It seems that even now, pole dancing is still seen as something seedy and related to the sex industry. Pole Spin Magazine were the first to report this story.

Never-the-less all the other performers who are in the Elite category are flying into the States (hopefully without Visa problems) over the next few weeks to start their last minute training before the competition kicks off on the 14th.

Our very own “Judge Lucy” is flying out to be part of the Elite judging panel. Lucy can’t wait to meet all the American pole people she knows by reputation, but has never met! Judging competitions is a great responsibility, as Lucy knows that competitors have dedicated hours, days and weeks to their training and as a performer she knows how nerves can get the better of you.

Particularly with pole, where nerves create your sweat glands to go into overdrive, having to then grip a very tall and spinning pole is something that is extremely tricky to do. Practice is the key to a successful performance, some performers swear by freestyle, but experience teaches us that you should rehearse until you can do your routine backwards and in your sleep.

Oh, and if you’re reading this Stateside or even New York City where the competition is being held you can buy your tickets here and if you do make it, make sure you track Lucy down and say “Hi” to Lucy she’d love to meet you!

Competition season is upon us with the 2nd annual American Pole Fitness Championships taking place soon. The best news? I’ve been asked by the editor of Pole Spin magazine to be on the Elite Judging Panel!

About the American Pole Fitness Championships

The first Championships took place last October and were a huge success. Last year’s competition had a massive impact on the pole world, bringing the cream of the pole crop together. Both male and female entrants from all over the world took part including Zoraya Judd, Amber Richard, Josiah ‘Badazz’ Grant, Marlo and Steven ‘Princeton’ Retchless. Marlo and Steven went on to win first place in their categories.

Entering the competition

Those who wish to enter this year need to submit a video entry before 30th June. You can find out everything you need to know at the APFC website. The video submissions will be judged for artistry, difficulty, presentation, musicality and athleticism and whittled down to 14 finalists or ‘Elite Polers’. The finalists will then go to New York to compete for the coveted title of American Fitness Pole Champion in a live arena where yours truly will be watching with some of the hottest polers on the planet judging alongside me. The final will take place on Friday the 14th of October at the Manhattan Centre in New York City baby!

I’m going to be joined by 5 other incredible polers to help me judge. Dima Shine a Cirque du Soleil performer, Loic Lebret, the masters of flexibility Valentino Brothers Emil and Mario, and the beautiful and incredibly talented Allegra King.

For those of you who are stateside (or if you’re feeling flush) and fancy coming to watch the incredible show – tickets are available on the APFC competition page. Let me know if you’re coming so I can keep an eye out for you. There’s a good chance that I’ll be running some workshops, so keep an eye out for updates on the blog.

Here’s a little promo video of last year’s competition to whet your appetite – I can’t wait!

Well firstly, welcome to my world! I’ve been pole dancing for almost 9 years now, and I’m still totally addicted to the sport (see how I call it a sport? More on that later). As well as being great fun, pole dancing is an addiction that helps me lose weight, feel great and confident, and gives me some awesome party tricks up my sleeve too. What’s not to love?

Anyone can pole dance

• Myth: Pole dancing just for strippers
• Fact: Pole dancing is huge

It’s been many years since pole dancing was confined to ‘gentlemen’s’ clubs. Pole dancing is a fast-growing sport that has featured in major magazines and news publications – many more people now pole dance for fitness and fun than have ever performed in strip clubs.

In fact, last year thousands of people signed a petition for pole dancing to be part of the Olympics. Professional ballerinas are taking it up to help with their core strength and training, male break dancers are integrating poles into dance competitions and kids are being encouraged to scale the pole to help reduce obesity.

Step by step (or should that be grip by grip?) pole dancing has carved its own credible niche. It’s fun, challenging and unique – so grab your pole and join the revolution!

Pole dancing is a great workout

• Myth: You don’t work up much of a sweat pole dancing
• Fact: Pole dancing can be as demanding as martial arts, kick boxing and break-dancing

Pole dancing can be a high impact sport – it’s a full body workout which helps build your core strength. If you’re worried about any pre-existing medical conditions, you think you might be pregnant or it’s just a while since you’ve given your body a real work-out make sure you consult your doctor. If they ask you what kind of exercise you’re taking up and you’re feeling a bit sheepish just tell them it’s something else.

