CAN WE POLE DANCE TO A CENTURY?

People who know me know that I love old people, especially old ladies. They're just people who are almost magical because they have all these secrets and all this knowledge locked away from years and years of experience in life, love and loss, and they always seems to have this awesome ability to just accept everything that life throws at them with a sense of calm and dignity.

I came across this article and I had to share with you. 

It made me think about how these ladies have experienced life in a world we will never ever know. Wars, lack of health care, lack of public support systems or education, and they fought through a time when women were regarded very differently to how they are today. 

These are just three women who have shared their stories, but I couldn't help noticing the common thread in each of their stories. Something they attribute to their living to the ripe age of beyond-a-hundred-years...BEING ACTIVE!

Whether it's yoga, athletics or ping pong, these gorgeous lassies all tout getting off their butts as a contributing factor to their living longer.

Ruth is 102, lives with her daughter in the GC and took up athletics when she was in her 70s. The only thing she doesn't like about herself? Her red hair and freckles! Sister, I feel your pain, but you should totally accept yourself...and always wear your SPF30+

   We already know how amazing pole dancing is for increasing bone density and physical exercise certainly seems to be the secret to a long healthy life, so I'm going to take a leaf out of the book of Bet, Dot and Ruth and keep on swinging for as long as I can.

See you at 100!

POLE DANCE - MY OTHER TRUE LOVE

In a post from earlier this year I said this year I was going to become the best pole dancer I could be in 2012 and that I was going to strive to achieve a multitude of milestones with skills and flexibility.

The best laid plans, huh?!

The best part of three months ago, I sustained a shoulder injury and have been away from pole for most of this time. I also made a promise to my body at the beginning of this year to do right by it and so instead of being stubborn and pushing through potentially making the injury worse, I stopped, started physio and rehab. When the injury happened I thought, great – I have a body that is stronger, leaner and more flexible than ever before and now I'm risking relapsing back to the old Em who loved her lounge, her pyjamas, her Foxtel and her Paddle Pops. I was scared to say the least, but I told myself there was no reason to regress to my former debaucherous lifestyle of snuggledome – I was a new person with the knowledge, skills and willpower of a fit person who loved all exercise…or so I thought.

This is pretty much how I felt after stopping pole. The break was good for my shoulder, not so good for my soul!

So, even though I couldn’t move my right arm and wasn’t permitted to perform any repetitious actions with it, I signed up to my local gym and started going every weeknight to work on my cardio fitness and toning my lower body. The treadmill, cycle and elliptical machines were good, even though I looked like I had a stroke with one arm glued immobile to the side of my body, and lunges, squats and legs presses all became part of my regime. I also used my home pole to keep up my reverse curls, touch downs and other core conditioning exercises a few times a week. As physio progressed and my arm started to heal and regain mobility, I integrated light weights to a targeted upper body routine. I also monitored my diet even more strictly than even while I was still at pole – I was so hyper-aware of becoming like Gilbert Grape’s mother that I was all about vegies, protein and almost zero sugar.

As the weeks went by, I started getting bored with a capital ‘B’. The same walk to the gym in the cold, the same fight for the machines, seeing the same sweaty, desperate faces of the drones clothed head to toe in saggy grey marl workout clothes and the same shitty line up on those annoying little TV screens (5.30pm Millionaire Hot Seat, 6pm News, 6.30pm A Current Affair, 7pm The Project. Seriously. Don’t get me started on the crud people settle for on network TV).

I started to make excuses for not going – ‘I better give myself a recovery day’, ‘I think I have a headache coming on’, ‘I have to clean the house or it will fall down’, ‘I have my period for the fourth time this month’ – and because I wasn’t having any fun, I had to wonder - why I was pushing myself to do it?

Being a true believer in the notion that you only get one life and, therefore, once chance to be happy and content with every choice you make, I have a real problem with wasting time on things that make me bored or unhappy. Not seeing my family to go to pole most nights was not an issue because I just loved pole – I would look forward to it throughout the day and have a ball when I was there, no matter what I was doing – but missing out on family time, relaxing time, errand time and, sleeping time to go and run on a treadmill just so I didn’t get a pot belly was something I just couldn’t seem justify.

And despite my commitment to this new pole-less fitness regime and diet of mine, although I hadn’t gained any weight per se, I had started to feel extremely…heavy. My clothes started fitting differently, bits felt more prominent in the shower and I started becoming aware of an all-too-familiar feeling of discomfort when I was in tight clothes or if my partner touched my thighs or belly. My body was changing. It wasn’t drastic or perhaps even visible to anyone else, but it certainly was to me and, let me tell you, I didn’t like it. Having said that, this wasn’t enough to make me excited about the gym or motivated to undertake conventional workouts. I didn’t want to get ‘fat’ but I really didn’t want to be bored and that part of me kind of won.

