The Beginning of My Journey
I have been pole dancing for just over four years now and it is one of the only fitness programs that I have actively stayed with since I was in high school. Granted, since COVID hit there has been minor set backs with the shutdown and getting sick quite frequently. Five plus years ago, I never thought I would have taken the steps to get into my intro class, but one of my old coworkers insisted I go with her. That first day was all I needed before I signed up for a full-blown membership and continued my journey. I started off strong with pole, getting into any workshop or extra class that I could… and that is when I discovered hoop. I felt like I could touch mountain tops! Being able to string together a short combo was invigorating, but then they would get us to add some spin in there. I felt like a whole new me once I practiced hard… bruises and all. On top of a pole studio, the studio offers aerial arts. Hoop is still my favorite along with pole, but it has been a minute since I have been able to get into a class! It is always nice to go in and spend some time with our instructors, plus they always will accommodate the combos if you can’t hit a move right away! One of my favorite things about the studio would have to be that the instructors are always evolving in their skill set—whether it is active flexibility or playing on new apparatuses that could possibly become a part of our studio! On top of seeing my own progress, I love watching my peers and instructors continue to push their own boundaries and learn new skills! Also, seeing girls move up to their first advanced class and seeing the undying support from everyone else in the room is a whole new vibe. Another thing that is pretty great about our studio is we are given several opportunities to show off our skills. In April, the studio puts on the annual Student Showcase where students can choreograph their own routines and perform solo or in a group. As soon as outdoor activities start to pick up, we start performing in events around in the community. Then in the middle of summer, students start to prepare for the Annual Show. This show is choreographed by instructors and performed by students. There is not a dull moment to be had. Start your journey at Aerial Dance! Whether it’s pole, hoop, or any of our other ways for a fun workout. There are classes for everyone!
Taking a Break is Hard. Coming Back is Harder
I know that these blogs are typically positive in nature, and I promise I will get there. It cannot be stressed enough how important mental health can be. The past 4 months have been absolute torture on me. Just before life threw as many curve balls at me as it could, I signed up for the annual show (I know it was ages ago but every woman who preformed was absolutely gorgeous and killed it!). When life started throwing punches, every inch of me wanted to step back from the show. I told my husband repeatedly that I couldn’t do it, but he encouraged me to not quit. Show day came and went and boy am I glad that I stuck with it! It was a nice break from everything else going on. I never thought about what came after. I went to a few classes after the show, and I slowly realized I was doing more early canceling than showing up. It has been about a month and a half since I’ve taken a class and I plan to return to my regular pole class Monday. Let me tell you something… I am terrified! Can I still do it? Is all my strength gone? Will I remember to engage? What if I fail? As I sat here today thinking about writing this, I’m slowly realizing that I have nothing to be afraid of. I know that the second I step foot in those doors I will be at home again. I will be welcomed with open arms and I know it’ll feel like I was never even away. Will I have to rebuild some strength? Absolutely! But it will come back in time. Will my first day back be a struggle? I have no doubt in my mind, but I will show up and I will do amazing! I cannot wait to see everyone again. If I’ve learned anything from writing these blogs about Aerial Dance it is that I never should have stepped away in the first place. It is my happy place! My break from life and everything that happens, and I wish it didn’t take writing some blogs to remember that. But I remember now, and I am so excited to be going back. Whether you’re returning from a break or joining us for the first time, there are classes for everyone!Check out a pole, aerial, or fitness class today!
Just a Little Spoiled
Ladies, we are spoiled!! I think a lot of us take for granted how lucky we are to have Aerial Dance in our lives. They do so much to make sure we have a safe and inviting place to come and workout, socialize, and just plain have fun. First off, the amount of work that our instructors put in each week. For most of them this is a part time job. They make it so much more than that. They train for hours each week, and they put their heart and soul into writing classes for us. They are constantly learning new tricks and bringing in outside help. Since I’ve been coming to Aerial Dance (roughly 6 years) the knowledge has grown so much. Aside from learning new tricks, they also learn new ways to help us build strength and flexibility. Take the next opportunity you have to let your instructors know how much they are appreciated (we all love you!). Second thing that we are spoiled with are the amount of extra classes we are given the opportunity to take. There are so many amazing and unique workshops! It was just Valentines Day and the workshops for that all sounded so amazing and fun! If you haven’t noticed when the instructors have a guest teacher come in to teach them, we almost always have a chance to take classes with these people! Now I don’t know how other studios do things, but this doesn’t sound like something most places would offer. So next time you see one of these in the class options, take it! I’ve regretted missing opportunities to learn things from these workshops! We have a book club and a lending library! These are even more opportunities to learn new things and to socialize and get to know your fellow aerialists. I’m not into doing competitions personally but we have a competition team! If you’ve ever thought about competing definitely look into this. We have a sisterhood fund. It’s a program paid for by other students (or people who donate at events) and these funds are used solely to help students who are struggling so they don’t lose their memberships. I doubt that I’ve even scratched the surface of everything we are offered. I’m positive I speak for all of us when I say thank you to everyone at Aerial Dance. We appreciate you, and everything you do! Learn more about Aerial Dance’s Book Club and Sisterhood Scholarship!If you are interested in Aerial Dance’s competition team, email us at info@aerialdancepoleexercise.com!