Also, take it easy in your first session, your body will need to get used to pole dancing so set yourself some achievable goals with your teacher and you’ll enjoy the experience a whole lot more.

You can learn pole anywhere

• Myth: It’s really hard to find somewhere to learn to pole dance.
• Fact: You can learn to pole dance pretty much anywhere.

For the beginner pole dancer, the choice of pole dancing in the UK alone is now tremendous. With over 300 pole schools in the UK and the US, and growing numbers in Europe and worldwide, you are positively spoilt for choice in where to go. A couple of great places to find your local schools can be found here or here. If you’re really keen you can opt for private lessons. It’s pricier but you’ll benefit from one-to-one teaching and as a result should progress more quickly than if you were in a group lesson.

If there isn’t a school near you, you could always consider investing in your own pole and some DVDs. It’s not the same as having lessons or an instructor. Learning in a class means someone is watching you and can make observations that you can’t see so do try and find a class.

There’s a great choice out there and we even sell our own pole dancing DVDs, but try and buy as many as you can. I’d recommend starting a collection of pole dancing DVDs to any keen poler. It means you can practice with references whenever you like. Just make sure you start with the ones aimed at beginners and take it from there.

Pole practice makes pole perfect

• Myth: If you can’t swing upside down from the pole on day one, it’s not for you.
• Fact: Like all sports – with pole, practise makes perfect.

No professional poler I know has leapt straight on to the pole and swung round it just like that. Like any athlete, they will have been training for years in their discipline. No pole dancer can move to the more complex moves until they’ve mastered the basics. Pole is just as much as about finding the grace in you – finding your ‘strut’. Watch in awe as Alesia Vazmitsel or your instructor demos what you can work towards, feel inspired, and then enjoy yourself as your skills develop over the classes.

I won’t lie to you – if you’re already fit and flexible then you’ll pick up moves and progress much more quickly, but the huge variety of moves means that pole dancing really is something that almost anyone can get into and enjoy right from the start.

Wear what you like

• Myth: All pole dancers wear thongs and nipple tassels
• Fact: Wear whatever you like but more body contact with the pole = better pole dancing

Clothing in pole dancing is probably the most talked about subject among my newbie students. Say ‘pole dancing’ and most people still think of scantily clad, beautiful women, writhing around a pole with very little on. However, the new world of pole dancing for fun and fitness couldn’t be further from this rather scary image.

I encourage my new students to wear shorts and t-shirts for their first sessions. Pole works best when the body is allowed to have as much contact with the pole as possible. Skin creates friction and lets you stick to the pole. You’ll see advanced polers wearing shortie shorts and little crop tops. You can start off in tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt if that makes you feel comfortable. Trust me though in time you’ll be making such great progress that you’ll want to shed them in favour of less clothing – but only to give you better grip on the pole.

Buying a pole

• Myth: Home poles are a real nightmare to buy and put up and can even be dangerous.
• Fact: If you want a pole, you can get a pole.

A few years ago shops with poles were hard to find, and the poles they sold had to be permanently attached with special ceiling fittings. But today if you get the right pole you’ll be fine. Modern poles like the X-Pole use pressure to keep them firmly fixed in place and are fine if your pole space needs to double up as your lounge or if you’re renting.

With a bit of practice you can get one up and down in minutes and they leave almost no marks on your ceiling even after months of use. X-Poles are the most popular poles on the market, but other major pole manufacturers you should take a look at include Platinum Stages, Alistage and RPole.

So now you’re armed with the facts and I’ve debunked a few myths too. What’s stopping you?

Life is challenging, it can throw things into our path that we are least expecting, and sometimes it can be tough and stressful. The more things that we set ourselves the challenge to do, and the more things we achieve, the easier life becomes!

I took up pole dancing back when it was a completely taboo subject – and I had to fight for my rights to exercise on the pole. Now, we face a completely different world, and pole has become much more widely accepted. Say to yourself, “Why not be brave and take a chance at doing something that I find a little scary!”

Take the opportunity to be spontaneous, and you might just find you have an awesome time and take something a little spiritual away from it. What’s more you could end up with a flat tummy too!

Coming up: getting into ‘pole position’ finding a good school or instructor. Subscribe now get updates delivered straight to your inbox.

There are four Lulu Mats that we have designed to suit many different pole spaces and pole dancers, so hopefully there’s one that’s right for you and your needs, whether you’re a beginner with a small pole room or a pole dance diva with a brace of 8 m high poles.

