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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib8tvTL3eCM)
Week one's video is up! The moves were relatively easy to do but more practice would definitely make them flow more naturally. Enjoy!
Back hook spin
Eternal pole walk
Backslide (one leg extended)
Forward pole switch
Lateral stretch
Rock and roll
Week 1 transitions (eternal pole walk, forward pole switch, lateral stretch, back hook spin, rock and roll, backslide)
December Intro to Pole Challenge - week one
Week one's video is up! The moves were relatively easy to do but more practice would definitely make them flow more naturally. Enjoy!
Back hook spin
Eternal pole walk
Backslide (one leg extended)
Forward pole switch
Lateral stretch
Rock and roll
Week 1 transitions (eternal pole walk, forward pole switch, lateral stretch, back hook spin, rock and roll, backslide)
Pole Diaries: December Pole Challenge
This December, I want to ease myself back into pole again. Looking at the Pole Dance Community (PDC) syllabus, I realized I never had a solid foundation in spins/floor work. Actually, I've never done any floor work at all. I went through Level I and picked out some items I wanted to work on. The moves I selected are ones that I deem doable each day. Hope you can join me for the challenge too!
Kaybbt's December Pole Challenge (Level I): Pole walk, slides and floor work
Back hook spin
Eternal pole walk
Backslide (one leg extended)
Forward pole switch
Lateral stretch
Rock and roll
Week 1 transitions (eternal pole walk, forward pole switch, lateral stretch, backslide, rock and roll, back hook spin)
Hollywood spin
Dip to wrap around
High hand pirouette (one hand)
A frame
Ballet hook
Floor fan kick
Week 2 transitions (Floor fan kick, A frame, Hollywood spin, High hand pirouette, Dip to wrap around, ballet hook)
Cradle spin
High hand pirouette (two hand)
Log roll
Reverse body slide
Step around
Bounce to side step
Week 3 transitions (High hand pirouette, step around, cradle spin, log roll, reverse body slide, bounce to side step)
Chair spin
Reverse high hand pirouette
Cat crawl
Side slide
Floor star
Forward body slide
Week 4 transitions (Cat crawl, floor star, reverse high hand pirouette, chair spin, side slide, forward body slide)
Pole Transitions
Floor work Transitions
Short beginner's sequence
Finally, I found an app that created this simple yet beautiful intro that I'll be using for my videos!
Aerial silks: 40ft long silks!
Went to open gym today to practice more silks. The low bay (22ft) was occupied so I was told to practice in the high bay (40ft). Holy. Crap. 40ft is extremely high up... and looks so overwhelming. My first tackle was trying to climb all the way to the top. It definitely was not easy. My friends encouraged me to keep climbing and not give up. Right climb wrap, down, left climb wrap. I swear... if it weren't for them I would've came down half way. Well, guess that was enough conditioning for the day! Anyway, I wanted to practice my cross back to straddle back balance, as well as the uneven split roll through. The video looks pretty bad... definitely need work on my climb, getting into the single silk foot locks and generally smoothing everything out. But hey, the screenshots look alright. In fact, the pictures taken from the high bay look so grandeur and epic... I'm in love <3
Straddle back balance
Uneven split roll through
Aerial or pole? hmmm...
I can't deny I love telling people 'Hey! Guess what? I joined the circus!' and then pull up my phone to show them all the cool stuff that I've learned. But there's also no denying circus is very expensive and the cost adds up if you are dedicated to get better. I've been taking classes almost everyday, so much that I should probably just set up a tent and camp there. But this session finishes at the end of December, in 5 weeks or so. The thought of it actually depresses me. Simply because I'm not sure if I can continue funding this cool, yet ridiculously expensive passion of mine. I'm considering breaking up with circus and going back to pole instead. My reasoning is... circus is and will always be an ongoing cost. There's no way I can set up a rig at home and continue practicing on my own; even if I did, I don't think I'll be able to take this to a performance level. It seems those that reach performance level are usually the ones that started gymnastics or dance when they're really young - in which I have neither. On the other hand, I can always pole:
I have a pole at home and I can always practice whenever I want
There's no other costs to pole anymore - maybe new outfits and grip
I'm not too late since most polers started as adults (hopefully?)
If only finance wasn't an issue... :(
Went through my phone to find the most recent pole pics - they're from 2 years ago and I haven't even processed them. I only have screenshots of screenshots.
Rubber pencil
Donating Hair!
