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!

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/

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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

http://poledance.pictures.fi/kuvat/Tampere Open Showcase 2012/

She's something like The official pole dance event photographer in Finland.

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

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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.

You can also read and discuss this post at http://poleranking.com/threads/friday-fun-trackshittaz-at-the-eurovision-song-contest-2012.333/#post-850

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Friday Fun: More animals pole dancing

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

And how about this human... sorry, feline flag?

You can also read and discuss this post at http://poleranking.com/threads/friday-fun-animals-pole-dancing.111/

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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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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...

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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Friday Fun: Pole Dancing Comics

You know pole dancing has gone mainstream when comics on the subject are no longer necessarily strip club related...

Have a great weekend!!

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