• The Lulu Mat Home is a light mat designed for home users and travelling instructors. At 1600 mm diameter, it’s wide enough for most poles and pole dancers and it folds up into quarters for easy storage and transportation.
• The Lulu Mat ProX is also 1600 mm wide – a perfect fit for the X-Stage, and it’s also ideal for smaller rooms. The mat is 200 mm (8") thick, giving some pretty serious impact protection should the worst happen.
• The Lulu Mat Pro is a wider version of the ProX at 2130 mm (7') in diameter, making it perfect for studios and dancers with long poles or large pole spaces.
• The Lulu Mat Xtreme is, well, pretty extreme – it’s a huge mat (2750 mm or 9' wide) that offers the ultimate protection for advanced pole artists and aerial performers. At 360 mm (14") thick, it has a maximum fall height of 10 m, making it suitable for even the tallest poles.

Why pole dance mats?

Pole dance mats are a great concept. They help protect against the most obvious (and probably greatest) danger in pole dancing: falling off the pole. As pole dancing matures as a sport, more and more schools and individual dancers are thinking about keeping themselves and their students safe from falls.

Mats can also be a great motivator. Teaching with a mat has also given many of my students the courage to try moves that I know they can do, but which they don’t yet believe they can do themselves.

Over the past few years of teaching and performing, I’ve had the chance to use quite a few different pole mats. Many of these mats contained good ideas and nice features, but none of them seemed like ideal pole dance mat.

And this set me thinking: How could the pole dance mats I’ve seen and used be improved? What makes a perfect pole dance mat?

For me, the perfect pole dance mat will do two things

• Protect you if you fall
• Get out of the way when you’re practising or performing

We’ve spent the last three months developing the Lulu Mat with the suppliers of crash mats to all the British Athletics and Olympic events. And I think the mat we created – designed for pole dancers by pole dancers, and backed up with the technical expertise from one of the UK’s leading crash mat manufacturers – does pretty well at both of those things.

Protecting against falls – a thick pole dance mat

The Lulu Mat comes in three different thicknesses, all with different critical fall heights. The Home mat is 25 mm (1") thick and has a critical fall height of 2 m; the Pro and ProX mats are 200 mm (8") thick and have a fall height of 4 m; and the Xtreme mat is 360 mm (14") thick, with a fall height of 10 m.

Critical fall heights are not really much fun to talk about. We have another post on mats coming up that goes into this in more detail, but basically it means you are unlikely to die or suffer serious injury if you fall from below that height. It doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt, even if you fall less far than that.

I know this isn’t particularly pleasant to discuss, but it’s important to know when you can use Lulu Mats safely. Unlike more established sports, there are no standards that apply to pole dance mats. I haven’t come across any other pole mats suppliers that talk about critical fall heights either, and I think that’s a problem. We want to be very upfront about what the mats can (and can’t) do.

To be safe, the best approach is to calculate the maximum fall height for your pole and then add a generous safety margin. If your pole is long enough for you to find your waist close to 2 m above the ground, get a Pro or ProX mat. If you can climb all the way up to 4 m on your pole, get an Xtreme mat.

Kate and Annie, the gorgeous girls in the photos, practised drops during the shoot from about 2 m onto the Pro mat and from the top of our pole (just over 3 m) onto the Xtreme mat without incident. Though if you want to do the same, please start low and work your way up…

Protecting against falls – a big pole dance mat

Because it doesn’t matter how good the mat is if you miss it when you fall. The Home and ProX Lulu Mats are 1600 mm in diameter, wide enough for most poles and pole moves. (A 1600 mm mat is actually getting on for twice the size of the 1200 mm mats I’ve seen elsewhere.) Both these mats also fit the X-Stage perfectly, making them aesthetically-pleasing dance mats for podium poles – no missing bits or floppy overhangs!

If you’re lucky enough to have a high pole or the skills to perform hyperextended advanced moves like the Extended Butterfly, the Pro mat is 2130 mm (7') in diameter, and the Xtreme mat comes in at a massive 2750 mm (9').

Getting out of the way – walking on the mat

When they’re not stopping falls, we wanted to make the mats as unobtrusive and, well, floor-like as possible. All Lulu Mats have a firm top surface so you can walk on the mat without sinking in or tripping up. This also lets you get close to the pole if you’re teaching or spotting someone.

