooboo peforms a couple Ayshas with variations in this new video on her new Star Standalone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBCt_C2EI2c

Wow I never knew about this pole before and now I’m really interested! I wonder how soon the extra extention piece(s) are going to be available? I’d love to do outdoor poling on a 10ft. brass pole.

Does anyone know the maximum height for X-stage?

[StellarMotion]

Hi Skittles, et al. I enjoy this move and was impressed with Alethea’s. Its called chopstix. There’s a video on this site of Karol instructing someone (I think Ottersocks maybe?) how to perform this move in a variation which keeps one hand on the pole. I recently picked this move up and its the most recent video on my SV profile. I cannot get into this move as quickly or as gracefully as Alethea does, but I’m going to keep trying to improve mine and hopefully flatten it a little more.

[StellarMotion]

I also really liked the Superman that Fleur did in her USPDF routine. I was astonished by how pretty her entry was, and I appreciated that it wasn’t held very long.

Now I should say I am a fan of both the Teddy Bear and the Yogini as well as most moves relying primarily on underarm grip (like hood ornament!). But there are few things I hate more than seeing a lazy Yogini. I guess I am a Yogini snob of sorts, because I think it’s extremely important for a Yogini to make a nice, bowed shape and the knees need to be high. I always tell people when practicing this move to look slightly up, tilt the hips in toward the pole, and flex through the quadriceps to create a bowed shape. Otherwise, the knees are pointed out, and it looks lazy and ugly, like a sack of potatoes hanging off of the pole. The recent Yogini variation that Jenyne has been doing, with the leg on the side of the holding arm being pulled backward while the leg on the free side is being pulled forward into an oversplit is also lovely.

[StellarMotion]

Hi! And this question isn’t stupid!

I think that in most holds requring two hands being placed on the pole, that the lower bracket is usually the one that can create turn or put the brakes on it. So if you’re really wanting to stop the turning, being more mindful of how you place your lower hand is a good place to start. You may have to experiment to see which hand placement is best for you. Some people place their hand under one buttock or the other, and I’ve seen some people perform this move who almost look as though they are resting the thigh on the wrist. My preference for this move is to place my wrist right down the middle between my legs (hope that doesn’t sound too graphic) because it allows me a little more room to lean back. This may depend a lot on each person’s arm length and body type, so just play with the placement of the lower hand until you find the placement that you prefer! Also don’t forget to really engage (without straining) the muscles of your wrist and forearm when you perform this move, as that will add stability to your grip and will also protect the joints along your wrist and elbow, which can be heavily taxed if a large amount of your body weight is being supported on it. Don’t forget that most of the weight should be carried by your top bracket, and also remember to pull in with the abdominal muslces! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumleft.gif All these things should help you stop or control any undesirable turning.

But on the other hand, I also want to ask you this. Why do you want to stop the turn? In my opinion, the ability to turn a static pose can be a very pretty addition to a pole dance and enable some beautiful transitions. So instead of stopping the natural turn that seems to be happening when you perform this move, you can start this pose from a slight side angle, so that when you turn in this pose it directs you to the angle you want to be facing (mirror, audience, instructor, classmates, etc.)! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif Using natural turn this way on a static pole can really impress a viewer. Just watch any of Veena’s videos on the static pole, or the static pole part of Felix’s world championship winning routine for examples of how beautiful turning a pose on static pole can be.

[StellarMotion]

What’s funny is that moves I used to not care for very much, I now appreciate because of their danceworthiness when used in transition! Examples of this would be the figurehead, which I now admire when well executed. I also now appreciate the apprentice, superman, tucked sit, and some of the others I didn’t care to see before, as long as they are not held for extended periods of time. I think many moves, such as inverted crucifix or split grip V are only useful as long as they are used as part of a transition, but are not usually attractive moves to hold for several seconds time. On that note, I agree with Polergirl that the inverted V move is a great way to get inverted, but not a very interesting position to hold.

