2012/10/21

Ballet and Burlesque with Miss Maleficient Simona Martini


It's been the rainiest autumn in 140 years in Finland this year and you might think that all this fuss about fifty shades of grey refers to the colour scheme of an average day in Helsinki. The weather doesn't manage to get me down, though, as I'm happily busy at work all day and spend most of my spare time either pole dancing, dancing or doing yoga. Who cares what the weather is like?

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Today we enjoyed our own personal sun at Pole4Fit as we had Simona Martini as our guest teacher. She lights up the room with her presence and her gracious way of moving is bordering on otherworldly. We've had the pleasure of having her as a guest teacher twice before. If you've followed my blog, you know that I've danced ballet for just over 1,5 years and it hasn't really come naturally to me at all. The pole ballet classes that we have every week I can still pretty much follow, but the lessons with Miss Simona Martini are always a reality check that remind me that I still have a long way to go, even at beginners' level.

Miss Martini gave us a 75-minute ballet class and a 75-minute burlesque class. Her lessons are not easy and she pushes us to learn by making us repeat the routines without her. That's why after all her classes I feel like I'm a terrible dancer, but still a lot better than 75 minutes earlier.

Simona Martini has danced ballet since she was 5 years old. She joined Rome's Teatro Dell'Opera when she was 11 and started studying at the Royal Ballet in London at 15. She has worked with many famous ballet dancers such as Elisabetta Terabust, Alexander Floris, Zarcko Prebil, Massimo Moricone, Merle Park, Jonathan Cope and David Drew. Like said before, her teaching me is a complete waste of talent, but it's still so inspiring and pushes me so much forward that I'm not going to complain!

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Me and Miss Simona Martini at Pole4Fit. What do you mean I'm not built like a ballet dancer?

2012/09/23

Steven Retchless's TRIXXX Workshop @Vertical Club


Steven Retchless blew us away in Stockholm with his Pole Art performance. Luckily he followed us to Finland to give two workshops at the new Vertical Club.

I attended the TRIXXX workshop described below:
TRIXXX
INT/ADV 75min
This class is all about the TRIXXX! This 75min workshop will PUMP YOU UP!!! With a detailed breakdown of power moves, flips, inverts, twists, contortion and introduction to original and creative new moves. if your above beginner come take this awesome class. The “trixxx” will be modified to fit your level. I know you can do it, I believe in you so, LET’S DO IT!!!

I walked in just as they were finishing the previous workshop, 8" Spike. It looked like a lot of fun! I wish I could move in heels the way Steven does. Even more I wish I could move like he moves barefoot. Goddammit.

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It seems that Steven really wants his students to learn in his workshop. He continuously walked around the classroom, giving pointers and tiredlessly redemonstrating the moves.

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Steven taught us the spin combination that he did at the beginning of his Pole Art 2012 routine. I shared a pole with Pole4Fit teacher Carmen, who nailed the spin quite quickly. Luckily we've kept on practising it in her classes.

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I usually never do this but I had to have a photo with Steven Retchless - and post it on Facebook. And yes, those are his pants on the floor. He specifically wanted to take them off for this photo.

All in all, a great workshop. Everything from warm-up to cool down was original, very Steven-esque. I'll have to work on the butt cheek lifts, impressive stuff! All the tricks or variations of tricks that we learned were new to me, which is exactly what I hope from workshops. If you have the change to attend Steven's workshops, do it! Very inspiring.

Please come to Poleranking to discuss this topic!

2012/09/17

Natasha Wang's Signature Tricks @North Pole STHLM


Natasha Wang had just won a runner-up title at Pole Art the previous night and came to the North Pole studio still wearing the beautiful braids. She was met by 12 enthusiastic students, among them our group of five Finns.

The workshop description was:

Natasha Wang
"Signature tricks"
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Price: 450 SEK (~53€, $68)
Class description: This tricks class will focus on unique transitions on and off the pole, innovative aerial tricks, Chinese pole techniques, as well as movement that transforms the human body into beautifully strange shapes. This will be a barefoot class, as we’ll be executing tricks that require all parts of the human body -- including the bottom of your foot!

