The first few real classes.

So over the last few days I have had 2 more classes! One on Thursday  and one today (Saturday) and let me tell you, I don’t think I have ever felt this way before. For one thing I am SORE. But even though it kind of hurts it kind of also feels good because it tells me that I am working things that have not been worked in a long time, or ever.  But I learned a few very important things:

 1.) At this point I cannot do two pole classes with only one day between them. Perhaps one day I can, but right now there is no way. My first class on Thursday was great and I felt very accomplished. After my class today however I just felt belch. I knew I gave it my all but I really just felt very lame. And I really couldn’t do anything on my “special” side at all, at least on Thursday I was doing thing on my “special” side even if they were not very good.

2.)I need grip assist. On my class on Thursday I was getting very down on myself because I felt like I could not hold myself up at all. It was really the beginning of a downward spiral in my mind. But my teacher, Kristin, saw me and I think she saw what was going on in my head, and without even really asking she said “Hey it looks like you are slipping a lot, come here try some of this.” And she gave me some grip helper and told me to try again and I did and it was about 100% better and she just smiled “See, you have the strength to do it, your hands are just slippery like mine, really I have to use super-duper grip to even get anything done at all.” And class went a LOT better after that, and I actually did not get down on myself at all after that. Cuz I could do it.

3.) Walking into my spins is SOOOO much better than doing them from a stand still. I swear, I could be having a lot of problems with a spin and the second I walked into it I could actually do it. Momentum is a magical thing.

4.) I need to be better at the cool down. While both classes had a nice cool down I think I need to make sure I take a few more minutes of my own time to fully stretch out. More stretching out after = less stiffness after and that is good. 

Over all I’m really likening the classes even if I was a little dumb and tried to do two classes just a day apart. I really like the Fort Collins studio, its bigger and more open. The Longmont studio seems very small to me and kind of squeezed into its location. But I think for this 5 week course I am going to try to transfer from the Saturday classes in Fort Collins to the Thursday classes in Longmont because while I like the Fort Collis studio better the Saturday class today was PACKED. I mean there were more girls then there were poles, and the Thursday class was only the teacher, my friend Tausha and I. and I think I liked the personal attention a lot. What can I say, I’m selfish. But I figure if this is something I’m doing I might as well do it on a more personalizes level if I can. I’m still waiting to hear back from the studio to see if I can do that. But I don’t think it should be a problem at all since this week was the first day of the series for both classes and I did both it should be no problem to just change the day I go to class. 

Also it doesn’t hurt that that Thursday class has my friend in it. Actually that helps a lot. Not that the girls in my class today were not nice, it is just kind of hard for me to make friends while I’m still feeling super self-conscious. Being with a friend just completely takes away the self-conscious part and then I can just have fun and learn and work out. 

Spins I know how to do now:

-Closed front hook spin

-Fireman’s spin (and about 3 variations of)

-Prep work for fan legs (that one I’m not strong enough to do yet, but I am working on it)

-Open back hook spin

-Girl on top

And to finish things off Sephy’s inspiration corner!

So today I arrived to class a little early so I was just hanging out. One of the poles was a little weird so the owners husband was fixing it and the owners little girl was dancing with one of the pole’s. I’m not sure how old this girl was but I swear she could be no older the 5 or 6 and she was amazing. Just in her party dress climbing the pole (her mom and her dad had to tell her sever times “Not to high!”) and inverting and spinning and it was just amazing to watch. I congratulated her, saying that she could teach me a lot, and asked if her mommy taught her and she was a little shy but told me “No” and went on dancing and her dad chuckled “I think she just learned by watching her mom.” And at this the little girl who had been in the middle of a trick stopped mid trick and looked at her dad and in all the seriousness that only a 5 year old can have, said “No, dad, I watch her and then see how to do it in my mind and then I do it. My mind teaches me to dance.” And I think my jaw dropped to the floor.  From the mouths of babes, I swear. She just went back to dancing but it gave me something to think about all throughout class. Because I think it is just as simple as that, and just as hard.  