One annoying limitation I’ve found with many pole mats is that it’s not possible to use them in heels. Obviously I don’t wear heels on the pole most of the time, but when I’m practising for a performance – or just because I want to – then the heels come out, and that means the mat has to go. We wanted to do something about this, and the Lulu Mats’ firm top surface and heavy duty cover means it’s OK to wear heels while using the mats.

And if your training for specific moves or poses involves a lot of drops onto the mat, you can flip the ProX, Pro and Extreme mats over and use the softer bottom surface to get a gentler landing. (Though using heels on this side of the mat is not a great idea.)

Getting out of the way – moving and storing

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a dedicated pole room or studio, so was important for us that the mats are easy to move and store. All of the mats fasten together with industrial-strength Velcro, so you can have them in place or removed in under a minute.

The Home mat folds up into quarters and weighs just 5 kg, while the ProX mat splits into two parts and weighs 18 kg. Both these mats are 1600 mm in diameter, so the Home mat will fold and fit into a gap 0.8 × 0.8 m, while the ProX mat’s halves are 1.6 × 0.8 m.

We think we’ve struck the right balance here: the Home and ProX mats are both pretty light and small, and should be easy to store for most people. The Pro and Xtreme mats are obviously a bit bigger (a lot bigger in the case of the Xtreme mat), but they’re designed for larger poles in larger pole spaces – if you’re fortunate enough to have a dedicated pole wing in your house (or, more realistically, you run a big studio) then they should fit right in. :)

Hope you like it

We’re really excited about the Lulu Mats, and I hope you are too. We’ve had some great feedback from the community, and quite a lot of interest already from people hoping to buy the mats. (In fact Annie, one of the girls in the photos here, bought two of the sample mats for her pole studio.)

• For more about all the Lulu Mats, download the brochure or feel free to ask us a question.
• And if you’d like to get your own Lulu Mat, just head on over to the shop.

Download the Lulu Mat brochure →

Women in Saudi Arabia

Saudi is now the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Women must also cover their bodies with an abaya in public at all times and are asked to cover their faces and heads with a burqua.

Men may marry up to four wives and until recently women had almost no rights in the judicial system, effectively making them the property of their husbands. It’s not an easy place to visit for anyone, but all single women travelling to Saudi need a sponsor to explain the reasons for the trip in order to secure a visa.

Life in Saudi Arabia

Most of Saudi life takes place inside the home due to the extreme desert heat, where blissful air conditioning allows people to enjoy the sorts of lifestyles familiar to most of us. Generally speaking women and men live in separate houses, and men are not allowed to socialise with women who are not family members.

Many Saudi households are well off and have a staff, including drivers to chauffeur female family members and pick the children up from school. It was strange at first, but I got used to having my own driver – I was able to relax and see much more of Saudi, which was rather nice. (Though not everyone has such positive experiences.)

There is a large foreign population in Saudi too, often working in or with the oil industry, and living in complexes known as compounds. In such a compound, a British one for example, about 40 homes are surrounded by a large wall with guards. Also inside the complex are shops, schools and entertainment, and residents of the complex must uncover themselves and act ‘British’.

My home in Saudi

Upon arriving into the Kingdom, I was whisked off to a wonderful complex (surrounded by big walls and with a huge gate) and introduced to my host family. They all made me feel very comfortable, and I was shown how to order food from the pantry(!) and ask for anything I needed.

I had the chance to have some excellent discussions and debate with the family regarding culture and lifestyle within the Kingdom. I had my own reservations about the country and the culture before I visited Saudi – in particular the treatment of women – but I saw a completely different side to life when I was staying there.

There is a huge difference in Saudi between public life, which is very conservative, and home life, where the family can choose to live how they please. In some households the women and men live in separate houses, but I was embraced as a family member and ate every night in the same room as the whole family. The women can walk around freely without covering themselves, and even sunbathe in bikinis by their swimming pools! (Yeah, it was tough.)

Pole dancing in Saudi

Alcohol and drugs are outlawed in Saudi and punished with strict penalties of imprisonment and execution. Theatres, restaurants, parks, cemeteries and other public venues are segregated by gender. Needless to say, there is no history of pole dancing in Saudi Arabia.

