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!

You can also read and discuss this post here http://www.poleranking.com/threads/poleart-2012-date-is-set-25-august-2012.122/

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PowerPole-classes with Oona Kivelä

I told you before we're spoiled rotten here in Helsinki. Envy me all you want but I'm still going to tell you about the Powerpole-classes I've attended at Gymi in Kamppi, Helsinki with none other than Oona Kivelä.

I often hear people disregarding a pole dancer's competition success with "oh, but (s)he's a former gymnast/ ballet dancer/ whatever". As if doing other sports was somehow unfair to those contestants who only practise on the pole. Let me give a free piece of advice to all aspiring pole superstars: Do other stuff as well.

In this video you can see how Oona Kivelä trains. Most of it is shot at Gymi Kamppi so you can also see glimpses of the equipment that is available to all Gymi-goers.

I've only had the chance to attend twice so far (thanks Oona for letting me join mid-season!) but I've already realised what a difference some ancillary training can make. Some of the moves in PowerPole are, as the name suggests, pole moves - but not necessarily on the pole. Practising ayeshas on wall bars and hanging in a gemini on a parallel bar makes you pay attention to details in the move that you cannot necessarily see on a pole when you're worrying about grip among other things. We've also practised handstands, headstands and some basic moves on an aerial ring.

I've been way too busy and sweaty to bother with a camera, but take a look a this cool collage from Gymi's gallery.

I'm so glad Oona and her associate have realised that this stuff shouldn't be only for kids!

Olen käynyt nyt kahdesti Oona Kivelän PowerPole-tunneilla Kampin Gymillä ja voin suositella tunteja lämpimästi oheistreeniksi kaikille tankotanssijoille!

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Friday fun: Pole dancing gifs

Could this be the most popular pole dancing gif? Jenyne Butterfly's signature move: The Iguana Walk.

Inverted crusifix drop

Some body waves

            

And last, my favourite one...

Yup, that's Oona K. for you. Have a great weekend!

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IPC 2012 Ultimate Champion Night Out @GYMi

Watching breathtaking pole dancing performances in high definition and drinking bubbly - Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night. 

I promised you I'd visit GYMi this year, and an opportunity came up sooner than expected. This time I didn't go for a lesson, though, but instead to see all the 23 performances from International Pole Championship in Hong Kong. While we still have to wait for IPDFA to publish their videos, Oona Kivelä treated us to the videos her team had shot. It's a shame she can't publish them, and I won't pain you by describing the performances while you can't see them yet, but I will say this: The right people won.

I was surprised that Chris Measday won Ultimate Champion in Mens Division, over Wilson Alexander, but Mr. Measday simply owned the stage in his performance. Everything I said about him in my post about Mens Division still holds, but none of it mattered. Wilson Alexander had better technique and even better choreo, but you will know what I mean when you see the show Chris Measday put on. I couldn't stop laughing. If you haven't watched the sneak peaks from all performances yet, do it now.

Thank You Oona K. for inviting us over and congratulations once again!

Oona Kivelä, tankotanssin maailmanmestariksikin useassa yhteydessä tituleerattu IPC 2012 Ultimate Champion, näytti GYMillä videot kaikista 23 esityksestä, joita Hong Kongissa nähtiin. 

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IPC 2012 video sneak peaks from Hong Kong

Apparently we have to wait two months for full videos of the performances in International Pole Championship 2012, which will then be published only at their own site. Luckily Poleranking has treated us to two exclusive previews.

One with previews of all the performances 

and another with focus on the Ultimate Champion (don't you just love that title?) Oona Kivelä

Oona's victory was notified by German Spiegel Online and Danish News Break but apparently in the Ultimate Champion's native Finland only Voice found it interesting enough for their website - Despite statements and video clips sent to all media. I guess all the space was required for other Finnish athletes such as Kimi Räikkönen who qualified 18th in the Australian formula1 GP - right before another Finn Heikki Kovalainen who held his own at 19th.

Joudumme ilmeisesti odottamaan Hong Kongin esitysvideoita kaksi kuukautta, mutta tässä hieman esimakua Polerankingin tarjoamana!

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IPC 2012 results are here! Yet another win for Oona Kivelä!

Photo: www.oonak.com

I've written about Womens Division, Mens Division and competition order in Hong Kong, but now I have something truly interesting to share with you: The results!