3 Minutes of Fame and Glory – Terrified to Addiction
My very first Aerial Dance show performance. I was so scared and nervous to take the stage, as most of us are our first time. But for me I just had to make it worse by becoming Darth Maul. I painted my face and even wore colored contacts for the first time. I don’t recommend doing anything for the first time on show day. Always practice everything including the routine in your makeup and outfit. Honestly, it’s one thing to be nervous to go on stage but to specifically make yourself stand out was something else because as soon as people saw my face paint I knew I was going to be the center of attention. It wasn’t until after the show that I realized I thrive on the feeling. I think I took a bit of inspiration from Yoda’s quote “Do or do not. There is no try.” This quote is a simple lesson in commitment and the power in giving something our absolute all. Do not just try it, give it everything you’ve got and don’t give up until you’ve succeeded. I had to learn moves above my current level for this routine, but I didn’t shy away from them. I put myself to the test and worked so hard to get them because our instructor believed in us and it’s always easier to believe in yourself once someone else has believed in you first. To calm my nerves I was making lots of jokes and taking lots of photos cuz I mean Darth Maul eating chicken wings?! Darth Maul putting on fake eyelashes?! That’s pretty funny in my eyes! Overall though, the most helpful was my fellow performers, my Aerial Dance friends. Because many of them had done this before they had so many great tips and were great at reassuring me everything was going to be epic. “The only way the audience will know or care if you mess up is if you run off the stage mid performance”. In the end, the performance on that stage in front of a huge crowd was actually our best performance. Of all the run-throughs in dress rehearsal and the months of practice, show day was the best and I left that stage feeling like a million bucks. The adrenaline rush and the feeling of “We did it!” quickly became an addiction and I could not wait to sign up for the next show! Performing has really become one of my favorite things about Aerial Dance even though I was so scared in the beginning I almost didn’t do it. I am so glad I did sign up because we will never know our greatest passions if we just never step out of our comfort zone and try! Students at Aerial Dance have many opportunities to perform! Become a student today and join us on stage!Not sure what classes to take? Try Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial!
I am a Dancer!
When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a dancer. In fact, I dreamed of finding anything I was good at physically. I played every sport in elementary school through high school, but none of them was really my “thing.” For some reason though, dance was always in the back of my mind. Maybe it was the costumes. Perhaps it was the floaty, dreamlike feeling I got when I watched performances. Full disclosure though, I think it was just my admiration for an older cousin of mine (who was a phenomenal dancer). I wanted to be just like her: athletic, beautiful, and kind. At three years old, my mom signed me up for a gymnastics class and a kiddie tap/ballet class. I had only one recital and then it was no more. I think my mom decided that the cost of studio time combined with driving an hour to classes far outweighed any potential I would ever have. While this sounds kind of harsh, I don’t blame her for thinking that. For one, I did miss the cue to change from the starting position (which was in a ball, on the ground) to the actual dancing part of my one and only recital I had as a child. Somewhere video evidence of this still exists. And in addition to that, I’ve always been terrified to do anything in front of crowds. What’s funny though is that I remember swinging around a pole that was in my grandparents’ basement. I was probably no more than ten years old at the time. Of course, it was just a structural support beam, but still. That didn’t matter to me. Then, in 2019, I danced in my first show with Aerial Dance. It sounds corny, but that day changed the trajectory of my life. I was extremely nervous – I was dancing with someone who, prior to deciding we would do our number together, I had never even met. Naturally we spent months preparing and practicing. I spent literal months worrying about this performance. Eventually though, there comes a point before a performance when you’re as ready as you’re ever going to be. Leading up to the performance I was a wreck, until the moment I stepped on the stage. And then something happened. It all disappeared. All the fear and the nerves and the stomach churning just disappeared. After our number, I spent the rest of the show sobbing (to the point where my false eyelashes all but disintegrated). Not because I screwed up or choked and ran off stage, but because I was so proud. Until then I had never felt like that in my whole entire life. From then on I was hooked. Being a student at Aerial Dance has given me so much. Confidence, social time, body positivity, and a hobby are all on the list, but there’s more. I now can say, with pride, something that I wanted to be able to say for my whole life: I am a dancer. Students at Aerial Dance have many opportunities to perform! Become a student today and join us on stage!Not sure what classes to take? Try Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial!