I will agree with what was said earlier by Journey about the stationary caterpillar. Climbing caterpillar is very useful, but a stationary caterpillar seems like a waste of time. I have no fondness at all for doing leg waves in inverted moves like inverted V, Pencil, Aysha, or superinvert. I also agree with Empyrean that returning from any kind of handspring (front, cartwheel, twisted grip, or whatever other kind) to a standing position on the floor is not getting the maximum use out of the handspring and I am always slightly disappointed to see that happen. Handsprings, in my opinion, can be a fantastic way to begin an aerial combo, and returning to a floor stand just seems anti-climactic to me, although dropping from an aerial handstand position into a floor split is often very nice.

I am not fond of various kinds of floor handstands that are done against the pole, most of the time. And I do not like the bow and arrow. And in the political climate of today’s pole world, this might be considered sacrilege, but I do not like the Allegra. Jenyne’s contortionistic variation with the huge oversplit would be the exception, but I’ve yet to see many others perform an Allegra that I thought looked beautiful, unless it was transitioned out of quickly.

I’ve lost fondness for some moves, like the Genie, which regardless of being impressive and terribly difficult, is totally awkward in terms of transition. I’m going to play with some more ins-and-outs from the Genie, but if I can’t figure out anything pretty I’m just going to scrap that one. I never thought the knee hold was especially pretty, but I still use it because people love that move. I like doing that move more now that I’ve learnt to perform it with ankles unhooked.

Fleur, I’m interested in which variations of the wrist seat you have seen or done that do not use V leg positioning. It never even crossed my mind that the legs could be positioned otherwise!

I have mixed feelings about the jackknife, but I use it anyway. I do like Aysha and Straight Edge quite a lot, but only if the chest and hips are some distance from the pole. For this reason, I do not favor the forearm grip for most moves as I feel it keeps the chest too close to the pole to be pretty or impressive.

[StellarMotion]

Hi Horsecrazy,

There are two ways that your question can be taken. There are the full-on inverted spins that are started from the spinning chopper, and then there’s also some amount of natural turn that happens as a result of the combined momentum of leg movement with the shifting of the skin against the pole. Personally I’m a big fan of both of these kinds of skills. Some experts at doing the inverted spins would include Sarah Cretul (Joy) and JK of the jkdfefiesgravity channel on YouTube. And certainly an expert at the latter is our own Veena, who seems to be magically able to keep a lot of her static poses "turning" and even though it looks like pure sorcery, it’s just a high degree of skill.

So… mind you, if you can’t lift into an inverted V position, I’d advise not to do the spinning chopper which requires a full-body swing and semi-kick in order to get into that position. Let the body be thrown out from the pole as if you were going into a corkscrew spin or performing a windmill, except while you still have tremendous spinning momentum lift into the inverted V position while still spinning in your baseball grip. If you want to go into the inverted thigh hold while maintaining some spin, I would make two suggestions. Don’t go directly into the Tammy, but hook your outside leg first to go into Gemini, and then kick your free leg to the other side of the pole. The other suggestion would be to have your holding leg in the Tammy be hooked around the pole instead of flush against it, since you’ll be fighting your own body’s momentum. You can make a couple rotations in that spinning Tammy on static, or you can shift your legs into Scorpio in order to maintain movement. The looser your body grip the more spin you’ll get out of the leg hang positions, but you’ll have to experiment and play with that a little so that you know just how loose that grip can be while still keeping you on the pole. A good example of this would be Sarah Cretul’s inverted combination spin, which from what I can tell starts from spinning chopper to Gemini left, swing around to Gemini right, and then lift into Superman. She does this in the Pole Superstar competition, and also in her Joy videos. Also, any video you find of JK will have inverted static spins. Please be mindful that until you are used to this amount of friction, these types of spins are murder on your thighs.

The alternative isn’t quite so painful, but even though it’s not as flashy it’s still very beautiful. Your skin will turn you as it shifts against the pole while you are shifting your position on it, even if there is a minimal amount of momentum. For example, when I go from hip hold into Jade split on the static pole, I sometimes get over 180 degrees of turn even when I’m on brass. This works for other body grips too, like teddy bear holds and ballerinas. Experiment with contracting the muscles of your thigh, hip, underarm, or any other body part that is gripping the pole to see if, where, and how much it turns you. Veena is an excellent inspiration in this regard as she has a positive genius for turning her static holds with little or no momentum. There will be a little bit of natural turn every time you shift between related positions, such as Gemini, hip hold (don’t forget that the hip hold turns itself when you go from V to pike and back!), Jade Split, Scorpio, Tammy, and inverted crucifix. You can find out how much turn you’ll get from each shift and then immediately make another shift into one of the other positions that the previous one will transition into. So technically, if you were to use only these positions in transition from one to another from a static pose at the top of the pole, you could "spin" all the way down the pole in these inverted hip and thigh-grip based poses, assuming you allow yourself to lose a little height each time you transition.