Straight to point:

Womens Division Ultimate Champion: Oona Kivelä (Editor's note: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Mens Division Ultimate Champion: Chris Measday

Doubles Ultimate Champion: Carlie & Travis

Disabled Division Winner: Deb Roach 

Doubles Division Pole Art winner: Masayo & Kazuya

Womens Division Pole Art winner: Laurence Hilsum
Womens Division Pole Art 1st runner-up: Zoraya Judd

Mens Division Pole Art Winner: Wilson Alexander 
Mens Division Pole Art 1st runner-up: Patryk Rybarski

Doubles Division Winner: Enchanted
Doubles Division 1st runner-up: Matty & Shimmy

Womens Division Pole Fit Winner: Rafaela Montanaro
Womens Division Pole Fit 1st runner-up: Tracey Simmonds

Mens Division Pole Fit Winner: Adam Tan
Mens Division Pole Fit 1st runner-up: Job Bautista

Other titles included:
Pole idol (Internet votes): Wilson Alexander (Editor's note: It must have been the Speedos...)
IPDFA Pole industry award: Kate (UK)
IPDFA Choreographer of the year: Kelly & Charlie
IPDFA Instructor of the year: Elena Gibson
IPDFA Studio of the year: BeSpun (Editor's note: I have to get there one day!)

Thank you Poleranking once again for being the first (and only!) source with up-to-date information!

Like I already lamented, we apparently have to wait two months for videos... Welcome to 2012, IPDFA! Can you think of any other sport where this would be acceptable?

P.S. Greetings from Tallinn! I'm on my way to a pole dancing lesson here... I promise to tell you all about it later!

JEEEE HYVÄ SUOMI!! HYVÄ OONA KIVELÄ!!!

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IPC 2012 in Hong Kong tomorrow

Tomorrow, ladies and gentleman, it's finally time for the long-awaited International Pole Championships in Hong Kong. The competition's own site hasn't been updated for a while, but luckily one can count on Poleranking to know, and share, what's going on in international competitions.

Unfortunately there have been some cancellations. Alisa Pleskova, who I thought might be a strong contestant for top-3, can't make it. Neither can Cleo, the Australian rock chick who always puts on an interesting show. Neither of these ladies was my first choice for winner anyway, but Mens Division suffered a more serious blow as Saulo Sarmiento won't be able to compete due to an exclusive performance elsewhere. He was a clear candidate for winner! If I now have to name someone else, I'm going with the Colombian gymnast Wilson Alexander despite, you know, everything.

Order of competition is out as well:
1.TESSA YUNG
2.DEB ROACH
3.ADAM TAN
4.LAURENCE HILSUM
5.LIYE & NAOMI
6.ALESSANDRA MARCHETTI
7.PATRYK RYBARSKI
8.ERI KAMIMOTO
9.CHELLE HAFNER
10.CARLIE & TRAVIS
11.LENA GRZEGOLEC
12.DAVID HELMEN
13.NATASHA WANG
14.MASAYO & KAZUYA
15.RAFAELA MONTANARO
16.JOB BAUTISTA
17.TRACEY SIMMONDS
18.ENCHANTED
19.WILSON ALEXANDER
20.ZORAYA JUDD
21.MATTY & SHIMMY
22.OONA KIVELÄ
23.CHRIS MEASDAY

The event starts tomorrow, Thursday 7:30 P.M, that would be 1:30 P.M. EET in Helsinki. I'll get back to you with the results, even though we apparently have to wait two months for any performance videos. I do hope they were kidding.

Here's a video of the press conference held earlier today.

IPC 2012 käydään huomenna Hong Kongissa. Kisat alkavat 13:30 Suomen aikaa, mutta valitettavasti Alisa Pleskova, Cleo ja Saulo Sarmiento eivät pääse kisaamaan. Oona Kivelä on esiintymisvuorossa toiseksi viimeisenä.

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IPC 2012: Ladies of grace

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.

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Finnish Pole Dancing Championships 2012 make it to the 10 P.M. news... ...funnies

Half a million Finns tune in every night to watch the 10 o'clock news on MTV3. In a country of only six million people and numerous news broadcasts on several channels, that's a significant tradition. I missed the news broadcast on Saturday, as I was watching pole battle at The Tiger, but was glad to hear that the Finnish Pole Dancing Championships had made it to this most popular news broadcast. That is, until I heard pole dancing was not featured in the sports news but instead as the funny piece of news of the night - The last news slot reserved for cute baby animals born at Zoos, impressive bottle cap collections or wife carrying world championships.

Screen capture from the news piece: Hanna Knihtilä doing a strong shoulder mount. This former soccer player is all muscle these days. She thought me how to do an air shoulder mount!

The piece itself was very positive, featuring small interviews with Oona Kivelä and Henriikka Roo and video clips from seven different performances. There's an ongoing debate on retirement age in Finland and the anchors were wondering what the retirement age for pole dancers might be: "Well, working life needs to be lengthened, so maybe 67?"

You can watch the piece for a few more days here. The performances are also available on Youtube, below are some of my favourites.

Like said, Henriikka Roo was on fire!

