Live to Dance

For all things pole, yoga, dance & fitness

[londondanceacademy]

The one and only... Empress Stah aerial hoop course starts tomorrow at LDA studio. Check www.londondanceacademy.co.uk for bookings. Thrilled to have you part of the team Empress. #empressstah #empress #aerial #aerialskills #aerialperformance #aerialclasses #aerialhoop #circustraining #circusskills #danceclass #circusperformer

[londondanceacademy]

The Fabulous Renee performing for London Fashion Weeks Lillys designs at Kensington Roof Gardens. #poleperformance #performer #performing #dance #show #poleshow #lillysdesign #london #londonfashionweek #kensingtonroofgardens

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Image for last night LDA workshop. Circus style flexible training with guest teacher: Kristina Nekyia. #fitness #workshop #bendy #yoga #stretch #circus #circustraining #flexibility #circusstyle #kristinanekyia

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Congratulations to Makeda and Hannah for getting into UK Professional Pole Championships. #champions #poledancer #polecompetition #polecomp #polefitness #poledance #aerial #winners #polelove #lovepole

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Congratulations to LAP's Bella, winner of Miami pro comp. The team are all super proud of you! Stunning. #fitness #poledancer #fitnesscompetition #winner #bodybuilding #fitnesscoach #gym #workout

[londondanceacademy]

Happy birthday to us at LAP 10 years strong. Let's make the next 10 even better. #dance #danceschool #danceclass #classes #polelessons #pole #sport #fitness #poledance #birthday #yoga

[londondanceacademy]

Pole tricks: Closed Inside Leg Hang

After performing a basic inversion, hook your inside leg around the front of the pole and allow your outside leg to hang down and point your toes. Once you feel comfortable you can begin to let go with your hands. One at a time.(aka Scorpio)

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[londondanceacademy]

The following link is for the Pole Dance Video. Check this out!!!

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www.londondanceacademy.co.uk

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[londondanceacademy]

Pole Tricks

The handspring is one of those tricky moves – beautiful to look at, great to aim for but realistically, very hard to achieve. It is one of the few tricky moves that makes you feel like you will never get close… but you will. www.londondanceacademy.co.uk

Tips

Make sure you look to the ceiling when you invert. 

Tuck your hips under and make sure your lower back is not arched.

When you are inverted push the pole with your bottom hand and pull with your top hand.

Keep trying – everyday you will get a little closer and then one day it will all just click into place!

[londondanceacademy]

Antigravity Yoga Pilates & Aerial Yoga Membership http://londondanceacademy.co.uk/

[londondanceacademy]

Take unlimited Pole classes for 30 days for only £120 All Pole classes can be attended, including:

Beginner Inverts and Climbing Workshop*

Pole Hire*

Personal pole training*

Sexy floor work and transitions.

Sexy Pole Routine (beg-inter)*  

Pole Conditioning*

Cardio Pole and Tone.  

Pole Choreography*

Thursday and Saturday and Sunday Pole Practice*

Sexy Pole Routine (inter-adv)**  

Extreme Tricks**

Aerial pole gymnastics**

*requires level 1 Pole      

** requires level 4 pole

Book online or ask at reception.  No joining fees. Cancellations of classes require 48 hours notice.

The 30 day membership can start any day in the month and will run from your joining date.

[londondanceacademy]

Beauty and the Dirt were invited by Always Infinity to the London Dance Academy to try their AntiGravity yoga class. They are the only studio in London offering the class which is what they call a ‘fusion technique’, a bridge between fitness and traditional yoga methods. It is the latest fitness trend to hit the UK and was created by Christopher Harrison the man who co-founded dance troup Cirque du Soleil. It is a series of movements on a hammock which is said to improve your blood flow, stretch out your spine and refresh your body systems.

The bright blue hammocks we were faced with in the studio was a slightly alarming sight but I did indeed find myself hanging upside down with pretty much just my hips supporting me on this hammock, a great experience, proving your body can do amazing things if you just try. Always Infinity wanted us to try this class to show how comfortable we can be in our bodies whatever we happen to be doing whilst wearing their new revolutionary pad.

It’s one of those things we don’t like to talk about let’s face it. We keep it to ourselves, that monthly call of nature that we all want to keep as discreet as possible. Thankfully we have more options today than our Mothers when they experienced it as young women.

As I think most women will agree Always already have a product range we can trust but behind the scenes they have been researching and experimenting in order to release a revolutionary new pad to give us even more comfort and freedom. It is the most exciting Always innovation to hit the market for over 20 years. The Always Infinity product is the only pad of it’s kind in that it is made from a liquid foam to absorb liquid as opposed to fibres which most regular pads contain.

This means we have ultimate comfort and confidence at a time of the month we all dread. It makes a massive difference in terms of worrying about wearing too clingy clothes when wearing an Always Infinity pad. The new foam innovation means it just moulds to your body (like a memory foam pillow) so you barely feel it. Whether you are running around town, working out, or chilling out it works with your body’s movements and it goes back to it’s original shape with almost no bunching.