Tabbycat, I really enjoyed watching the link you posted! That was lovely.

[StellarMotion]

JorShi,

I wanted to chime in on the age issue. I’m 27 right now and I’m coming up on a year of poling sometime soon and I’m intending to participate in competitions, should I become eligible for any that allow male participants. I have also been very concerned about the age issue, because many of the ladies in our beautiful pole world are winning titles at ages younger than the age at which I began pole! And as happy as I am for the young bucks, this can also be disheartening because I didn’t have the luxury of discovering pole at a younger age. However I take great heart in some of the performances delivered by the 30-something pole dancers, and also by the titles that they win!

Becca Butcher is 29 and has been pole dancing for less than two years I believe. This is not a big age stretch, but she is still a very successful pole dancing performer and competitor at an age greater than our own. I’m a big fan! It won’t surprise me in the slightest if she earns a national title of some kind in the upcoming years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nddpqKchyos" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At the time that this beautiful pole performance was delivered, Galina Troschenko was 35 years old. This performance won her the Spanish national title that year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MdOhgpPmcI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also age 35 was Maxine Betts, delivering this performance which won her the UK title last year! This means she will be representing the UK at the world championships in Jamaica this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogmexeHu4lI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
When she competes at the world competition, she will be 36 https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif

Let’s not forget the beautiful Pantera, who is still going strong at 32, and who inspired the successful career now enjoyed by Jenyne Butterfly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pVk78uiB6I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Then there is our own lovely Veena, whose age you can discern from her profile https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif but who doesn’t look a day older than either of us. This is one of the Veena videos that inspired me in a tremendous way when I had barely begun poling last Summer. The video is almost a year old, but the movement in the video is still cutting edge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucB4gapPeo4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So anyway, JorShi, when I start to really feel afraid about my age (which is often) I think about these various highly successful pole dancers. I believe that it is quite possible that if I do the things I ought in order to remain healthy and maintain and improve the level of my poling, that I can continue to have performance opportunities even if I don’t get to compete at the top level. But with that said, I can’t think of a single good reason not to continue refining my pole dancing skills until they are sufficient to be competitive. And even if I never get to compete, I still want to keep refining them! Anyhow, I hope you can take heart in these inspirational ladies and their performances the way that I do. It’s harder to believe when WE are the ones doing the aging https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_bigsmurf.gif but it’s true, age really is just a number, not a fitness level or a measurement of skills. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumleft.gif

So in short, no! You are not crazy!

[StellarMotion]

Sexy to me is so hard to define. Personally, I think that any form of intentionally controlled movement can be sexy, whether its done on a pole or in Swan Lake, as long as there is some emotion being communicated by the person doing the movement. For that matter, I think that being fully absorbed in any activity and fully present in the moment and in one’s body is remarkably sexy, whether it is a dance, the delivery of a lecture, the writing of a letter, or anything else. The look in a person’s eyes that a point needs to be made and that there is an experience (even if thinly disguised) of enjoyment in making the point is something that can intrigue and sexually excite me, regardless of whether the point is being made through a dance performance, an instrumental or vocal performance, a lecture or slam poetry recital, or even the simple composition of one’s outfit for the day. This is similar to something I think pole_twista said about a guy being absorbed in something he loves.

In terms of physique, haha, I have a type for sure, but I am not rigid about adhering to it. Being physically fit is an absolute requirement for my dating preference. I prefer dark and straight hair, dark eyes, and muscles that protrude at least slightly more than my own but these preferences are more flexible. I generally prefer that a romantic interest of any kind be wider in terms of proportion than myself. I am turned on by raspy voices whether these are spoken in a low range or a high one, and most often I am more likely to be attracted to a guy that is shorter than I am than one that is taller. To me dancing is sexy even if a great deal of dancing skill is not exhibited, as long as it looks natural and fun instead of forced and uncomfortable or technically perfect but inexpressive. And anyone who eats my cooking and acts like they like it earns major sexy points with me, and gets more points for eating the second meal I cook.

