A New Ballet Class (and How I'm Better at Starts than Follow Through)

I love beginnings, from opening a fresh jar of coffee to starting a new knitting project.  There is something very special about beginnings. They are full of potential.

Spring is really starting to ramp up and with labour weekend coming up its the traditional time of year to get out in the garden and get things started.

Last week I signed up for a new ballet initiation course at the Auckland Academy of Adult Ballet (AAAB).  I did a few beginners ballet classes on my lunch break back in 2014 (blogged here) at a different dance studio but the experience at this new studio is very different and I prefer it.

//From AAAB website

Before the first class we were sent an email with guidelines for what to wear (1. comfortable workout clothes like leggings and a t-shirt 2. socks or ballet slippers) and we were advised to wear hair in a bun.  This is to allow the teacher to keep check on our posture and positioning and help correct errors.

On the night we were met at the entrance by our teacher and as the others arrived we got to meet our fellow class participants.  The only thing we had in common was that we were all female as there was a variety of heights, shapes & sizes, ages, ethnicities, abilities, etc. 

We got given an induction pack that included a headband and a car sticker - nice touches I thought - and the head/owner introduced herself and talked over the contents of the pack including how to access all the instructional videos at home! I've since used these videos and it great for at home practise and remembering arm positions and what tendu means!

The first class was very basic, but I very quickly remembered from 2014 just how deceptively difficult it is.  Only in ballet can standing up straight be such a workout and then moving the arms overhead be such a core workout!

//From AAAB Instagram (not my class)

And we were given homework!  We have 2 different exercises that we have to do every day and I get the feeling that this will grow in time.

I left feeling great and slightly taller :D

//A terrible picture of me

It was the next day that I had found my 5 year plan that I had written in 2014 and I was so saddened to see that I had not made any progress on any of my health and fitness goals - although, I did make lots of progress but then I stopped and now I'm right back where I started.  The worst part of ballet class was seeing myself in the wall length mirror and I was actually surprised at how large I am - my internal vision of myself just doesn't match up with what I see.

My goals are still valid and achievable, but while I'm really good at starting, I'm less good about seeing it through.  I've looked through this blog at all the things I've started and I am embarrassed that I am no further forward.  I even considered starting a new blog because there's only so many couch-to-5k blog posts that could be seen as acceptable on one blog, but that would just further enforce the pattern.

So its time to start again - start everything again - and this time the focus is on sticking with it and seeing it through so that maybe next year, when my 5 year plan is up I will actually have achieved, or at least be pretty close to achieving, my goals.

Ballet Class

I have now had 2 ballet classes and I’m really enjoying them.  It is deceptively hard work though.  The movements we do are quite small, but deliberate and we repeat sequences a few times.  We get to shake out our legs and arms before moving on to the next section and it’s surprising how much tension has built up.  At first I thought it was just me because I’m quite out of shape but I looked around the room and all of us were reaching for our water bottles and towels to pat down our sweaty faces!

Today we did a short sequence from Coppélia which the RBNZ will perform in Auckland in May.  It was quite a lively piece and fun to try even if I did fall over my own feet a few times!

We had quite a few more women in the class this week and one man.  My class buddy who also goes to one of the evening classes says there are quite a few men at the evening classes.  This really pleases me and helps counteract some of the gender policing nonsense I hear.

My goal is to have a go at dancing en pointe and from what I have read, it will take at least a year of practice before I’m ready for that, maybe even much longer but it looks so beautiful I will give it my best shot.

Intermediate Pole Dancing Graduation

Ok, I'm finally getting around to posting up my intermediate pole dance routine. The video's a bit rubbish since I filmed it myself and I managed to cut the top off everything and the routines a bit rubbish since it was totally last minute. But I did it and amazingly I passed so here you go:

Holliewood's Pole Dance Routine

I’ve become a pole bore!

Pole Dancing. It's all I talk about now and I'm really sorry to all the people I bore senseless yapping on about it.

After I finished the beginner course I signed up for the intermediates, but it's been postponed and is now due to start on the 12^th May. So I decided to buy a DVD to keep me going and I ordered Pole Peoples The Art of Pole Dancing Vol 1 and Vol 2. But my back luck continued and they are currently out of stock of Volume 1 but that should arrive by the end of the month.

They've sent me Volume 2, which is for the more advanced dancers and it looks awesome but it's made me aware of how much strength and flexibility is needed to really do these moves. I've done a couple of the ones I can do and I'm still learning how to make them look good.