A look back at my experience competing in pole
Competing in pole or any other aerial apparatus is an awesome challenge and an incredible opportunity for personal growth. However, is it for me? I am still trying to figure that out. I’d like to share my experiences with you as a way to reflect and perhaps to help me answer this question. I have always loved to dance. I used to love to sing and act. In fact, as a child I begged my dad, a single parent, to drive me 30+ miles to audition for children’s theatre productions over and over again in hopes that someday I would be discovered as a prodigy and be the youngest Academy-award winning actress in history. Auditioning and being on stage has never made me very nervous—maybe excited nervous, but not terrified nervous. However, in very little time at all, I realized I was much too sensitive for the competitive world of child acting, even when I’d win the part. I never played sports competitively growing up and my only other experience in competition was auditioning for high school musicals, none of which I’d ever earned a lead role, and participating in regional solo and ensemble events. Again, I realized I was too sensitive for the constructive criticism that accompanied such events. Fast forward to my life as an Aerial Dancer, I very quickly learned I still loved to dance, (not sing), and act. My experiences in Aerial Dance Christmas Shows brought me so much joy. I loved the lights and the makeup and the costumes and sharing my passion through movement with others. At this time, another brave Aerial Dance sister introduced pole competitions to the studio and I thought to myself, “What a perfect outlet for me!” I envisioned pouring my heart and soul into a routine and sharing it with others, and I couldn’t help but also create a fantasy in my head where someone in the theatre would discover me and make a movie about me as a pole dancer so I could be the most beloved Academy-award winning actress to star in a movie about pole dance (This was before Hustlers). In May of 2018 after months of creating a routine incorporating all of my favorite tricks, I competed for the first time at the Pole Sport Organization’s Central Pole Championships. I performed at 8 in the morning on a Sunday to a theatre that didn’t even dim the lights filled to 10% capacity. It did not feel at all like the experiences in the Christmas Shows with a huge room of people cheering me on and flashing lights and blaring music. In Christmas show performances, I’ve tended to “black out” when on stage, losing myself and emerging post-performance in a state of euphoria. The same thing happened during my competition performance, so I have little recollection of my feelings in the moment, but I remember leaving the stage feeling proud. I ended up tying for second place, and on that day, I was happy for trying something new. Unfortunately, my oversensitive self was not prepared for my feelings post-competition. I received the judges’ feedback a few weeks after the competition and was so confused. One judge would say something that they loved that another judge would say they didn’t like. The entire thing was one big contradiction. I became very harsh on myself and my feelings from my youth of not getting the part or not getting the star first (solo and ensemble) came flooding back. I was not prepared to be subjected and to make matters worse, when I received my photos and video from the competition routine, I myself watched it with very critical judging eyes over and over and over. I allowed myself to critique every aspect of the performance which demolished my self-esteem. After that, I determined that like my dreams of being a child actress, my dreams of being a competitive or world-famous pole dancer just weren’t the right dreams for me. I focused on having fun in classes and making the most of the Aerial Dance Christmas Shows, which still brought and continue to bring me much joy. Then, in the fall of 2019, the same Aerial Dance sister who introduced us to pole competitions reached out to invite me to compete with her in doubles pole at the Minnesota Pole Competition. I was nervous to say yes since I had been so harsh on myself. This sister (Thank you, Sarah!) encouraged me to take a step forward and try again, to focus on the performance itself since I very much enjoyed that the first go-around, and to not allow myself to focus on the judges’ feedback or my place in the competition as a negative thing. Competing together was very similar to an Aerial Dance Christmas Show performance because we could collaborate and celebrate and encourage each other. The Minnesota Pole Competition took place in January of 2020. Saint Paul experienced a blizzard making travel incredibly challenging and to top it off, on the morning of our competition piece, my car was towed due to a snow removal emergency. I wasn’t able to get the car back since my husband’s name was on the title and anything else that could have gone wrong in that experience went wrong. Honestly, dealing with that mess prevented me from being concerned about how we would perform or what the judges would think. We barely had time in between phone calls with the City of Saint Paul and the tow yard to even do our makeup and get ready, so when it was time to go on stage I had no energy left for self-doubt. We took our starting positions on the pole, and again I “blacked out”, coming to afterwards as we walked off stage panting and feeling quite accomplished. We ended up taking first place in our category and first place in costumes in our category. Also, the police officer at the tow yard felt bad for us in our