So why was I invited to Saudi to teach pole? The answer is actually remarkably mundane. My client’s sister lives in Europe where she’d discovered pole dancing for fitness, and they’d talked about the amazing benefits pole can have on the body.

My client wanted the same things that attracted many of you to pole dancing: a great, exhilarating workout to get her fit and toned. She liked the fact that it was a feminine exercise, and that she could feel liberated and sexy whilst doing it.

I taught my client pole six days a week, with one day off a week for recovery and rest. I had already arranged to have three X-Stages shipped to my client, which looked wonderful set up in her pole room, with large mirrors spanning the length one wall. (Yes, she had a whole room dedicated entirely to pole.)

Tight pole clothes weren’t a problem at home – we had more privacy than I’ve had in some fitness centres in the UK, and the staff didn’t disturb us while we were training.

Although my client kept our sessions top secret, she assured me it was not because she didn’t want her friends to know, but because she wanted to make the most of our time together and didn’t want thousands of her friends turning up for lessons!

Towards the end of my time I choreographed a routine for her to perform, and she donned her heels and performed for her husband and eldest daughter. They were amazed at what pole dancing had done for her!

Her husband was very impressed by how much she had learned, and was pleased that she was responding so well to the exercise and with the enjoyment she was getting from it – not to mention her dramatically changing body shape. :) And her daughter couldn’t wait to start swinging round the pole – she was a natural.

A new fitness craze in the Middle East?

As far as I know, the poles I taught on are the only poles in Saudi, but it’s interesting to ask what would happen if pole dancing for fitness and fun started to become more popular across the country.

Because there’s no history of strip clubs or pole dancing, most men would think women were just learning a new form of exercise – ironically in a place where religion and judgement plays such a large role, pole suffers from fewer preconceived connotations or moral judgements.

My client’s husband didn’t try the pole while I was there, but he didn’t try because he felt he lacked the strength, not because of pole dancing’s less salubrious roots.

Changing through pole dancing

As someone who lives in a liberal, pro-woman world I thought I would find Saudi a very different place to be. It certainly was different, but my experiences were overwhelmingly positive.

Pole dancing for fun and fitness will always happen in the home and in private classes, something that suits Saudi culture well. If pole dancing were to take off in Saudi, it could well mark the beginning of a new era for freedom of choice from the women and men living in the country.

Change is happening, if sometimes painfully slowly, but my visit to Riyadh suggest that the change is a positive one and that pole dancing may someday be embraced by the good people of the Middle East.

This post was linked to by American Bedu and some of the comments relate to that.

Difficulty: Advanced

The Half Flag is an eye-catching pose. It’s a very graceful move when performed properly, while at the same time showing demonstrating impressive strength and core control.

About the Half Flag

You’ve probably seen advanced pole dancers pivoting into a Half Flag at the top of a pole and holding it with impressive control. Start at the bottom! Once you feel confident performing the pose, then move it up the pole to wow the crowds (or your cat :). It’s also an easier pose to get into from the floor than when hanging onto a pole.

There are a number of different Half Flag poses, and they don’t all have straight legs. It’s more important to focus at first on turning your hips and keeping your body horizontal and flat. (So if your left arm is hooked and your right arm is down the pole, you need to turn your hips left, and vice versa.)

You can try attitude legs (bent legs and pointed toes) as Libby does in the video. This shifts your body weight inwards and is much less strenuous to hold — and it looks really pretty too!

The Half Flag isn’t that difficult technically, but it does require a lot of strength and confidence to master. After you’ve perfected the pole grip, work on raising your legs in a tucked position to get safely in and out of the move. Then try holding that tucked position for longer and, when you’re comfortable with that, move on to the attitude legs pose. Finally work towards the straight Half Flag as your core strength — and overall strength — allows.

In detail

1. Stand next to the pole and wrap your inside arm around the pole, gripping the pole in your armpit and locking your arm on the pole.
2. Point your other arm straight down the pole, with your wrist facing up and your elbow bent and resting on your stomach.
3. Leaning forward and, engaging your core muscles, slowly lift your legs off the floor. Tilt your hips away from the floor so your body becomes horizontal.
4. As you get more confident with the move, lift your legs higher and twist your hips so they’re flat to the pole, keeping your feet together to create the perfect Half Flag pose.