The way touching is done is very important. A balanced approach to touching is unbearably sexy. Tickling or touching too lightly is not even remotely engaging to me, and being handled roughly is actually something I find quite revolting. But there is a middle place that it seems like not very many people can (or are willing to) find and it drives me crazy when a guy can.

Lastly in terms of pole dancing, to me sexy is mostly in the attitude. Being enticing without being suggestive I think can be really wonderful. But to me, even more sexy, is what I was mentioning earlier; full presence in body and expressiveness of (any) emotion through movement. I personally can’t always do that on the pole although I can pretty consistently get there if I am out dancing at a night club and I like the music that is being played. And unfortunately I can’t get there alone with a camera when I’m on the pole at all for the most part https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_pale.gif but I can do it with a live audience fine. Isn’t that wierd?

[StellarMotion]

Duckie, in my opinion, you are not allowing yourself to "turn" enough in your Cartwheel Mount Handspring. Try to think about turning to where not only is your face directed at the pole, but so that your hips are facing the pole too. This should allow you to bring your hips in closer to the pole so that you will have more control while you are getting conditioned to this move, and should help to "straighten" out your Straight Edge.

For the Spinning Scorpio it’s important to swing your free leg out and around instead of throwing it over. This will generate momentum which will carry you through the move with a more natural-looking spin. Instead of bringing the leg over and then beginning the transition, include the leg swing as part of the move, so that all the movements involved look like a single movement.

[StellarMotion]

HI, Isisandshiva. Love your screen name!

I don’t know what a Venus is. But if you’d like to be able to keep up with the class, I think you would benefit from some strength and endurance training of the muscles involved in the holds and inverts. Unfortunately developing the strength to do advanced moves can take a long time. But if you want some safety advice that you can employ right away, my suggestion would be to stop doing moves that you seem savvy enough to know you cannot do safely at this time. So, obviously there’s skin pain from friction. But if you feel pain in your muscles or joints, STOP. If you feel afraid that you’re going to lose control of a move, STOP. If you try several moves that require a lot of exertion and your muscles get very fatigued, STOP. There’s nothing more dangerous than temporary muscle failure during an inverted move.

I agree with Mini that you should consider expressing some of your concerns about safety to the instructor. Also bear in mind that there are a lot of fun, beautiful moves that can be done on and around a pole without having to invert, or do other activities that your muscles may not be currently prepared for. If your instructor does not address your safety concerns/fears in a proactive way, maybe that particular studio is not the right one for you.

Veena has a strong emphasis on safety in all of her work. So if you don’t feel safe in your current class, just remember that Veena’s lessons will teach you fun and pretty moves you can do at your current level of poling, will give you strength and flexibility training that will help prepare you for more advanced moves, and her lessons probably cost a lot less than the lessons at your studio. If nothing else, you could use the Veena lessons to become stronger and more advanced, and then return to your current pole class later on when your body is better prepared to handle performing the difficult, strenuous, and advanced moves your instructor is teaching. But by that time, there’s always the chance that you could end up being more advanced than the instructor!

If your shoulder is giving you problems, that may be your body’s way of asking you to stop hurting yourself. Maybe you and your friend can do the Veena lessons online together. I am sure you’ll have a better time practicing moves that you can do, than you are while you’re forcing yourself into dangerous positions that you can’t successfully pull off.

By reading your post, I feel that you already know the answer to your question. Take my response and Mini’s as confirmation of what your body and intuition have already declared.

Take good care of yourself. Don’t risk the health of your shoulder. You could possibly turn a minor injury into a severe and permanent one if you don’t honor your body’s present limits. And there’s always the risk of landing on your head, twisting your neck or wrist, or having some other fall-related injury even if your shoulder is fine. Whatever you do decide to do, just please think about your safety first. The rest can come in time.

[StellarMotion]

Thanks for sharing this… sounds like I need to go the grocery store! As it stands I spend a lot of money on Clif/Zone/Balance bars to get some extra calories and protein on-the-go, but this sounds like a wholesome project to try. Cool!