You can find out more at Always-info.co.uk. We’d love you to try the Always Infinity products too and so we have one pack to giveaway. To win simply answer the question below:

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Anti-Gravity Yoga & Ballet Barre Conditioning at London Dance Academy + Always Infinity Competiton

by Catherine Balavage

Recently I got up at 7:30am to exercise on a Saturday. Was I having a mad moment? No, I went to an Always Infinity event to do some Anti-gravity yoga and Ballet Barre Conditioning. I also had a pep talk from a life coach who also went through the benefits of Always Infinity. These include: These are the most exciting Always innovation in over 20 years and are set torevolutionise the pad. They use new-to-UK Infinicel:  while regular pads mostly contain fibres, they are made from liquid foam to absorb liquid. Impressively, they can absorb 10x their weight. They also mould to your body. I love them as they stop a period getting in the way of living your life. They are very light and comfortable. I barely feel like I am wearing them and I am very impressed with the new technology. They are like no other sanitary protection I have ever used. Full marks from me.

I also had a chat with Freya Lingerie about sports bras. They have some really beautiful bras.  I also spoke to a nutritionist who said I had a great diet, Yeah! Her only comment was that I might need more calcium.

The Anti-gravity yoga looked like the picture below, except the fabric was a lovely electric blue colour. The London Dance Academy is an excellent venue. Our instructor was amazing and said we would be doing back flips. I did not think I would be able to do this, but I did! I hung upside down and even stretched my legs out, I did a backflip and I even did the ‘chandelier’ which Pink did at the Grammy’s while singing. All respect to that woman. The chandelier is when you hang from your middle and grab your feet behind you, making a chandelier shape. I really loved Anti-Gravity yoga and would like to do it again. It really made me push myself past what I thought I was capable of and my back felt like it had been stretched out.

The Ballet Barre Conditioning was just as much fun. Our instructor was fun and super fit. I could really feel the burn and even the warm up felt hardcore.

Ballet Barre Conditioning combines ballet barre conditioning, pilates, weight training , yoga and isometric. It promotes a leaner, stretched-out look for women. It doesn’t shorten your muscles or make us look like men. Some parts of it reminded me of the Tracey Anderson Method. I definitely want to do it again. It completely works out the body and challenges you. I’m a fan.

I will definitely be doing more Anti-Gravity Yoga and Ballet Barre Conditioning.

We are running a competition to win some pads and Sweaty Betty Yoga Top and Gap Capri Yoga Pants. To win the kit in the photo below like Frost on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube Channel or newsletter. Comment below to say which one you did.

Good Luck!

[londondanceacademy]

The Always Infinity Challenge

Find out what happened when Company headed to the Always Infinity reader event at the London Dance Academy...

It’s not been in the UK for long, so when a lucky bunch of Company readers (along with fellow Zest, Cosmo and Women’s Health devotees) got the opportunity to try out anti-gravity yoga and other activities at last weekend’s Always Infinity challenge event, there was palpable excitement in the air.

Having been kitted out in their stylish Freya Active-wear (more on that later) and fuelled by a delish Alpro breakfast, everybody swapped notes on how they stayed in shape - think everything from spin classes to weight lifting to half-marathons - before hitting the studio and hoisting themselves up in the anti-gravity hammocks.

Anti-gravity yoga uses a suspended swathe of swing-like fabric to perform moves that fuses gymnastics and yoga. ‘You’ll be hanging upside down, doing handstands and even back-flips,’ explained instructor Sam Turner during her introductory demonstration on one of the slings. ‘But don’t worry - these hammocks are designed to hold the weight of a baby elephant, so they’re completely safe.’ After nailing Floating Child’s Pose, the Warrior and the Flamingo, the class finished with the Chandelier, an acrobatic upside-down move that Sam told us Pink performed at the Grammy’s whilst singing - no mean feat.

Up next? A Ballet Barre Conditioning class with Gymbox instructor Shanee Beery, who put readers through their paces with a series of intense (but elegant) exercises, all performed to a cardio-friendly mix of club tunes. ‘Lift your legs higher, it’s Saturday morning!’ Shanee chivvied, as the class began to break a serious sweat of Black Swan-intensity. ‘Are we good?’ she asked, as everybody persevered through a particularly challenging series of pliés (who knew?). It’s easy to see why the Victoria’s Secret angels swear by barre-based workouts - the exercises promote a long, lean ballerina’s physique without requiring Darcy Bussell’s level of experience.

In between studio time, there was an opportunity to chat with nutritionist Kate Arthur, who was offering her top tips for a healthy diet. ‘It’s all about getting the balance right,’ she explained, advocating a predominantly plant-based diet and emphasizing the importance of not cutting out carbs completely. ‘You’ll hit the wall if you don’t have carbs before a workout,’ she explained (tip: opt for wholegrains like brown rice for the best energy boost).

Then, it was over to the Freya Active wear station to be fitted for the perfect sports bra. ‘Everybody bar one has been wearing the wrong size today,’ the team told me incredulously, before ushering me into the booth and fitting me with a snugly fitting moulded sports bra, complete with odour-control Polygiene technology - great for time-poor women who don’t have enough hours in the week to do multiple washes between workouts. Before heading off, we were also introduced to the new Always Infinity pads, which represent breakthrough technology on the protection-front, absorbing up to 10 times their weight in liquid and boasting a barely-there, lightweight quality - perfect for the next anti-gravity yoga session.