My First Class – Into To Pole!

So today was my first class! I swear I’m still buzzing from the excitement! I had so much fun! And aside from almost missing the studio because they just moved into the location an do not have a big lighted sign up I think it went great! (but I am also bad at reading, mostly I found it beacuse my other friend was in open pole before out class and I saw her car out front)

As I think I said before I was lucky to have a friend of mine, Tausha, joining me. And it was just us and the teacher, Jeanette, who was just amazing. the class description on the Vertical Fusion site is:

"Curious about pole dance fitness? This is the workshop for you! This workshop is designed for individuals who have never experienced pole dance fitness before. This workshop will start with a brief pole orientation, followed by a warm-up and light conditioning segment to prepare you for the basic pole moves, spins, transitions, and floor work to follow. The instructor will help you string the moves together for a flirty routine sprinkled with hip rolls, hair flips, and maybe even some booty shaking! The class will conclude with a full body stretch and an opportunity to ask questions. This class is for everyone and anyone—previous dance experience is not required. Completion of Intro to Pole is required to move on to Beginner Pole Technique."

And look at that studio! It's beautiful! (and this is just the pole room, there is a whole other room without poles for all kinds of dance practice) they are still working on it, but right now they have 5 45mm chrome poles and 1 50mm chrome pole and are planning on installing 2 more 50mm poles in another row. It felt a bit empty with just the three of us in there, but the warm environment more then made up for the lack of bodies.

Jeanette was great, and I swear she spoiled us with praise (actually one time she started to shout at me that I was doing amazing and I lost my concentration and fell a bit, we laughed and she promised to wait until I was finished with the move before yelling at me again, lol) and she was more than willing the give us each the individual attention we needed. I loved working with her and she was great about helping us through the issues we were having. She gave Tausha many different tips and tricks to help her get more momentum in her spins and was more than supportive that even though I was not quite strong enough to hold myself up off the floor during the spins that when I took my feet off the floor that I fell slowly and pretty.  It’s not just falling, its falling with style.*wink*

 

We learned so many things! I swear I am going to forget half of them before my next class, but I guess that is the reason you go to class, right?

Towards the end of the class we strung together all the moves we learned into a little dance, which Jeanette was kind enough to write on the mirror for us so that we could remember easily.

 For those who you who can’t read that because reading things written on mirrors is hard, and even harder when that writing is photographed it says:

Walk, Girl on Top, Flamingo, walk, pirouette (one of my favorites!), straddle slide, walk, closed front hook (to the floor), hair flip, girl on top into open back hook (to the floor – my other favorite!), back-bend,  2 floor moves (we did speed bumps and hip circles), roll , tick tock x1, cricket  x1, straddle x1, goddess rising, roll, pop up, walk to pole,  and tango dip.

I don’t remember the song we danced to but I think it went very well! I only messed up one or two times and luckily there was enough forgiveness in the song for me to fix myself (gracefully! Like I meant to do it) and be back on track with the other girls. 

At the end of class we were told that we have now both graduated into beginning pole and can start to take any classes that have the beginner key word. And I have to say I LOVE how Vertical Fusion celebrates with you when you graduate! For every level you progress they give money in your name to their internal Pole Scholarship (Poling It Forward) which helps those on hard times afford to get to Pole class and one dollar to one of their preferred local charities (6 in Fort Collins and 6 in Longmont). So when you leave into they donate one dollar to Poling It Forward and one dollar to the charity of your choice in your name($1 to each after into, $2 to each after beginner, $3 to each after intermediate and so on).  I chose the Fort Collins HumaneSocity and Tausha chose to donate to SAVA. Both of which are very worthy charities. And almost as good, you get to pose for a sassy photo for them to post on their Facebook page.

I'm on the right, in all black. and that's my Tausha on the left! I'm so proud of us! Even if it appears that I forgot to point my toes for the picture! I swear I had been so good about that in class!

Over all I’m stoked to learn lots more and can’t wait for my next class!

And I have to say, I’m even proud of the minor pole burn I have on the top of my left foot ^.^