In action

Top tips

• Try the move with the pole on both sides to work out which side feels more comfortable for you. Some people can do both, but almost everyone has a favourite side.
• If you cannot lift your legs at all, try lowering your initial arm grip so your body is already in a flatter position, then raise your legs into a tucked position to check your arms will support you.
• Breasts and nylon tops will cause problems with the Half Flag. Take care of your boobs by making sure you grip the pole with your armpit and don’t squash any delicate breast tissue. Make sure your clothing around your armpit is nylon free (or, better yet, wear a strappy top for extra skin contact).
• Another great variation on the Half Flag you can try is bending your legs together and then running in the air — an impressive display of your core strength.

Find this move and 65 others on Pole Exercise DVD 1.

And things are finally changing for stage poles too. The X-Stage did away with the need for a mass of heavy sandbags and has a modular (if not exactly compact) construction, making it much easier to transport. The R-Pole has was the first stage pole with an almost flat base, allowing it to fit in a normal-sized room like, say, your living room.

And now Platinum Stages has launched its latest stage pole, the Star Pole. Though not so well known on this side of the Atlantic, Platinum Stages is a major manufacturer of poles in North America and will soon start selling their poles in the UK too.

We were lucky enough to get hold of what is perhaps the first Star Pole in the country to review.

First impressions

The Star Pole is a breath of fresh air in a market dominated by square aluminium frames and velour curtains. The Star Pole is probably the best-looking stage pole on the market right now, and would certainly win the ‘most likely to complement your home decor’ award with its clean, low profile design.

The base is just 8 cm (3") thick, so you can set up the pole in a room 2.4 m (8') high. It doesn’t dominate a smaller room in the way that most stages do either. (Though, as you can see from the pictures, it’s still too big for my living room.)

The other big news about the Star Pole is the price. It sells for $499 in the States and will retail for just £318 when it arrives in the UK. There are other stages for sale at that price, but none that are interesting (or new) enough for us to review here. The X-Stage is almost £200 more at £499, while the R-Pole comes in at £599 or £649.

The pole stage

The stage is made from heavy duty metal and eight lightweight plastic segments that feel pretty durable and have a nice spring to them.

That thin base is also round, so there are no corners to catch yourself on if you land slightly further out than you expect. The dance surface is 1.7 m (5'8") in diameter, giving you plenty of room to work around the pole.

A modular pole

The pole comes in two sections that screw together to give 2.3 m (7.5') of usable pole. (30 and 60 cm extensions are also available.) The pole comes in stainless steel (chrome) or brass for $100 more, and can be ordered in standard 50mm (2") and newly-popular 45 mm (1.75") diameters too.

The pole feels solid and good quality metal has been used, though on our example the pole sections do not fit together smoothly, leaving a small ridge on the pole. This could be quite painful if you catch it at speed or sit on it.

A spinning and static pole

Like most poles launched recently, the Star Pole has both spinning and static modes. Changing it to spinning is quick – just pull out the screw that stops the pole rotating and you’re good to go. (Make sure you don’t lose the screw though…) The spin wasn’t as free as that on other spinning fixed poles I’ve used; whether this matters or not will depend on your preference for extra speed or more control as you twist round.

Setting up the Star Pole

Building the Star Pole pretty straightforward, even for the first time. It’s a one person job too, which can be a huge bonus when setting up equipment for shows or events.

• 
• Place the large central base on the floor with the plastic bubbles in the centre underneath to prevent scratching or damage to your floor.
• 
• Attach the feet. The longer ones go on the sides of the square base and the smaller ones at its corners.
• 
• Place the stage platform onto each foot around the stage.
• 
• Secure the metal lock in the centre and tighten with the Allen key provided.
• 
• Screw the pole together and then slot into place.

That’s it! The whole setup took me about five minutes, and I think it should get a bit quicker with practice too.

Dancing with the Star Pole

There is quite a bit of movement and wobble from the pole that was rather disconcerting at first, though I got used to it in time. Of course all stages move as their poles are only attached at one end, but to me the Star Pole felt less stable than the X-Stage or X-Stage Lite. This may be because it doesn’t have extendable legs or perhaps just because the base is lighter.

Platinum Stages says the Star Pole will hold up to 115 kg (250 lbs). And while I’m not going to admit my weight here, I come in at about half this and with some more aggressive moves there was definitely some lift. That said, for static poses such as the Knees and the Layout the pole felt lovely and stable, with no movement from the base.

