Lights, Camera, Magic...

From a photographer I admire

When in doubt toss your hair

Finally the day I've been waiting for the past four weeks has come and gone. And I couldn't have asked for a more positive experience for my first pole dancing gig.

Activision, the gaming company that hired us for the event, went all out for their release party of "True Crime." Since the video game takes place in Hong Kong, the entire theme of the party was Oriental and it was beautifully done. Did I forget to mention that besides from the oriental decorations, that Activision's grand scheme for the party was to transform the conference room into a high-end strip club frequented by gangsters?


The first thing you see when you walk toward the conference room is a red carpet, a bouncer in a black suit (and he wasn't there as a prop!), 2 large golden lions on either side of the entrance, empty fruit boxes reminiscent of China Town on the side, Chinese lanterns, and a large red neon "Club BAM BAM" sign. It got even better when you walked inside. Ceiling to floor and wall to wall they decorated the room with red and gold Chinese silk and gold gilded mirrors. There were floating television screens playing the True Crime teaser trailer all around the room. On one side of the room was a bar (open bar all night!) with a large True Crime collage in the back. Directly across from the bar was a large platform (main stage) with a x-stage built into it. I only went up there once, but it was an amazing view! You could see everything! There were tables and stools throughout the room and a really sweet lounge area too right next to the main stage.

At the far end of the room was the DJ, that had great music playing all night (house/electronica). It was sweet how they asked for our song requests! S.O.S, Sex on Fire, Rude Boy and Brittney were definitely requested! In a corner next to the bar was another x-stage, where I danced for most of the night. The only really annoying thing about this stage was that it was TOO close to an impromptu wall that had two mirrors attached to it. Lets just say that wall and those mirrors were periodically kicked throughout the night...

After we got into costume (mine was really revealing! Bra and garter belt!), Activision had us walk in a line down to the first floor, through the crowds around the bar downstairs, back to the second floor, and then back up to the third floor to Club BAM BAM. We grabbed a lot of people's attention ;)

When we got back, we proceeded to test out the stage and good thing we did too! I got on it and decided to do a twirl when the top half decided to start spinning with me! Ooops! I guess someone didn't install it right! We got that pole fixed, but we didn't realize the pole on the main stage wasn't installed properly either until less than half way through our performance.

Even though I was pumped up, the x-stage and the claustrophobic space threw me off completely. Right in the beginning I couldn't do a proper twirl because everything was too unfamiliar. But thankfully at the end of the evening, I became very close to comfortable...so comfortable that I even decided to give the big stage a try! And I'm glad I did too!

Whenever I got up on stage, all of a sudden I was in my own world. It was just me, the stage and the music. Honestly, I did a lot more sensual dance than pole tricks and twirls. I just couldn't do it in the space that I was given, but the other girls were amazing!

In total, there were 6 dancers including myself. No one needs to tell you how Mina or Estee performances were. They combined acrobatic athleticism with sensual dance so well that you become completely memorized. I absolutely loved it when they did tricks on the pole together! I think Estee might have intimidated tons of guys in the room. She could've easily broken someone's neck with a simple twist of her ankles. But she was also the only one that got tipped that night! haha. And it was well deserved too!

Every girl had their own style, and it was really great to observe how they worked the pole. While a lot of the girls were experienced pole dancers and threw in 5-10 tricks per rotation, I did a lot of sensual dance. Hey, if I can't throw out a trick at least I can be visually pleasing! hehe. This actually turned out to be a good thing for me because I met someone who took really great pictures and film of me dancing. I can't wait to see them! I will definitely post them when I do!

In general, I just told myself to have fun Tuesday night. And I did! Once I accidentally whipped a guy with my hair while I was dancing (the stage and the crowds were in very close proximity on the floor), and thought it was so funny that I did it on purpose to the same person two more times! Haha. That'll teach you to get in my way! I actually became very dangerously close to becoming a vixen that night. If there's ever a good time to let yourself go wild, it's definitely in this atmosphere. And I loved it!

We originally were supposed to dance for 4 hours, from 8PM-12AM. But they loved us so much they asked us to stay until 2AM. So we stayed! Especially since they bribed us with food afterward! This was such an amazing opportunity, especially since I just started in January. If I ever get another opportunity, I'm not going to turn it down! It just gives me more incentive to practice, practice, practice!!

The star of the night, Estee Zakar...

Hong Kong Strip Club

So this year just keeps getting better and better for me (knock on wood). When I started fitness pole dancing, my ultimate goal was to perform when I mastered enough moves. What's funny is that the pole kept putting me in my place whenever I went anywhere near it in the beginning. But luckily, my quest to go to as many drop-in classes as possible at Poletential is finally showing results. I was climbing the pole like a monkey last night!



Well I wanted to share with all my readers that a really exciting opportunity has come up for me! Activision (creator of Guitar Hero for those of us who don't play video games) is hosting an event in San Francisco next month where they will be promoting their new video game True Crime that takes place in Hong Kong. I put clips from the teaser trailer for you to get a better idea of what the video game is going to be like...



For the event they want to recreate the Hong Kong strip club scene in the video game, and that's where I come in! And I have to thank my lucky stars that I'm Asian because that's what definitely helped me get this gig. I'm definitely no Amber! I'll be dancing with three other girls, taking turns two at a time. The great part is that Estee Zakar will be dancing with us!!! Amazing!!



This gig is the reason why I have been busting my ass to go to as many classes as possible. I'm not going to let myself look like a fool on stage!