Do you remember these?
Imagine the shocked look on my face when I saw one of my fellow dancers take out her brand new heels...
Do they look familiar?!?! I know the flash on my camera makes them look brighter than they are, but trust me they look exactly how they look in the picture above...absolutely beautiful. I honestly couldn't stop looking at them during class. Forget learning new pole moves, look at her shoes! Neon is so in now. It's really strange how I've become so attracted to it lately, since I usually wear really dark colors.
Today's Total Pole class was very knee intensive. You should see the bruises all over my legs. I'm starting to wonder how I can minimize them, especially since summer is just right around the corner...well almost. Damn Ground Hog's day. 5 more weeks of winter?!
The moves Amber taught us today were the Front Hook, Back Hook, Front Hook into the Back Hook, Side Climb, Knee Hold and Gemini. By the time it was the last 5-10 minutes to dance free-style, all I wanted to do was just stop and relax.
What was really amazing, was that Amber (instructor) and Christine (advanced dance student) were both on a spinning pole doing the same moves simultaneously. I've seen it in videos before, but to see it live and just a few feet away from me was crazy. Afterward Amber warned us that it takes a lot of practice to use a spinning pole...warning taken. I won't be trying that any time soon, but I would like to in the future.
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Knee Hold:
Use inside hand to grip the pole (high). Hook inside leg to the pole with the back of the knee so that your leg is parallel to the ground. Use outside hand to grip underneath your leg on the pole. Thumb should be pointing down. Lift outside leg so that your knee/shin is resting on the pole and your ankle is hooking with your other ankle. Push your hips outward and leg go of outside hand that was gripping underneath your leg.
Gemini:
Gemini is an inversion similar to the Scorpio. Instead of using one foot/ankle to hold you against the pole, you hook the back of your knee and then let your other foot drop so that it's vertically parallel with the ground. In this position you need to use your side (skin!) to grip the pole. Let go with both hands.
Side Climb:
Start with gripping the pole with both hands and inside leg hooked to pole at the knee so that it's parallel with the ground. Lift your other leg up so that it's resting underneath your other leg. At this point you should straighten up and re-grip your hands higher up the pole. This is setting you up so that you can climb sideways up the pole. You can move both your legs sideways at once or one at a time. Repeat.
Front Hook:
Grip the pole with inside hand (high) and step forward with inside leg. Use outside hand to brace the pole as you step with your outside leg (around the pole). While keeping outside leg on the ground as long as possible you swing the inside leg out. Your outside leg should eventually wrap itself around the pole.
Picture of Reverse Back Hook:
I found super helpful photos of pole positions...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ipole.tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cimg9096-5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ipole.tv/%3Fpage_id%3D75&usg=__GpWhBXxUkO-4495msvxZnzT-cSc=&h=1449&w=1431&sz=384&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=dcgxPCYcs6TQTM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=148&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dknee%2Bhold%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rlz%3D1R1RNFA_en___US355%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1