Oona claimed that this was freestyle - Can you believe it? Many of the contestants said they had to improvise a bit as the spinning pole didn't spin properly.

                                       

Check out Anna Lehtonen's incredible handstands! I bet we'll be hearing a lot about her. She trains at Pole4Fit, like me.

TankoSM 2012 pääsi MTV3:n Kympin Uutisiin. Tosin ei Tulosruutuun, vaan loppukevennykseksi. Itse juttu oli positiivinen, ja loppuvitsinä uutisankkurit pohtivat tankotanssijoiden eläkeikää.

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Oona K. feats: FPC 2012 AfterParty @The Tiger Helsinki

Other contestants look on grinning when Tommi struts his stuff.

It's official: Oona K. sure knows how to throw a party. And a kick-ass pole battle with prizes that were far better than the ones that the Finnish Champion got earlier that day. 500 euros cash, a season ticket to Oona's PowerPole classes and a bottle of champagne made even yours truly think about enlisting.

A freestyle battle in a nightclub allowed the contestants to be a little crazy, sensual or even downright sexy. Tommi was the most daring with his high-heeled boots and short-shorts that left little to imagination. He is clearly inspired by Steven Retchless but needs a lot of practice technique-wise.

Anna-Katariina nailed the battle with not so much her skills, which are of course unquestionable, but her divaesque attitude. I bet the champagne is gone already and the prize money is rightfully hers, but I wonder if she has any use for that PowerPole gift certificate...

Sini-Sofia is working it...

...but Anna-Katariina, waiting for her turn, couldn't care less and pretends to read a magazine instead.

Oona Kivelä järjesti tankotanssin SM-kisojen jatkobileet The Tigerissa. Ohjelmassa oli tanko-battle, jonka voiton ja upeat palkinnot vei ylivoimainen Anna-Katariina.

Photo from The Tiger's website

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Finnish Pole Dancing Championships 2012

Hanna Kunnas opened the Finnish Pole Dancing Championships 2012 amateur series  and  I heard the impressed audience gasping: "Oh I had no idea pole dancing is like this!"
I've had the pleasure of watching Hanna progress from the first geminis to a captivating performer and all I can say is WOW.

The Finnish Pole Dancing Championships 2012 were held at GoExpo in the Helsinki Exhibition Center on March 3rd. This was only the second time for official Finnish Championships, and it's been a year and a half since the first contest. In August 2010 the title went to Oona Kivelä - by a wide margin, I might add. But amazing things have happened in the Finnish pole dancing scene since then. Oona has improved tremendously, coming up with new tricks all the time, but so has everybody else. To my knowledge, Heidi Mäki-Ontto, who placed third in the FC, hadn't even started pole dancing back then! 

The 2010 FC was held at Virgin Oil, a smoky bar if there ever was one, and I thought everyone would be ecstatic about the new, much more public location. Apparently though quite a few contestants didn't apply at all for "not being inspired by the venue". And here I thought we wanted to get pole dancing out of smoky bars! Admittedly, light shows were out of the question and from what I've heard organizing the contest at the new location wasn't always easy, but for once we had an audience that didn't consist solely of proud parents, boyfriends and fellow pole dancers!

Results can be found at the TankoSM web site but in short: Henriikka Roo, who made herself a household name by competing in Finland's Got Talent!, won, Oona Kivelä was second and, like said, Heidi Mäki-Ontto third. Personally, I didn't entirely agree on the outcome. I know I'm biased, but I would have placed at least Anne Laakkonen, maybe Anna-Katariina Koponen as well, in the top three. There was a strong emphasis on performance and choreography in the judging criteria, 1/3 each, with only 1/3 on pole technique. I would be happy to see much more emphasis on technique in the national championships. But I guess then we would have to wait for Oona to retire before anyone else could take the title...

There was also an amateur series, which was won by Laura Soikkeli. Rumour has it Laura applied on the very last day before the deadline and was surprised that she even got in. Reality check, girl, you were absolutely superb! 

The only 19-year-old Hulda Rankanen didn't get a medal today, but she has plenty of time for that. Her solid circus background shows in the best possible way.

The charming Anna-Katariina Koponen could have easily placed in the top-3. "AK" is my ballet and pole teacher and a constant source of inspiration for me.

Henriikka Roo was on fire today and took home the Finnish Championship title. Congratulations Henriikka!

Tervetuloa tankotanssiblogiini! Tankotanssin Suomenmestaruus 2012 ratkottiin GoExpossa Helsingin Messukeskuksessa. Voiton vei liekeissä ollut, Suomen kansalle Talentista tuttu Henriikka Rinne eli Henriikka Roo, jättäen tällä kertaa taakseen edellisen vuoden voittajan Oona Kivelän.

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