Polestars Pole Dance Taster

Polestars Pole Dance Taster

07 October, 2008
by: ChloeM

Once only seen in seedy strip and lap dance clubs, pole dancing is now a practice enjoyed in gyms, dance studios and at home.  Probably the sexiest way to publicly burn calories and improve strength and muscle tone, it’s no surprise that pole dancing is such a fitness craze.

Polestars have taught over 60,000 students in the past five years, and having already taken one of their their Can Can class, I was ready to move on to pole-dancing.

Stepping into the class, we are welcomed by a very friendly, bubbly instructor named Melissa. Melissa pole dances for fitness and fun, and such enthusiasm for the pole has to be seen to be believed. Having been dancing for just under three years, she is not only instructing but is also about to compete in Miss Pole Dance UK 2008 at the Scala. We watch her performance in complete awe, and are already hooked.

She has us introduce ourselves, and then we get started on a thorough and much needed warm up. Plenty of stretches, and then a few strength building sit-ups, press-ups and tricep dips later, and we are ready to go.  Melissa demonstrates what we will be learning - on our first encounter with a pole we’ll be spinning, arching, and climbing our way around it.

She soon calms our nerves by breaking down the moves into simple steps, and in our small groups everyone is soon helping and advising each other, as we take it in turns on the pole. Some are initially a bit pole shy, or grab it too hard, but after a few minutes of practise we all are able to ‘hang tough’ - holding the pole with both hands, with the body away from the pole, sliding gracefully down to the floor.

We progress to moves where we really have to throw ourselves into it for enough momentum to spin, and tossing hair back at the final arched move is obligatory. The ‘carousel’ is particularly fun – wrapping legs around the pole and spinning down.  We put the moves together and combine them with some simple hip rolls, body waves, leg dips and gyrations.  All this bumping and grinding makes us giggle, but as we become more confident, we realise that it is actually quite sexy. We individually show the whole sequence to the class, and many of us can’t wait to show it off later to our friends, pets or lovers.

For those who struggle at fitness or dance classes that require learning lots of sequences with speed and co-ordination, pole-dancing is very appealing.  It’s a solo dance that focuses on technique, and carrying out individual moves at a slow pace and then combining them in a freestyle order.  Buying and installing a pole to practise at home is easy, and Melissa has plenty of advice for budding dancers about the best way to go about this.

Pole-dancing can involve supporting the entire body weight with just the arms or stomach muscles, so it’s easy to see how pole dancing is as beneficial as weight lifting.  Actually, my arms ache more the next day than my usual session in the weights room; and hitting the pole rather than the bar is a lot more glamorous and female oriented. Pole-dancing is great to tone and define rather than build muscle, as well as strengthening the core muscles without doing a single ‘plank’. Melissa explains that pole-dancing tones the arms, thighs and buttocks, and having dropped from a size 12 to an 8 from pole-dancing, her physique is the shining example. I am sold and have already signed up for the six-week beginner course.

Find out more about Polestars classes, or read my Can-can review and watch my Moulin Rouge performance.  Want to find out more about sexy dance classes or other great events in London? Why not register with Spoonfed?

ChloeM