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After a thorough warm-up we started with a beautiful but painful side climb variation. We practised several tricks that were completely new to all of us, such as the transition (more like a dive) from standing on the pole to scorpio (a.k.a. inside leg hang). We also practised several variations of the meat hook (see photo of me below) and from that flipping yourself back right-side up and grapping your front leg (see the quick snapshot of Natasha demonstrating this transition below).

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Natasha has astonishingly beautiful lines, even if she's just quickly showing how something is done.

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Natasha is also one of those teachers who does everything to help you get it just right.

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My take on the meat hook.

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Pole4Fit's students and teachers were all smiles after the workshop.

What an inspiring, fun and useful workshop! We all agreed that this was money well spent. Thank you Natasha!

2012/09/13

Jenyne Butterfly's Spin Sister workshop @North Pole STHLM


If you watched the live stream or watched the videos or if you were there yourself you already know that Pole Art 2012 was the most inspiring pole dancing event ever. But it wasn't just the amazing performances that inspired us mere mortals, the weekend was also filled with workshops with the best pole dancers in the world. I attended Natasha Wang's Signature Tricks class and Jenyne Butterfly's Spin Sister at North Pole Studio in Stockholm and Steven Retchless's TRIXXX at Vertical Club in Helsinki the following Tuesday. All the workshops were inspiring, but I'll start with the one that didn't quite meet my high expectations: Jenyne's Spin Sister workshop.

The class description was:
Jenyne Butterfly
"Spin Sister"
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Price: 550 SEK (~65 €, $83)
Class description: This 2-hour workshop will focus on spinning pole and also spinning on static pole. You will learn take off and landing, how to lengthen your flight time with each spin, the importance of and how to condition your grip, what moves are good for spinning verses static, where the momentum comes from, the benefits of spinning pole, and an all-around basic understanding of graceful movement around the pole. Get ready to be dizzy lizzy!

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The spins on static were intermediate. I struggled with a one-handed spin that was supposed to end in a shoulder mount - I just didn't have the strength left to actually mount the pole. We also worked on bringing the popular breakdance move flare legs into a spin on the pole. I wish we had done more spin combinations like the pike spin - piroutte - backhook -spin that we did.

The part on static pole was fun, but that's not why I came to Jenyne's workshop as we have spin classes at Pole4Fit every week and we work on even more advanced spins in every class. I really came for some tips on rocking the spin mode. I haven't worked much on it even though I have a spinning pole even at home. For two weeks before Jenyne's Spin Sister I did a little bit of spinning pole every single night just to get used to it - I didn't want to throw up in the two-hour workshop!

However, the part on spinning pole was hardly intermediate/advanced. I'm a complete newbie on spinning pole and I still didn't really learn anything new. We practised the very basics of spin mode. I checked my watch to see that we should still have 20 minutes left of the workshop when Jenyne asked if anyone had any requests. I tried asking about inverted moves on the spinning pole but all I got was a very brief reply. We started stretching and ended the 65 € workshop 15 minutes ahead of schedule even though we had started late. So, understandably, I was a bit disappointed with the workshop, even though it's of course an honour to get practice with the likes of Jenyne Butterfly.

Jenyne gave us a good piece of advice: Do a freestyle every time you practise on the pole. Just put on song on and move. Even if you're tired, come on, it's a 3-minute song!

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2012/08/30

Pole Dancing in Music Videos


Pole dancing has gotten more and more popular, even in music videos. Here are some that I know of, please share if you know more!

Enrique Iglesias feat. Usher - Dirty Dancer has more than 57 million views on Youtube, and luckily those dancers are actually good!


2 Chainz feat. Nicki Minaj - I Luv Dem Strippers is more... Well, what do you expect with that title? It's not all booty shaking, though.


Diplo feat. Lazerdisk Party Sex - Set It Off has AERA dancers Marlo, Mina, Nadia, Reiko, Michelle, Kyra, Autumn, Danielle and Crystal in their video. But honestly, what's with the description "Thanks to Director Ryan Staake we may finally know the answer to how many strippers it takes to get to outerspace"?