I have come to the conclusion from this whole experience that nothing – NOTHING – shapes the body like pole dance does, not in the same way. It’s not about trying to lose weight loss or about being superbly muscle-y, but there is just a general sculpting that pole affords the body in the most complete way. For example, we might think we’re not using our legs that much in class or perhaps that we’re not sweating as much as we would in a pump class, but for that one hour our bodies are firing on all cylinders HTT (that’s Tyra Banks speak for ‘head-to-toe’).

The results are a flat stomach from our core engaging, smooth hips from recruiting the obliques, minimal back-fat from working through our lats, lifted butt from squeezing in every move, toned thighs and calves from pulling up and extending in everything. Even when out feet are on the floor we’re switched on and THAT is why most pole dancers have that certain look that we all want to achieve.



I Can.

Today, my shoulder is recovering, and I have been back at Studio Verve in pole classes for a few weeks now and it is a sensation of coming home. It’s certainly not easy and I'm not taking anything for granted, but each time I get back on a pole, my body remembers what it was 12 weeks ago and that it’s simply a journey to get back there. I feel that getting my pole-self back is like slipping into a well-worn pair of jeans after wearing a restrictive party dress or sliding on our fave pair of Havaianas for the first time after wearing leather boots all winter. In other words, it’s easier for me to be at pole than it is for me to be away from it.

It’s so good to be back. I have missed the team, the dear students and the energy of Studio Verve. I am so encouraged and inspired by everyone, especially how strong my former students are, and all the amazing things that are happening.

This has been my longest hiatus from pole since I started at Verve five and a half years ago and during this time I’ve gained a lot of perspective and I’ve remembered why I love it so much and how much it feeds me personally. Pole has truly become part of who I am, almost like I was always meant to do it J My body feels abnormal when it’s been off a pole for any length of time and nothing equates.

I’ve heard a lot of people use the term ‘pole addict’, but I prefer ‘pole lover’. And I guess it is kind of like true love – it has taught me so much about myself and even though I've dabbled in other forms of fitness, nothing can ever compare to the real thing.

POLE GOLD - OUR OLYMPIC DREAM

With the London Games well underway, the topic of pole dance as an Olympic sport is hotter than the GB men’s diving team (*swoon*)

Everyone, from pole schools to clothing manufacturers, is weighing in and the attitude is unanimous – it’s only a matter of time before we’re there. And in some cases, it’s a travesty that pole gold isn’t already being awarded in Queen Lizzie's hood.

But has pole dance evolved enough in the eyes of those outside the industry, or is this a case of running before we can air walk?

Any of us who has ever touched a pole are aware of the physical strength it takes to be a successful pole dancer and those of us who have performed professionally, competed or simply pushed our skills for whatever reason, are aware of the mental strength and focus that’s required to truly be the best. Injury, sacrifice and coping with failure are also a part of pushing our bodies to its very limits and standing out as champions of what we do.  

But the question at the forefront of my mind whenever this debate kicks off is who judges the best from the worst in the world of pole dancing? Without a universal system in place for judging skills and performance, and with a competition in existence for every ‘style’, it seems a premature move to debut pole to the world when it feels as if we’re only just now beginning to crack the code of unifying competitive pole, even at a national level.

The tired argument of what style of pole dance is more valid is just that. Every pole dancer knows it’s not about what you wear on your feet, but how you execute skills combined with the je ne sais quoi you bring that separates the good from the amazing. As an industry, it’s time for us to come together and fight the stereotyped perceptions of the uninitiated and push forward. There’s no question that pole pushes the human body as much as, and sometimes more than, many Olympic sports. We don’t need to bother entering into artistic gymnastics comparisons or the argument that there’s already one style of pole in the Olympics (in vault form, granted)…



Is it just me, or does Tatiana's bod look as fit as a pole dancer?!



Perceptions of pole from outside the pole industry need to be informed. As I’m sure Aussies Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook fought to define beach volleyball beyond rolling around in the sand in bikinis, potential Olympic competitors need to decide what image we want to project to the world – I mean, what is a pole dancer?



Showing skin clearly doesn't bother the IOC and is integral to many sports. In beach vollyball, it's written in the rules...



