5:59 PM
Päivi S.
IPDFA’s International Pole Championship will be held in Hong Kong on Thursday. I previously commented on the somewhat disappointing male division, but the amazing ladies more than make up for it. Originally only six contestants were supposed to make it to the final, but somewhere along the way that changed to twelve. And what a breath-taking dozen they are!
Laurence Hilsum, France, is almost in a league of her own. Almost. I saw Laurence in PoleArt 2011 in Helsinki, where only one contestant was her superior. Laurence is definite Top-3 material also in Hong Kong.
Alisa Pleskova from Israel is also a strong contestant for Top-3. I lost count how many times she touches the back of her head with her toes. It's amazing, something I'm quite certain I'll never be able to do, but maybe there should be a thrice-per-choreo limit.
Rafaela Montanaro from Brazil is definitely one of my favourites. She has excellent rhythm and a unique spirit. I can’t quite put my finger on it but for some reason, watching her performance, I get the feeling that she would fun to hang out with. I guess you could call that charisma and it certainly appeals to me. No matter how flexible or strong or skilled the dancer is, if she doesn’t have charisma, watching her perform for four minutes often gets a bit boring. Rafaela is not the tallest nor the skinniest pole dancer that I’ve seen and I love it. One thing that I absolutely love about pole dancing is that you don’t have to be a certain height or a certain build like in ballet.
Natasha Wang, US pole champion 2011, obviously has clean, beautiful, flexible moves, but watching her entry video right after Rafaela Montanaro's, I have to admit that I’m a sucker for charisma and spirit. It's obvious that all these ladies love their poles, but the best performers love their audience even more.
Zoraya Judd, also from the US, is certainly a good entertainer, but in her entry video her style is bordering on striptease. Whereas rock chick Cleo from Australia can get away with chunky platforms and an outfit straight from early Madonna's or Lady Gaga's closet. I usually despise shoes worn on the pole, but in Cleo's entry video she wears them with the right attitude.
Another Australian Chelle Hafner won Asia Pacific Pole Dance Championships 2011 with her super strong Terminator routine. She wore trainers and pants in something that looks like faux leather (Where can I get a pair of those?) and started off with a death lay. With her strength she could compete in the male division if she wanted to. In another routine Chelle portrays Lara Croft. I bet she doesn't have to take any "oh so you're a stripper" comments from anyone. Not with those biceps.
The Italian Champion Alessandra Marchetti has been dancing since she was five, but pole dancing only for 1,5 years and she turns 37 this year! And she is amazing on pole, a real comfort for all of us who are not in our teens anymore!
The level of competition is so high in IPC 2012 that in makes fantastic pole dancers such as Tessa Yung or Lena Grzegolec look like basic spinners. I'm a little surprised that for example Anzhela Kulagina didn’t make it past the semifinal. Neither did Carlie Hunter, but you should still check out her absolutely hilarious entry video which brought her Best Performance and Professional Division Winner titles in Australian Capital Pole Championships 2011. The video can also be found on YouTube with the search "Granny on a pole". Circulate the link to all your colleagues first thing Monday morning. Another five minutes at the office well spent. Carlie will still compete in IPC 2012 together with Travis Scott in the douples division.
And while you’re at it, watching semi-finalist videos, please tell me what Alesia Vazmitsel does at 1:46 and teach me that! I hear she had to cancel her entry, otherwise at least I would have placed her in the final! Speaking of ladies who I would have loved to see in IPC 2012: Where are for example Marion Crampe and Anastasia Shukhtorova? Jenyne Butterfly and Marlo Fisken can be found among the judges.
Back to the finalists: Tracey Simmonds was the first international superstar whose workshop I attended at Pole4Fit and that already makes me a big fan of hers. Tracey’s pole dancing style is so precise and everything she does looks totally effortless, especially since she’s so lithe. Tracey visits Finland quite often, I think her last performance here was a showcase at the Helsinki Fashion Fair in October.
And then, last but never least is the natural force that we know as Oona Kivelä. I’m so biased when it comes to any Finn in an international sports contest, let alone Oona K. in a pole dancing contest, that you should take my praise with a pinch of salt. But she is really, really good, that much is certain. And it's not just about the tricks, it's also about attitude, spirit and presence, and that just might be decisive at this level. The beautiful music in her entry video, from Pole Dance World Championships 2010, is the Finnish band Apocalyptica playing Metallica's Nothing Else Matters.
Tankotanssin kansainväliset IPC 2012 -kisat käydään Hong Kongissa torstaina. Tässä katsaus naisten sarjan finalisteihin, joiden joukosta löytyvät muun muassa ranskalainen, Suomen PoleArtissakin esiintynyt Laurence Hilsum sekä suomalainen Oona Kivelä.
Posted in: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.