No not really a figure skater on ice…. That would be a whole new challenge of grace and balance!
What I mean by Figure Skater is the elegant pole spin that resembles a figure skater spinning on ice. I have been working on this spin for the last two and a half years! Figure Skater requires some flexibility to get your hip in front of the pole to complete the spin. I was always able to get my hip in front of the pole using the standard bracket grip to hold on the pole, but when transitioning my hips to the front of the pole my lower hand would always get trapped between my inner thigh and the pole. While my hand was trapped, I always tried to yank it out, it pinched like crazy!!!!
This is what a bracket grip looks like for those of who may not know what it looks like or may have forgot.
I have desensitized my inner thighs A LOT, but there is only so much pinching an inner thigh can take. Essentially I could get into the move but never complete the spin.
This week in class we learned how to Aerial Transition into Figure Skater using a twisted over head grip! I had always tried Figure Skater from standing on the floor. I had never seen a Figure Skate executed from in the air. It was like my brain exploded with this amazing brand new idea!!! I could definitely do an aerial transition! I side climbed up the pole, transitioned my hips in front of the pole like I was about to do a Tinker Bell, switched my hands to a twisted over head grip, swung my left leg around the pole so that the pole was running along my left inner thigh. I let go with the lower hand of my twisted over head grip and viola! I was in a figure skater!!!!!!
I was so excited I hopped off the pole gave a YAHOO and even did a little dance! FINALLY I WAS ABLE TO DO A FIGURE SKATER! This move was so difficult for me in the past and all I need was a different way to transition into the spin!
After successfully completing Figure Skater a number of times, I started playing around with it. I came up with a spin combination of Side climb, Figure Skater, Angel, and then to a descending Ribbon. It’s not the smoothest, but I couldn’t wait to share this HUGE accomplishment of mine with you!
CHRISTMAS SHOW UP DATE!!!!
T-MINUS 4 WEEKS TILL THE CHRISTMAS SHOW!!!
Here is your Christmas Show Picture Sneak Peak! What are student Sarah and student Lacy up to?
Last Week our Christmas Show group met on at Saturday practice! Talk about a busy bustling place! Aerial Dance was just booming with ladies trying to prep for the Christmas Show. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in quite some time. While our group worked on our routine, we perfected some parts and made some minor tweaks to others. The hour again seemed to just absolutely fly by! Time flies when you are having fun! 🙂
I been working really hard on my part of the routine and am getting really excited! It is starting to come together and I am becoming more fearless in my sad girl drop! I can almost take it too the floor! The biggest obstacle I have is trying to invert with another student who is also almost six feet tall like myself. We are working hard not to kick each other in the face.I am hoping that we can make our inverts work because it looks awesome with the rest of the ladies!
This coming Saturday my Christmas show group will be having a private practice!!!!!! Did you know that this was even an option?!?! Yes you can for a fee and scheduling with the amazing Paula, you can sign up and have a private lesson with an instructor. This is awesome! It will just our group and Instructor Meegan. I have a feeling that a lot our routine will be locked down after this practice. We will be all together and able to really run through each section of our song. It is going to be great!
I can’t wait to share with you how our private practice goes!
Until Next Time!