You may have noticed over the years, my blog and videos show my hair between stages of shoulder length to waist length. And for those speculating, I've been donating my hair! Pantene's Beautiful Length program is a wonderful initiative that collects hair donations and makes wigs for cancer patients. What sets this organization apart is that they provide the wigs free of charge to these patients.
I started donating my hair in January 2012. Shortly after my aunt passed away from cancer, I felt the need to try and make a difference in someone else's life. At the time, Pantene partnered with several salons in the city that offered free hair cuts to those that were eligible to donate their hair. I've never had short hair since I was in grade 4 and was terrified. But the stylist did an amazing job. I felt wonderful inside out and vowed to keep donating my hair.
It's not without some minor sacrifices though. Hair donations only accept virgin hair meaning no perms, dyes or any processing. It's tempting sometimes to want to try new hair styles but I feel growing out healthy hair to help someone will bring me more joy.
For my second time donating, Pantene didn't have any campaigns with partnered salons. I contacted a few salons and asked if they would be able to provide discounts for their services and a few responded.
I decided to go with Evoke on Bloor, they had a junior stylist that would offer the cut for free. It was funny that the stylist seemed more nervous about chopping off my hair than I was. I sat mostly in silence as he meticulously shaped my hair into a short bob. He seemed very focused and I didn't want to break his concentration. I left feeling happy knowing I was donating my hair and helped a student perfect their skills even more!
Before
During
After!
12 inches of hair
Aerial Silks Transitions: knee hook to scissors
In Silks 101, we learned how to do a knee hook, and how to do scissors. As we advanced, we were challenged to make the transition between each: knee hook to scissors, then back to a knee hook.
This was more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge. First, let's review:
Right knee hook
Right scissors
Knee hook: Starting with silk on one side, straddle inversion and hook knee on the SAME side. The tail flags the body and the OPPOSITE arm is flagged.
Scissors: There are several ways to get into scissors, but ultimately, the silk wraps around one thigh, and your body is piked and tilting towards the silk. The tail should be at the hips to maintain friction.
So why is this a challenge? Because there is a significant 'drop' in the transition and you need to know how to get into your final flagged positions; which leg should be hooked, which arm should be flagged.
We spent a few classes tackling this, starting off the floor with lots of tail. But I found this really hard to work out since the body can't be in an actual knee hook or scissors on the floor - there are arches and pikes! The other problem is, even starting with a straddle inversion from the ground, you lose a lot of height in the transition that you will hit the floor in your final knee hook. (I almost landed on my head once!)
As counter intuitive as it sounds, I found it easier to start here ghee off the ground. I climb 2-3 mechanics off the floor to get sufficient height to 'drop' in this transition.
This transition took so much practice before it's become second nature. In the video, I recorded my struggles in getting this so hopefully it'll help you out!
I'm going to work on the cirque knee hook to scissors, then back to cirque knee hook next week. This transition is much easier and should be easy peasy after this one!
Aerial arts conditioning
There's no denying aerial arts is such a beautiful and graceful art form. Aerialists have a way to make their movements seemingly effortlessly smooth. Pain and struggle was never amongst the dictionary of terms. Having done pole previously, I know any type of exercise that defies gravity is hard work. Signing up for circus classes was no different, if not, much much worse. Worse in a sense that the instructors force/motivate you to do a series of conditioning before you learn new moves. I remember the first week was terrible and embarrassing since I couldn't keep up! Here is a sample of what we have to do every class:
Static trapeze: 2 sets of knee hangs for 30s, 2 sets of 10 shoulder shrugs, 1 min arm hangs (switch leg positions every 15s), 5 straddle inversions on 3 different grips (left, middle, right), 5 skin the cats (with spotter), 5 toe touches, 3 beat backs to rock and roll (x5), 5 pull overs, 5 pull ups
Aerial silks: climb to the top, come down and climb up (-2 mechanics each time), repeat 4 times with different climbs (right climb wrap, left climb wrap, switch climb, hitch climb, bicycle climb), as many straddle inversions possible in 1 min (break and repeat on other side)
Straps: 4 sets of 10 shoulder shrugs (from hanging, lifted, inverted, backward), 60s straddle inversions on 3 different grips (left, middle, right), 5 skin the cats (with spotter), 5 toe touches
Hoop: 2 sets of knee hangs for 30s, 2 sets of 10 shoulder shrugs, 1 min arm hangs (switch leg positions every 15s), 5 straddle inversions on 3 different grips (left, middle, right), 5 skin the cats (with spotter)
I personally find static trapeze and hoop to be my favourite apparatus. Perhaps the conditioning portion of the class seems much less intense and you can really see the progress you make with each class. I also suspect static and hoop to be more intuitive because they're 'solid' apparatuses and don't require too much thinking regarding how to wrap your body/limbs around it. I have a love-hate relationship with straps. This apparatus is challenging, requires more strength and a lot less feminine than other apparatuses. Hence, this is the only class where there are actually guys taking it. After 8 weeks or so, I feel I haven't learned that many tricks and skills because it is a steeper learning curve. It's also a mental challenge because the straps rub your wrists raw - yes, you usually will have no skin on your wrists after class. Aside from straps, I find aerial silks to be the most challenging apparatus so far. The conditioning REALLY tires me out early in the class especially with the climbs. The stretch in the silk also doesn't help! Sometimes I feel my climbs don't go anywhere and after a while, my forearms don't belong to me anymore. I'm also not very coordinated - my orientation is completely skewed when I am inverted and hanging such that I don't know where the silk or the tail is supposed to go. It definitely takes a lot of practice! This week though, I was able to do 10 consecutive straddle inversions on each side for my conditioning! In contrast to not being able to do a proper one on the first day, this is a drastic improvement!