2012/08/27

PoleArt 2012 videos are here!



If you didn't make it to Stockholm and even missed out on the live stream provided by Poleranking (what's your excuse?) you can now watch the videos here. You definitely should, as PoleArt 2012 exceeded at least all my expectations - and that is saying something!

As you will know by now, Oona Kivelä won for the third time, followed by Natasha Wang as a runner-up. In the male category Saulo Sarmiento won, followed by a tie between Evgeny Greshylov and Steven Retchless.

In evaluation, equal emphasis was put on technical difficulty, execution, choreography and originality. The judges seemed to be as overwhelmed as the audience. Lu Nagata admitted that some artists brought her to tears and Anna de Carvalho commented that there was a lot of originality and many elements that had not been seen before. Serena Mon De Vienne told us how glad she was to see contestants trying to explore their own dance. She also said the evolution in pole dance has been so fast that it seems like 10 years have passed in the short history of PoleArt. It was Marina Cavallini who captured my thoughts the best using the word contemporary. She said the pieces were very strong, impressive, professional, breathtaking - and more contemporary than we have ever seen before.

I couldn't agree more - and couldn't be happier about it! This year was exactly what PoleArt is about. The venue, Göta Lejon theater from the 1920s, was stylish and exactly right for this event, and many performers seemed to have found the pole dancer in them. Many pieces were contemporary dance where pole was just one element of the dance. Patryk Rybarski, Evgeny Greshylov, Oona Kivelä and Laurence Hilsum all had dubstep(ish elements) in their music and showed some locking (or vogueing) moves, very trendy. There are always top tricks in all competitions. In last year's PoleArt the shoulder mount - outvert -flip was all the rage, this year we saw several starfish and chopsticks.

Below are Poleranking's YouTube videos with my comments - Please note that they are my personal opinions and feel free to comment and discuss! The videos are in the same order as they were performed in Stockholm. The first posts contain the first half of the videos, watch this space for my take on the remaining half!

Intellego Pole Company started the night with a performance that I personally found a bit disappointing - after their captivating performance in PoleArt 2011 my expectations were sky high. Their performance was called Female Exhaustion and called for freedom and democracy. I couldn't help but think about Pussy Riot in Russia. Very contemporary.



Patryk Rybarski still is a Dancer with a capital D. He danced to dubstep and showed us some cool locking moves, but his pole technique is still not quite clean. At the end of his act the poles seemed to be a bit too slippery for him and we even witnessed the only ass wipe of the night. But when he masters his pole technique in a year or two, there will be no stopping this guy. Can't wait.


Tracey Simmonds had a fierce look - Lisbeth Salander (of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy) instantly came to mind, not a bad look for a competition in Sweden. Tracey didn't disappoint with her unique trick combos and solid floorwork.


Rafaela Montanaro started with a super strong one-handed handstand. The latin pop song she used was tacky but the rhythm sure was catchy. This style is what Rafaela does best, the same thing she always seems to do, but maybe it isn't right for PoleArt. However, I've never seen a pole dancer put more clothes on in the middle of her performance, so that was original. Take a look at the one-minute solid aysha combo in the end!


Phoenix Kazree blew our minds away with her mesmerizing performance. She portrayed pain or hurt, a classic theme, but she did it beautifully. One of the most contemporary pieces of a contemporary night.


Go to Poleranking.com to see read the entire post and see the rest of the videos! You don't need to register to view the post and the videos, but please do and share your opinions!

2012/08/19

PoleArt 2012 - new ladies on the block


PoleArt will be held in Stockholm in less than a week, on Saturday the 25th of August. PoleArt is widely considered one of the most prestigious international pole dancing competitions, and this year the list of competitors is even more impressive than ever before.