Perhaps that’s not even the name we want. Do we become defined by masters of our apparatus, the Vertical Bar? What are the skills that would be judgeable at a competitive level and will these be different for male and female competitors? Will it be an artistic discipline with judgeable dance elements or be strictly skills based? And now for the question that will launch pole dance civil war – STATIC or SPINNING? BRASS or CHROME? 38, 45 OR 50mm?????

Man, I would love to be a fly on the wall at that round table discussion (and for the record – spinning, brass, 38 J)

The bottom line is obviously that there are still so many questions to be answered and parameters to be defined with taking pole competition to the world and the average Jolene watching the Olympics with her kiddies. With every pole comp we have the opportunity to inch closer to our Olympic goal, but with a new comp popping up more regularly that McDonald’s restaurants and each with it’s own set of rules, I can’t help but feel that we drifting further away…

That being said, we should all be proud to be a part of an industry that has successfully survived infancy, childhood and that is now entering adolescence. It’s a period of mood swings, defiance, striving to fit in and lots of attitude, but I’ve no doubt that on the other side of this phase the pole dance industry will emerge as clearly-defined and with it’s own identity, filled with a generation’s worth of young champions.

The parallels between pole and gym are obvious.

And if it does end up at the Olympics, I’ll be there with the Aussie flags painted on my cheeks screaming, “Oi, Oi, Oi!!”with the rest of us.

And who knows? With the eldest 2012 gymnastics competitor representing at 39 years – I might even find myself on the winner’s podium one day…okay, please stop laughing.



Dream It, Breathe It, BE IT!!



BOUNCING BACK

When we are searching for “pole-speration” (that’s inspiration for pole. Obviously.) we don’t automatically seek the wisdom of the likes of Mahatma Gandhi. However, this quote of his has really struck a chord with me in my current state.

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

Don’t get me wrong, this post is NOT about glorifying injuries as some kind of badge of honour; I really can’t stand people who do that and for this reason I'm not going to rave on about how to recover and all the injuries I've ever had in my life. 

I typically don’t like to acknowledge any injury – I feel that validates it and that positive thought is the best path to healing. But this time I’ve recognised that there’s something not right, accepted it and committed to putting all my power and energy into making it right and working with what I’ve got. 

...so in other words, doing exactly what my mother would tell me to do. She's always right - damn you Kim.

My blatant and obvious (read as: daggy) analogy of my current situ. Doesn't it just reek of a bad HR powerpoint preso?

In healing, just like in training, focus, determination and an iron will are what will ultimately define a success from a failure. Sometimes it’s stubbornness and persistence that’s get’s the body into trouble in the first place (who, me? Ahem.) but it’s also exactly what will get it back on the pole before too long. 

To quote an old post of mine that I know resonated with a lot of people – “I Will.”

STUDENT PROFILE - KAYOKO SUZUKI

The beautiful thing about Studio Verve® is that it is a place that brings together women and men of all ages, shapes and backgrounds, and unites them in the beauty of dance, movement and fun. We see people from all walks of life and they all inspire us in different ways.

I wanted to share the story of one student in particular, Kayoko Suzuki, who is in level 6 and has been a part of the Verve family since 2009. Kayoko has come so far since then and her dedication, focus and amazing spirit in class has set the standard as a model student and a true inspiration for all her fellow PoleFit® enthusiasts.  

We sat down with Kayoko and had a chat about her pole journey up to this point and what the future holds…

SV –     What made you start pole dance classes?

KS –    I was had been wanting to try it for couple of years but I hesitated because I was not confident in the strength of arms and hands, plus I was also very shy. I even told my partner about how I wanted to try it, but I couldn’t make up my mind. He secretly called Studio Verve® and inquired about classes, safety issues etc. and he thought it sounded good so he gave me a voucher for PoleFit® class as surprise gift for my birthday! So, I had to start!

 

SV –     What motivates you to keep coming to classes at Studio Verve®?

KS –    There are several things that keep me motivated. I am so excited when we learn new skills and poses, and I enjoy the challenges associated with achieving what it takes to progress to the next level. I love keeping healthy and PoleFit® has given strength and balance which helps with my other dancing. See instructors in classes and performances really inspires me and I can really feel instructors’ positive attitudes, passions, energies and teamwork. I also love Studio Verve® because I get the befits of pole dancing without having to wear lingerie and high-heels.

SV –     What changes have you noticed in your life since you started pole dancing?

KS –    It has enhanced my keenness to keep healthy and has showed me that I can stay fit in an enjoyable way and I have noticed positive changes in my body shape, strength, balance and posture, which helps in other aspects of life.