Beginner silks: Uneven split roll-through
This week's trick is quite pretty, we learned the "Uneven split roll-through". You should be able to comfortably do single silk foot locks and splits before trying this.
To get into the pose, you start with single silk foot locks and make sure the locks are at your ankles. If the locks are too low on your foot, you will lose the foot lock!
Walk your hands down the silk on the side you wish to do the split.
Observe which way the silk wraps around your hind foot; you would want to turn into the silk.
Rotate your body upwards and cross the front leg over the foot lock in the hind leg. It's okay if the tail is caught.
Repeat the rotation and keep count how many times you rotated.
You will notice after 3-4 rotations, your split is now 'uneven' and hence the name of the trick.
To get out of the pose, you will rotate the opposite way you got in - away from the silk in the back foot lock. Make sure you rotate the same number of times you got in.
Dismount from single foot locks.
Good luck!
Where I've been in the past two years...
It's been a while since I posted. "A while" is more like 2 years. When I first started this blog and YouTube series, I had so much energy and motivation to keep practicing pole. I was ambitious in trying to learn a new pose every week and really wanted to be good at something. But after only 4-5 weeks, I suffered an injury from attempting a pose and never blogged again. For some reason, I never posted the video - it was painful for me to watch and I was probably more embarrassed it'll end up in a mash up of 'Epic Pole Fails' on YouTube. I haven't touched the pole since, maybe I was still traumatized from it. The pose I tried was called 'Brass Monkey'. The pose is an inversion from a reverse knee hang and had to do more with sticking on the pole than strength. For those that followed - I suffered from really dry skin, contrary to many who are too oily/sweaty. That day, I just didn't stick... and I fell. I didn't break any thing, just bruised badly and completely gave up.
Brass Monkey
During this time, I was also completing my Masters program. I made up excuses saying how I was too busy to pole, too tired from school, etc. But honestly, I was still just really scared. Half a year ago, I finished my Masters program and moved to a different part of the city to start my new job. I set up my beloved pole in the new condo, but I've never touched it. Wanting to start doing physical activity again, I looked up the community around my new home and found the Toronto School of Circus Arts. With a comprehensive aerial training program, I couldn't resist. In the summer session, I opted for beginners aerial silks classes once a week. Once that was over, I signed up for a package class and I'm going almost everyday.
First attempt at flying trapeze
I was completely obsessed with it: aerial silks, static trapeze, straps and hoop (lyra), it was my heaven! I would come home covered in calluses, raw skin, bruises, sore muscles but would feel so accomplished because I learned something new or was able to do something I couldn't last week. I was motivated to start filming again to mark my progress in circus classes.
"Skin the Cat" and "Skin the Kitten" after 4 weeks!
But just last week, I 'almost' suffered another injury. We were learning a new move in straps class called 'Hung C' which requires tremendous balance on the arms while inverting with an arch back. I wasn't sure how to dismount for the pose and basically fell out into a 'skin the cat' pose. Luckily, we've warmed up with skin the cats before and my shoulders are relatively flexible. This time, I listened to my body, and took the week off to recover. In the past two years, I've cycled through phases of being completely obsessed with pushing myself to the limits, whether it be pole or circus to ending up with an injury. This time, I'm determined to rest well and heal quickly and get back to it. I promise myself I won't make excuses to not keep trying!
Plié, tendu, pas... what?!