Female Competative Category

Anastasia Skukhtorova, Russia
Laurence Hilsum, France
Maria Luz Escalante, Argentina
Natalia Egorova, Russia
Natasha Wang, USA
Oona Kivelä, Finland
Phoenix Kazree, USA
Polina Volchek, USA
Rafaela Montanaro, Brazil
Tracey Simmonds, South Africa

Male Competative Category

Evgeny Greshilov, Russia
Patryk Rybarski, Poland
Saulo Sarmiento, France
Steven Retchless, USA
Wilson Alexander Meija, Colombia

Many of the ladies and gentlemen are familiar from IPC 2012. Actually, of the competitors only Natalia Egorova and Polina Volchek were new names to me, so I took a closer look at them.

In Natalia's application video she starts with a hula hoop and then shows some very impressive tricks, making me think that she must be a former gymnast. There was a gymnast by the same name, but I think she must be older than this Natalia... Nevertheless, very impressive for someone I haven't even heard from previously.


Polina Volchek didn't sound familiar to me, but Pink Puma I know! She has a distinct style that will divide opinions, especially here in Scandinavia. She's something that many will consider very sexy and I certainly envy her flexibility. She's been pole dancing for only a year but has 10 years of experience in rhythmic gymnastics. Well, at least she's not one of those gymnast-turned-pole dancer whose background you can tell from a mile away. Even though Polina represents USA in PoleArt, she is actually a native of Ukraine and has even been on Ukraine's Got Talent.


By the way, what is that trick called that Polina does at 2:05? Natalia Egorova also did that in her application video.

Aerial Yoga @Vertical Club Helsinki


"This is going to be FUN" was the first thought on my mind when I saw the green hammocks hanging from Vertical Club's ceiling. I'd done Hatha, Astanga, Iyengar, Yin and Bikram before I booked an Aerial Yoga class - on the very first day the sport arrived to Finland.

One of the founders of Vertical Club, Laura Gröhn, has studied Aerial Yoga in New York while practising with AERA. I attended an Aerial Yoga Lempeä ("Gentle") class which was instructed by Vilja Eskelinen. The class is suitable for beginners with no previous yoga or acrobatics background. We started on the floor and gradually moved onto movements done off the ground. The hammock is used to support some (or all) of the body's weight in different yoga postures, asanas. Those who have done Iyengar Yoga will find some similarities, as the props are meant to enable you to do the movements with proper alignments. It seems that this time all seven attendants were pole dancers as everyone managed to do even inversions, V-invert style.

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Vilja helps Anni out...

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That's how it's done. This move was called "Arkku" - a direct translation would be "The Chest".

It would be stupid to judge any sport after one class and I especially hate it when people think that all yoga is the same. My first impression is that Aerial Yoga is fun and it will probably build both strength and flexibility over time. However, as I recently got addicted to Bikram Yoga, "yoga" in my vocabulary has come to mean intensive 90-minute sessions in a room heated to 39C (102F). I'm not ready to switch practices just yet, even though I will miss relaxing inside the hammock...

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Namaste!

2012/07/27

New studio in Helsinki: Vertical Club


I've used the expression "spoiled rotten" several times referring to the three pole dancing studios that we have in this town of only 500 000 inhabitants. Well, it would seem that next month there will be four studios and I will have to think of new idioms to describe so many cool classes, so little time.

Vertical Club will open in August and feature wonderfully tall 3,6 meter poles! The founders Laura Gröhn and Vilja Eskelinen will bring some of the best teachers from Rock the Pole with them. Laura, who is a member of the New York -based AERA aerial dance company, will bring an entirely new sport to Finland: Aerial Yoga. As a yoga enthusiast (I've done Hatha, Asthanga, Iyengar and Bikram - even though you would never believe it if you saw how stiff I am...) I can't wait to try it!

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Now if you've been reading my blog at all you know that I'm a Pole4Fit girl through and through, but I still want to visit Vertical Club as soon as they open. Helsinki is turning into quite a mecca for pole dancing, don't you think?

2012/07/22

Off the Pole for 30 days - what has happened to me?