Since I have noticed these positive changes, I have been able to educate my family and friends about the benefits, because some people have got preconceived images about what pole dance is. I gave influence to a friend of mine and she started pole dancing too!

 SV –     How does pole dancing make you feel about yourself?

             KS –    When I challenge myself to extend my skills and when I looked back upon my achievement and improvement, I feel amazing. When I express a deeper part of myself through dancing, as well as when I feel my health and strength improve, I feel so much more confident and good about who I am.

SV –     What changes have family and friends noticed in you/your appearance since you started  pole?

             KS –    They have obviously noticed improvements in my strength and my body shape, especially in my upper body, back, abdominal area and arms. But they have also noticed changes in how much effort I make to continue with pole dancing, even as it gets more challenging. And most notably, they have noticed how much I am enjoying myself and how happy pole makes me.

SV –     What is your next goal for pole?

KS –    My goal ultimately is to continue with my pace, as always, and perfect the strength, accuracy and beauty in each pose, one by one. My aim is also to learn how to coordinate the pole skills with beautiful dancing and performance. (*Emily’s side note – Open Night this term Kayoko!! Friday 29 June! The only way you can truly perfect your performance skills is to gain performance experience. Performing at an Open Night in the intimacy of our studio is the perfect opportunity, as it is such a supportive environment. Trust me, after the first time you perform at an Open Night, you feel incredible and your pole dancing style will change for good.*)

SV –     How long can you see yourself pole dancing for?

KS –     This is very good question for me as I’m often asking myself about it. The truth is, I will keep on going as long as my spirit can continue and as long as there is an available pole for me! 

 

Kayoko’s answer to the last question pretty much sums her up and this is why we wanted to share her story. It’s something that we should all remember as pole dancers – the only thing that should motivate us to keep on pole-ing is our passion for it. If you love, do it!

Kayoko, we are so proud of you and your achievements; you really inspire us all and we hope your story inspires others too. And, don’t worry – there’ll ALWAYS be a pole available for you at Studio Verve!!!

xoxo

NO EXCUSES

Hi guys,

Just searching another of my favourite fashion blogs, The Sartorialist, and came across this photo that I wanted to share.

 

I didn’t notice her physical challenge the first time I saw this photo; I was too busy admiring her gorgeous back and the way the dress fell on her skin. So alluring.

Obviously nothing is stopping this woman and I think we can all take inspiration from this photo.

Beautiful, active, sexy. Strength.

x

DANCE RETURNS TO AUSTRALIAN TV???

With the return of So You Think You Can Dance Australia hanging in the balance and Got to Dance Australia pulled from FOX8 (auditions were cancelled and all evidence of the show were removed from the FOX8 website with no explanation just last week), the only reality TV representation of Australian dancers currently on our Aussie screens is Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars.

Ahem.

Now, being a television programmer myself and possibly being a little hyper-critical of terrible TV, I have my own feeling about this show in general (everything about it makes me want to projectile vomit). Despite this show’s popularity, I hope I speak for the rest of Australia’s dancers and dance lovers when I say I think there needs to be more dance on our screens. Gritty, hardcore, sweaty, REAL dance, including Latin and ballroom, but not necessarily always dripping with sequins and spirit fingers.

I know arts programming does not work traditionally with Australian audiences, but with the gamete of dance-based performance activities now more colourful and accessible than ever before – think pole, lira, silks, acro, belly dance, highland dance, krumping – there’s no reason why someone out there can’t find a way to make dance larger than life and appealing to people in Australia.

I am currently at my desk viewing Masterchef Australia (being the good TV programmer that I am, I have to stay across all big FTA properties - ‘slash’ - I am paid to watch TV at work and I have some guilty reality TV pleasures) watching what they call a ‘Master Class’ but what I call ‘Slicing Fruit and Using a Food Processor’. Now, when I stop and think about it (and if I drew this to any Masterchef fan’s attention they would no doubt agree), the mundanity of this ‘entertainment’ is quite overwhelming. And yet, viewers come in their hundreds of thousands and even millions to what is a daily show to exercise their square eyes.

Advertising (read as: money) plays a big role in whether these things go ahead. Viewers might love something, but if there’s not an obvious opportunity to hock people the latest cheese grater, digestive aid or stool softener, advertisers don’t pay up and these programmes just don’t get made. Where there is big advertiser interest, the most terrible excuse for a show is served up and shoved down our throats week after week and because there’s not too much choice, we gobble it up so we don’t get left behind at the water cooler or on Facebook.

