Monday, January 27, 2014

Pole Position


I find myself in this position with some frequency.  On the defense.  It starts out innocent enough.  "So what's your weekend look like?"  Someone will ask.  "Well, schlepping the kids to basketball, robotics, birthday parties, then we're gonna squeeze in a visit to the museum and then I have a pole dance recital."      Which is where things can start to get weird.  So I just start right in to do battle with the gross misconceptions of pole dance.

First things first.  My instructor is a fifty something year old part time pastor of a church named Diane.  I'm totally not kidding.  She runs two businesses….Pole Revolution and Soul Revolution.  Again, not joking.  I'm guessing she's not the person who you first imagined. And her encouraging whole person approach is why I refer to my sessions at the studio with Diane as "pole therapy".

Second, recitals are totally and completely appropriate.  Most girls don't dance to quintessentially "sexy songs".  One of my favorite performances ever was to "Barbie Girl" where the whole dance was performed with straight barbie arms and legs.  Filled with awesomely hilarious feats of rigid strength.

I think it goes without saying at this point that no one gets topless.  And no one gets tips.  And we do not perform in bars.  Except for the rare occasional ladies night where some girls from the studio go out with our husbands/significant others in tow.  'Cept for that.

I could actually get more perpendicular with a little skin...

In fact, for some moves you can be completely dressed head to toe.  However, most advanced moves require a stickiness that can only be achieved with skin/pole contact.  Thus, requiring a certain level of skantily-cladness.  Sometimes stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.

And as I'm sure you've already gathered that pole is an excellent core/arm workout.  Not only that, but doing something you couldn't do the day before is a great sense of accomplishment.  And makes you feel all "I am woman hear me roar".

Why do I feel the need to defend people's preconceived notions of what kind of pole dance I do and why I do it?

The most important reason is because I have a pole in my house.  In my bedroom.  Only because my bedroom is huge and that was the most private place to put it.    Although, I practice my skills during the day when absolutely no one is home.  However, when my kids have friends over, they always end up in my bedroom swinging on the pole.  Cause it's fun.  But, those kids go home and have parents who ask them what they did on their play date at my house...

And that would be why I feel the need to defend my pole position.


You can now purchase my book at the gift shop at Pole Revolution 21 N. Union Blvd, Ste 201 in Colorado Springs.  Give the pole a whirl when you stop in!

5 comments:

joeh said...

I think a video would help further defend your case.

Anonymous said...

My eldest daughter (18) loves dance and having studied tap, ballet and stage for many years now only studies tap. However, she has tried pole dancing. She is exceptionally fit, with a very strong upper body. After a 2 hour pole dance workout she was exhausted. "Mum, that is the hardest I have ever worked in my entire life".

Pole dancing is amazingly hard work, well done!

Marie Loerzel said...

@ Joeh-Have videos on my Rock the Kasbah youtube account and twitter.
@opos-Yeah, had a class today and the bruises to prove it!

Leah Griffith said...

You are one badass mommy! That takes sooo much strength! I'd be dead, and then your teacher/minister could bury me. Hey...maybe that's what prompted her to combine the soul with the pole, when people keel over she can perform the burial. ;)

Marie Loerzel said...

@ Leah-Ember (the youngest) put on a "pole concert" after dinner yesterday. Wanna talk about a badass? She taught herself to invert and can spin around and do things that would make me barf!

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