I’ve been reflecting a lot on my pole journey lately, especially with talking with other students in the Annual Show and getting to watch all the different level routines. It’s so fun to watch everyone and recognize other dancers from previous years, or see the women I was in a routine with last year and watch them perform with a new group of women! I really love how close the show makes us. But like I said before, it’s made me reflective and reminisce about my early times in pole. Especially when it came to getting into Advanced level 1 and level 2 pole.

Remembering back to when I entered level 1, I was super excited for it. I would finally get to invert, start to learn cooler moves and transitions! I was pumped! However, I didn’t realize that when I moved up to level 1, there were women in that class that had been in that level for a little while and others that also just moved up to that level with me. I was used to being with the same women from my beginner and intermediate classes and most of us moved up together. I was intimidated by the women who knew what they were doing in that class or doing moves that were new to me but were deemed “easy” by them. 

The instructor would give us combos and moves to work on but after they showed it, we had to work on them independently as they went around the class to help and spot us on inverts. I was so used to following the instructors from beginner and intermediate that working on moves on my own felt very foreign and I was extra self conscious for some reason. I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty sure I stood around a lot of classes at first just looking at other women doing the moves and trying to comprehend what they were doing cause I didn’t know what I was doing. It took a lot of time to get comfortable with practicing on my own or asking the other women around me how to do something if they knew how to do the move or sequence. 

After being in the advanced and up levels for about 2 years now, I’ve grown more comfortable with “independent study” in class. It’s helped me grow on my pole journey, and I’ve gained a lot of self confidence from doing it too. I feel more comfortable when I’m at practices, or in classes while the instructor is going around helping with the spotted move. It’s something I had to actively work on and tell myself it was okay because I was so used to the structure from beginner and intermediate and even when I used to be in dance classes growing up. The studio has a way of making everything and everyone so comfortable that it’s okay to go at your own pace in class, because everyone learns at different speeds and levels. Give yourself grace and remember, you showed up to class in the first place! You’re going to do some badass stuff no matter what.