A new take on an old skill

For a few years now I have been doing the front of house and ticket sales for a bunch of my friends who have a dance troupe that started out of the Macquarie Uni musical society. Most of the girls have been dancing since they were the age of three, and a couple of the girls did pole dancing, so the next show - Alice in Wonderland - had a a pole.

As I watched that show, I watched in awe as the girls manoeuvred up, down and around the pole. I knew at that point that it was something I wanted to do. I'd never done any dancing before, but I thought the worst that could happen was I was terrible and I quit.

It has almost been two years since my first pole dancing class, and I love it! I even invested in my own pole which I have (somewhat illegally) installed in my bedroom at home.

In recent times I've realised I want to do more and learn more, so I get better quicker. My studio is fantastic, they are fitness focused (no heels thankfully) and the instructors are amazing, and the skills I'm learning are fantastic, but I've always been clunky when it comes to being graceful and actually being able to "dance." I'm very comfortable where I am right now, so the only way I'm going to get any better is to challenge myself more.

I was perusing some deals website a few weeks ago and saw a $29 deal for four introductory pole and burlesque classes at a studio in Chatswood, so I decided I had nothing to lose and booked myself in.

The first week was focused purely on the burlesque side, where we learnt a little Betty Boop routine involving a chair. It was relatively easy. A few poses mixed in with a little bit of walking. Even though the music was fun, the routine was a little bit boring, and though I'm not a dancer, I felt even I could master more skill than that. Then they asked everyone if they wanted to try it on heels.

I'm not a big heels person, and the hardest choreographed dancing I've ever done in heels is the Nutbush and the Macarena, and even those are a struggle sometimes. The heels they had at the studio were a ridiculous height, and when I stood up I felt like a giant. Going through the routine again was next to impossible. I managed to stay upright for the whole thing, but there were a couple of trips into the chair, and many wobbles. It was definitely a challenge.

The highest heels I've ever worn

I missed the second week of burlesque due to other commitments, so I just had the intro to pole to go. I didn't know what to expect with the intro class. I thought it would be a few basic skills and I'd leave bored. After all I learnt beginner skills 2 years ago.

I was surprised at just how difficult I actually found it. I'm used to using 35mm poles and so the 50mm pole hardly fit my whole hand around it, and was slippery chrome that was nearly impossible to grip to.

I also learnt different and harder ways of doing different skills, and one spin that I'd never done anything like before.

While I probably won't go back there again, as the studio was small and I didn't like the poles. I did realise that I need to work on my strength a lot more, especially on my much neglected left side if I do ever want to progress at my own studio, and It has motivated me to experiment more with my own choreography at home. In terms of the heels, I'm not sure how I feel about them at this point. If I ever decide to try them again i'll definitely need to learn to walk first!

Pole & Burlesque Intro 5/10