From the middle of June till the middle of July I was busy travelling both for work and for leisure, both in Finland and abroad. And by busy I mean just that - I didn't stay long in one place and had fully booked days. I knew I couldn't attend any pole classes during that time so I put my Pole4Fit membership on hold for a month. I didn't think it would be a big deal as I stayed active, for example by exploring new places on foot (walking over 20 kilometres in Kyoto was one of my favourite days during this busy month).

I got back home on Monday and greeted my beloved Fitpole enthusiastically, but the love was no longer mutual. I only had strength for a 40-minute session but it was enough to show me all those tricks I no longer could do, including air invert, air shoulder mount and all handsprings. I was devastated. I did my first air invert almost two years ago so it was quite terrible not being able to do such a basic move anymore. And I hadn't been ill or anything, just off the pole.

This week I've been on the pole five times and I'm slowly getting my strength back even though it's nowhere near where it was a mere five weeks ago. I'm wondering how long it will take before I'm able to do everything I could do before the break and can start learning new stuff again. A friend said three weeks, what do you think? If you have similar experiences, please share them! I need some peer support!

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No matter how much I enjoyed the long walks this summer, they just weren't enough.

You can also read and discuss this post here http://www.poleranking.com/threads/off-the-pole-for-30-days-what-has-happened-to-me.392/

Let's go outside!


It hasn't been the sunniest summer in Finland so far but today we were lucky. Pole4Fit kindly lent us their stage which we carried to the nearest park - 300 meters from the studio. This is what summer in the city should look like! Thank you girls for organizing this, it was great meeting new faces from other studios! Let's do this again soon, please?

PoleArt 2012 list of participants is published


I can't believe the list of participants PoleArt published - it reads like a Who's Who of pole dancing!

Female Competitive Category

Anastasia Skukhtorova, Russia
Laurence Hilsum, France
Maria Luz Escalante, Argentina
Natalia Egorova, Russia
Natasha Wang, USA
Oona Kivelä, Finland
Phoenix Kazree, USA
Polina Volchek, USA
Rafaela Montanaro, Brazil
Tracey Simmonds, South Africa

Male Competative Category

Evgeny Greshilov, Russia
Patryk Rybarski, Poland
Saulo Sarmiento, France
Steven Retchless, USA
Wilson Alexander Meija, Colombia

Showcase

Ekaterina Romanova, Russia
Intellego Pole Company, Sweden
Michelle Stanek, USA
Pole Dance Theatre "TRASH"

Guest Performance

Jenyne Butterfly, USA

I'm so proud of the organisers Nelle and Tanja - and so proud that we have such a high profile competition in Scandinavia!

Workshop with Henriikka Roo


Gosh, how can I have forgotten to write about the workshop with Henriikka Roo that I attended almost six weeks ago! I know I always go on and on about Oona Kivelä (and I won't make any promises not to as PoleArt draws nearer). When I attended Henriikka Rinne's workshop at Studio Move in Tampere on May 26 (day after Tampere Open Showcase - see, we didn't partyall night) I specifically thought how nice it will be to blog about another Finn for a change - and then I go and forget to do so! It's not that the Advanced Workshop we attended wasn't great, oh no, we even did completely new stuff (to me, that is), I just can't remember what it was anymore... Help me out here, if you read this and you attended as well!

Does that ever happen to anybody else? You leave the studio thinking wow, that was a good class. And when somebody asks you what you did... You just can't remember any moves at all!

I also wanted to attend Henriikka Pole Ballet workshop but unfortunately it was cancelled. Anyway, Henriikka is a sunny, charming teacher and she would deserve a much nicer blog post. Sorry Henriikka, this means you'll have to come to Helsinki to give some workshops, you are the current Finnish Champion after all, you have to make a tour!

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You can also read and discuss this post here http://www.poleranking.com/threads/workshop-with-henriikka-roo.379/

2012/06/06

Finn Salima Peippo takes title in Spanish Pole Sport Championships


Anyone who has ever read my blog knows that Oona Kivelä is Finnish and lives right here in Helsinki, but she's not the only Finn who has entered international pole competitions.Salima Peippo, a professional circus artist but better known in Finland as a beauty pageant winner, won first prize in Spanish Pole Sport Championships in the category "less than two years of training". Congratulations!