Being absorbed in television everyday professionally and also being a massive TV fan, this is a subject that is on my mind all the time, especially now in the thick of the hot ratings period. It’s a personal qualm I have with Aussie TV but I thought I’d share it with you guys today because, as dance lovers, I'm sure you’ve all felt the same at one time.

Now that I’ve had my rant, I also thought that you’d appreciate this – low and behold it’s a dance programme in development for Network Ten, Everybody Dance Now.

 

Once upon a time the only opportunity for pole dancers to show their skills was on talent shows like Australia’s Got Talent, but the auditions for Everybody specifically call for aerial artists and pole dancers so I'm sure we’ll see some familiar industry faces popping up. With the ultimate prize being a cool $250,000, you might even consider auditioning yourself! You no longer need to have trained for 20 years or be a Brent Street Alum to have a shot; apparently you just have to be an entertainer with each performance being for the audience and not a judging panel.

Also on my radar is I Will Survive: another Ten programme that was originally pegged to chronicle the journey of a male triple threat (singer, dancer, actor) from the audition through to starring in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert stage spectacular (cue divas, egos and MAJOR jazz hands). But, now that Priscilla has closed on Broadway, this may open the auditions up to more performers for a different show...stay tuned.

 

Well, I am intrigued. As long as my only choice isn’t watching three fat middle-aged men slopping food around in their mouths, I'm HAPPY!!

I just hope dance is here to stay on Australian TV because, as we all know, dancers work incredibly hard with their bodies and put so much on the line to do two very simple things – to express themselves and to entertain people.

Now isn’t THAT worth celebrating?

POLEFIT® MEN

When we began offering PoleFit® Men at Studio Verve® over a year ago, we weren’t quite sure exactly what to expect. What we got through our doors was a motley crew of guys who came with equal parts untapped athleticism and pure performance diva extraordinaire.

Twee was the only woman for the job of taking on these wild men and she went in guns blazing, quickly identifying each guys’ strengths and weaknesses and designing the PoleFit® Men programme. But this was as much a learning curve for Twee as it was for our boys.

“Men’s bodies are designed very differently to women’s!”  Twee will often head into a class super excited with her lesson plan and will come out after the hour scratching her head and declaring, “That one doesn’t work for the guys!” From long legs hairs to, well, other issues, Twee’s seen it all and has always worked closely with the boys to figure out alternative shapes and transitions.

Men come into pole dance with natural advantages, upper body strength being the most notable.

 

A lot of guys who have great toned bods from the gym are often lacking in core strength, which has always been a primary focus of all the PoleFit® programmes. In the past 12 months, our guys have developed great body awareness and are working harder than ever on their flexibility…and pointed toes of course! 

Guys also come with a natural ego that works as a positive in class because it drives them even when everything hurts. Our boys are never satisfied and they are always begging for more! 

Ebo Bentil and Nick Reichinger are our original babies, who have been in the programme from the very beginning and who are now experimenting with some incredible advanced skills. Ebo contacted us initially because he was having a birthday pole party at Studio Verve® but, being the perfectionist that he is [read as: he wanted to be better than his friends and show off at the party] he wanted to start taking classes beforehand.  

So, Ebo and his friend Nick came along to the very first PoleFit® Men class and have been with us ever since. The boys also performed a killer routine at one of our Open Nights in front of over 100 people having only been taking classes for a term or two – and let me tell you, they certainly got my tick of approval for ham-ness! (Can’t wait for next performance boys!)

Joining Nick and Ebo in the intermediate class are Katsu and Michael, who came to us having heard about our signature PoleFit® Men programme, and each of them bring a combination or strength, beautiful lines and performance ability. For the first time, we’ve split the guys and have a brand new batch of students in our beginner class; it’s exciting to see where they’ll be in 12 months!

It’s worth mentioning the thing we probably love most about having these guys as part of our Verve family and that is that they are some of the friendliest and open gentlemen we had through our doors. The advanced boys always welcome new students with a warm greeting and a handshake and they really bond tight as group. That’s always been the culture at Studio Verve® but our men realise they are part of a sport that’s known more for its female stars, and this nurtures the spirit of camaraderie.

 

We are so proud of our gutsy guys; together with Twee you have pioneered your own unique style of dance that is artistic, yet masculine and you’re all becoming beautiful performers to watch. You’re not afraid of anything and you’re a testament to REAL MEN in pole dance.

 

Keep it up guys, you’re an inspiration xoxo