It's finally Monday! I have been looking forward to today since signing up for two dance classes in December. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but was excited nonetheless. For someone completely new to dance to start in a beginner's ballet class, I was a little intimidated by the new ballet language, choreography jargons and the position numbers to commit to memory. I felt a little awkward keeping my feet in 'first position' most of the time... my feet definitely does not form a straight line heel to heel, it's only a wide V at best...
Aside from the awkward poses and feeling a little out of place, I felt a little bit of triumph realizing my flexibility and balance was not as bad as I thought it would be! In the evening, I also went for my first street jazz class. Prior to signing up for the class, I wasn't exactly sure what 'street jazz' was, but today I learned it was a mix of hip hop and jazz, minus the technicalities. Or as the instructor put it, 'music video dance' with the sultry theme. A lot of the girls there knew each other from previous classes, so I was again the new loner :'( However, I was super excited when the instructor announced that we will have an opportunity to perform at the Festival of Dance this March. Surprisingly, I felt very comfortable in this class, the moves seemed easy to pick up and more natural to me. Today's not even over yet and I'm already looking forward to next Monday, something must be wrong with me right? Once I get better, maybe I can add elements of ballet and street jazz into my pole dance routines!
Back to yoga and pole dancing!
Exams and assignments are finally done... I feel extremely guilty for not doing any exercise over the past week and instead just sitting on my butt all day studying or working :( To top it off... a friend came by with TWO DOZENS of Krispy Kreme donuts. I'm not sure if I should be grateful or mad >:( Anyway, amidst the crazy study sessions, I did try a new pole move and was super happy I had the strength and balance on the first attempt! I think this week I'll focus more on combos and transitions since that has been lacking in the past few months. I present to you... the Bow and Arrow:
New Year Resolution: Sign up for dance classes... check!
Last night, I lost sleep being overly excited for the upcoming new term! (Yes, I should have been studying...)
I originally wanted to take a Jazz dance class, but the timing conflicted with my schedule for next term. I'm not exactly sure what Street Jazz is, but it promised to be a blend of Jazz and Hip Hop~ Alright, I'll do that instead! Luckily, ballet classes also fitted well with my schedule.
Now I'm super excited for Mondays in 2014!
Hmm... I feel like signing up for more classes too. Like yoga, dance fitness, and pilates :D
Pole Diaries: Week 5 - Cupid Pose & Open Knee Hold
You probably have no idea how many tears were shed this week :'( This pose is mentally demanding... it forces you to forget you have pain sensors in your knees as you pose and smile as if nothing hurts. I can't do it anymore! I would practice one day, rest one and then repeat. My knees (and the knee pits) are bruised pretty badly and I would probably not torture myself with this pose until... later. For now, I've only been able to do the cupid pose and the open knee hold while holding onto my top foot. Some day I'll work up the courage to let go, but today's not the day! Crazy week with exams and assignments coming up... probably won't be able to pole until the semester is done!
30 Day Splits Challenge: Final Results! *drum rolllllll*
It's been a tough month! Stretching everyday for more than a few minutes is definitely a challenge! In fact... I modified the challenge a bit. I found it was way to straining to stretch EVERYDAY, I had to take a day off every 3-4 days just to recover. I think after a recovery day, I was more flexible than if I tried to force myself into the splits without a break. I found ways to distract my mind from focusing on the stretch, I browsed 9gag and Reddit on my phone during my stretches and it made time fly by! I think if I had a TV, I can stretch forever and not feel my legs after :)
Final results: 30-day splits challenge
Yoga Poses: Inverted Lotus aka "The Luggage Pose"
Haven't been able to practice the same pole pose everyday of the week since it's been really hurting my knees. Decided to take it slowly to prevent injuries. In between healing days, I've been doing more yoga. I've always been comfortable doing a plough pose until one day my yoga instructor pushed me into doing an inverted lotus. At first, it was incredibly hard to balance and a little uncomfortable on the neck (since my spine/neck protrudes a bit), but I've gotten used to it. The pose is quite comfortable now, but I decided to make the video short not to you bore you all! One of my friends commented on how the final pose should be called a "Luggage Pose" since he could fit me into a luggage :P Yes, take me travelling with you!
Yoga Poses: Pigeon Variations
Felt like doing a short video on one of my favourite yoga poses, the pigeon. When doing leg stretches, I often include a pigeon pose to stretch out the muscles near the groin and butt area. The king pigeon variation is a deep back stretch, which is also something I've been working on. I just want to say, I'm not a certified yoga teacher, so I hope nobody gets hurt following the stretches mentioned in my video.