Last week I got invited by some dance class friends to attend a casual pole dancing, just for kicks. I had always wanted to try pole dancing so I agreed to join them at The Pole Gym on Friday night for a fun new experience.
Step one: dress appropriately
If you look on the website of any pole
dancing class, they ask you to wear as little as possible to the
class. Skin sticks to the pole when fabric does not, making it easier
for you to do the moves and less likely to fall in a cottony, messy
heap at the base of your exercise stick. Suggested attire is shorts;
short shorts. Hot pants-like short shorts.
Now, I don’t own any short shorts. At
least not ones I can wear around people. I have one pair that are
like thick cotton high-waisted knickers, the kind you wear around the
house on hot days when you really want to be in underwear but you
live with a housemate, not someone who regularly sees you naked.
So off to Target I went to buy cheap
exercise short shorts to pose in when dancing around a pole.
Unfortunately, boring shops like target don't offer much choice for
exercise knickers. It was teenagers' shorts, which were short enough, and had sequins!
or cut off leggings:
I opted instead for ghastly but cheap
cotton shorts that could be tucked up. Now I was prepared.
Step two: the class
After work and a potentially
injudicious glass of punch at Bacchus, I drove all the way to Lawnton
for the class at the Pole Gym. This small but high space contained a
forest of poles, mirrors and a rack of clothes for sale blazoned
with 'Invert Your Thinking' and 'Live Fast Pole Hard'. The Pole Gym
holds classes in pole dancing or pole fitness, aerial hoop and aerial
silks. There was a class on when I arrived, pole sculpt, which I was
informed by a girl in the later class was 'torture'.
The pole sculpt class. No photos of my class, firstly because I was in it, secondly because it's generally considered objectionable to take photos of pole dancing women.
The casual Pole Mania class was not
quite what I was expecting. I was expecting a fitness class and to be
taught a few moves. Instead, after a good warm up, our instructor got
straight into teaching us a routine to Michael Jackson's Dirty Diana.
It was great fun! Easy, sexy and
comfortable, not strange or awkward at all. Right up until the moment
our instructor choreographed a 'climb' which everyone could do except
for us newbies. The instructor kindly took the time to show us and we
got some helpful hints from the girls around us, like 'get your bits
right up against the pole, it's easier'. hen she called for a swing,
that was a slightly different matter. She showed us a simple twist
around the pole but it was a damn side harder than it looked! I have
a bad fear of falling. Though I am happy to throw myself around a
soccer field or on a dance floor, anything involving heights and I
am a complete chicken. This includes spinning myself around a pole
and potentially crashing to the ground a few feet away. Try as I
might I could not get up the confidence or the skill to make a swing.
Instead I just banged my legs on the pole and got a fine collection
of bumps and aches.
This casual class was an excellent
taster for someone like me who has never tried pole dancing but keen
to give it a go. It would be better suited for women who have done
the 6 week course, learnt the moves and now wanted to do the fun part
– learn a routine. The climb and the swing were a little
intimidating for a novice like me but I'd definitely go back, do the
course and then have some fun learning the routines.
If you've ever wanted to try pole
dancing I would recommend it. Even just this casual class was a fun
taster to see if it's for you. The Pole Gym has classes in Brisbane
as well as in the far north of Lawnton. It only cost $10 for the
casual class and it was a fun experience.
The aerial silks teacher warming up.
Wow. I had never been even vaguely tempted to try pole dancing until now...
ReplyDeleteI wanted to try it because there was a bit of a proliferation of classes a few years back. Never bothered to look into it too much though. It is a tremendous upper body / arm workout apparently and it is seriously impressive what some of the practised girls could do.
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