I've also been trying to go upside and I've been pestering my colleague who knows a teacher to drill her for some tips on how to go upside down and bless her, she really pulled through. (I can now get upside down, but immediately start sliding and can't figure out how to stick!)

Again, loads of core strength and flexibility is needed to get it right so I attempted to go to a Yoga class, but as is my luck, it's postponed for 2 weeks and I've signed up for a Pilates class that starts next week (hopefully!).

Most of the time I'm learning or practising pole tricks. I'm also working on a new dance routine because it's really fun to do. I've been doing a bit of jogging for about 20 – 30 minutes a couple of times a week and some core work, just not enough I think!

I'm thinking about making a video catalog of the pole tricks and moves that I can do.

Anyway, I'm really aware that I've become a pole bore but I'm trying to correct this!

My Pole Dance Routine

Yay! I completed my pole dancing beginners course. For graduation we had to put together a routine to showcase all the moves we learned and below is the video of my routine.

I picked AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long to dance to because it's a great song to dance to and I hope you think I did a decent job at fitting my dance moves to the music. For my costume I choose a school girl outfit as a nod to Angus Young. It was a bit nerve wracking dancing to an audience too but in some ways the whole experience reminded me of the (very) old days when I was in the majorettes.

I'm already selecting my song and costume for my next routine - this is so much fun!



I realise with the AC/DC soundtrack and the aussie flag in the background you maybe confused so I just want to clear this up:

Ya Wee Dancer!

I'm about to complete the beginners pole dancing course. It's been great fun and hard work; very hard work at times, so much so that my muscles were shaking with fatigue, but it's been great learning something new that's so different.

I excitedly tell people about my new activity and try to describe the athleticism, strength and agility that I, yes *me* somehow, I managed to pull it off and do a wonderwoman into dizzy first time and almost no one gets it first time!

But sadly I say "pole dance" and some people hear "sex industry".

I expected a few people to poke fun a little bit in a friendly banter way, and I can laugh along with that, but others go too far. They audibly make assumptions about my sex life, some confuse pole dancing with stripping and lap dancing, others inappropriately ask me how much my husband enjoys my pole dancing and someone even suggested to a male colleague that I perform at his bachelor party!

These comments are often embarrassing for me but it also belittles what I'm actually doing. I'm fairly certain that if they ever tried pole-dancing they would soon realise that it's not just doing a sexy strut around a pole, I work hard to learn the spins and moves and some of them are complicated and others just hurt (have you ever pulled your body weight up a vertical pole and then wrapped your legs around it and let go?).

Because I get wound up and frustrated by the sole focus on the sexy side of pole-dancing I tend to argue to these people that pole-dancing is not sexy and instead is a vigorous strength and endurance workout. And this is true, I've certainly received lots of comments and compliments about how much trimmer I'm looking, but I should not deny the sexy side of pole-dancing.

Dancing is sexy.

Throughout history dancing has been used for a whole bunch of things and sex is part of that. Even cave people used it as a means of wooing a mate and things haven't changed much (been to a night club recently?)

For graduation I have to put together a routine to showcase all I've learned. I'm going to embrace the sexy side of pole-dancing and if I can pull off those gymnastic moves and still look alluring and confident then I'll have accomplished something to be proud of.

A New Activity

I decided to try something a little different last night, to break out of my comfort zone. It's something that I've wanted to try for a while – Pole Dancing!

After a quick Google search I found Pole Hunnies and got in touch with them.

I roped in my niece and we both went to a taster class to see what it was all about. I wasn't sure what to expect. There were two instructors one was average height and very lean, the other was short like me and told us she was 14 stone (89kg). The shorter girl had an injury (not from pole dancing!) that meant she wasn't supposed to demonstrate any of the moves (she did show us one though). The other girl did most of the demonstrating and she wore ordinary workout wear that I would wear to the gym – except for her amazing flashing high heels of course!

There were about 8 of us in the class and we started with walking around the pole to get comfortable. We then learned a few moves, a couple of different spins called Fireman and Dizzy and then we learned how to put it all together as a routine.

Most of the time we were either concentrating on what we were trying to do or laughing at ourselves doing what felt like ridiculous things. It certainly wasn't at all sexy! It was however, a huge amount of fun and gave me a laugh. And even though every muscle in body aches today, I'm going to sign up for more classes – I just need to come up with a Pole name ???