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I could only find these short clips from her performance but you can see that she has a very distinctive circus style... but a lot of potential nevertheless!


Let's hope that she'll enter international competitions in the future! She has the skills, if only somebody helped her get rid of those circus "Ta-Dah!" manners and make her a proper pole DANCE choreo...

You can also read and discuss this post at http://poleranking.com/threads/finn-salima-peippo-takes-title-in-spanish-pole-sport-championships.349/

Tampere Open Showcase 2012


Tampere Open Showcase was organised for the fourth time last Saturday. Tampere is the third biggest city in Finland and only 1,5 hours from Helsinki by train, so I decided to go check it out even though I had just come back from a business trip to London the night before. I'm glad I went, as I had a blast with the Pole4Fit girls - they even won the group choreography division!

I think this type of open showcases are equally important as more serious competitions. They give the opportunity for non-professional pole dancers to show their talent and training with a specific goal in mind is the most efficient type of training. It was evident that all performers: ten soloists, four doubles and five groups had worked really hard. Doubles have been a rarity in Finland and I don't think any studios offer doubles' workshops, so they have had to use their creativity. Thanks to all the performers for an entertaining evening and special thanks to the organisers!

Check out Pole4Fit's group choreo below. I bet you all recognise the song, Kiss by Prince. The choreography is by Pole4Fit teacher and Finnish Championship contestant Anne Laakkonen. Unfortunately the venue was dark and in my video you can't see all the dancers properly. Let's hope someone will post a better video soon!



Congratulations to all the Pole4Fit ladies from a very proud "manager"!

BTW, check out these awesome photos by Tuula Ylikorpi
She's something like The official pole dance event photographer in Finland.

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You can also read and discuss this post at http://poleranking.com/threads/tampere-open-showcase-2012.335/

Friday fun: Trackshittaz at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012


The Eurovision Song Contest is held this year for the 57th time. The final will be held tomorrow in Baku, Azerbaijan. Trackshittaz represented Austria in the semifinals with their song Woki Mit Deim Popo (translates into shake your bottom). They didn't make it to the final, which might not surprise anyone, and this video is not worth watching even for the "pole dancing" (Ok, you can catch an invert or two if you watch closely) but the UV costumes on the dancers are fun. Watch when they turn off the lights at 1:57.



Friday Fun: More animals pole dancing


These keep coming up, here's the best of the rest:

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And how about this human... sorry, feline flag?
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You can also read and discuss this post at http://poleranking.com/threads/friday-fun-animals-pole-dancing.111/

2012/05/12

Friday fun: More Pole Dancing Comics


Last Friday I shared some pole dancing comics that didn't draw on the strip club history of pole dancing. Here are some of the funniest that do:

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2012/05/06

Ballet on a pole - and on pointe


I previously told you that I dream of one day working on pointe, even though I only started doing ballet a year ago. The opportunity came up sooner that expected...

...Oh no, look what's in my gym bag...
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The current Finnish Champion, Henriikka Roo, is famous for combining ballet with her pole routines, and she gives Pole Ballet classes in Tampere. I asked Pole4Fit's ballet teacherAnna-Katariina if she could give a ballet class in our pole classroom. Normally the weekly ballet class is held in a gym classroom - plenty of mirrors but no bars to hold on to for support.

Pole4Fit's first, but hopefully not last, 90-minute Ballet on a Pole workshop was held today. Anna-Katariina had absolutely nailed it with her short choreographies combining classic ballet moves such as fondus, pas de bourrées and pirouettes with basic spins. We even got to play Little Swans from Swan Lake!

The last 10 minutes those of us who had pointe shoes spent practising raising onto pointe - a first for me! Only ten minutes, and one of my toes was already bleeding... Ok, just a tiny bit. Nothing to stop me from practising more. A vertical bar is just as good for support as a horisontal one.

We want more ballet/pole! Has anybody else tried a similar class?

You can read and discuss this post at Poleranking.

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