I’d personally be hesitant to recommend the Star Pole to someone of over 80 kg, though of course this is just my opinion and I haven’t done the extensive testing Platinum Stages must have done.

Once I’d got used to the movement and noise from the stage, I was a happy pole bunny once more as I worked through a series of spins and inverts, but the last thing a dancer wants to feel is excessive movement in the stage, even if the platform is actually perfectly secure.

The other problem I had using the pole was much more minor: when the pole was in static mode and I walked anticlockwise while putting force onto the pole, I could feel it start to unscrew. The pole has such a large thread that you can easily stop and reverse before it unscrews fully, and of course when the pole’s in spinning mode there’s no problem at all, but it could prove to be a little difficult mid-performance. Adding a better locking mechanism should be an easy fix and hopefully Platinum Stages can improve it in the near future.

Transporting the stage

The Star Pole comes with its own carry case, though this hasn’t yet arrived so I can’t comment how easy it is to pack up. However dismantling the pole takes seconds, separating into eight stage segments, a main frame and two pole pieces – much easier to carry than a large, one piece stage frame.

The thin base and construction materials mean that it’s quite light for a stage pole too; Platinum Stages say the Star Pole weighs less than 34 kg (75 lbs). It’s not fixed-pole light of course (in fact, heavy is probably closer to the mark), but it is an improvement on some of the other stages I’ve had to lug around.

Conclusion

The Star Pole doesn’t feel quite as robust or stable as the X-Stage, but then it’s not far off half the price. And it offers something that no other pole but the £599 R-Pole offers right now: the ability to put up a freestanding pole in a low-ceilinged, smaller room.

I’m not sure I’d want to perform a high energy, make-or-break routine on it, but I’d be more than happy to train and teach with it, and I imagine I’ll recommend it to clients as well. For dancers who can’t put up a fixed pole in their homes, it’s a great piece of kit.

This is a well-designed pole at a competitive price, and offers features that, until recently, weren’t available at any price on a stage pole. It isn’t the right pole for everyone, but it is very good and may be right the pole for you. If you’re looking for a stage pole, the Star Pole should definitely be on your shortlist.

Itchy purse?

The Star Pole is available now in North America from Platinum Stages. It will hopefully arrive in the UK in about four weeks, though there could be delays due to high demand. You can order now from the UK, but delivery costs are considerable. For more information or to buy, please email the helpful people at Platinum Stages.

Platinum Stages’ setup video

I’ve wanted to learn to scale these giant circus poles ever since, and I’ve recently been lucky enough to start learning Chinese pole with instructor and performer Jon Young.

The style of Chinese pole is quite different from pole dancing, but there are a lot of obvious similarities too. Many of the poses and grips look familiar, and I was keen to find out how Chinese Pole could expand my pole dance repertoire, adding new moves and perhaps giving me a new way of looking at pole too.

A new type of pole

Chinese pole also uses a metal pole, though the biggest difference is that it’s usually coated in rubber. This gives the artist a huge amount of extra grip (and makes some poses a lot easier), but of course completely rules out moves like spins.

Thanks to its circus origins, the poles are much higher than ones we’re used to, sometimes reaching 9 or 10m (27-30′) in the air. The pole is wider too, typically stretching to 7-10cm (3-4") in diameter. This makes a big difference when gripping the pole, and also gives large-handed male acrobats a distinct advantage!

Like a stage pole, Chinese poles are free-standing. They’re held in place with a circus rigging, which secures the bottom of the pole to the floor directly and the top of the pole to the floor via a pair of long straps. This means that the pole has a slight ?give’ to it, and the extra swaying can be quite disconcerting when you first mount it!

Painful poling

I’m sure you know all about the delightful pole kisses we get after a vigorous practice session, but Chinese pole can be considerably less forgiving: any exposed skin is liable to get burnt very quickly as friction heats it up when sliding down the pole. Luckily the rubber coating means you can get grip through clothes, though complete protection not always possible. (In fact Wikipedia says that artists use the burn marks left on their shoulders as a way to recognise each other. :)

One for the boys

Like mallakhamb, Chinese pole is usually normally performed by male acrobats. The reasons for this are probably largely historic (men do it because men do it), though a man’s greater natural strength – and particularly upper body strength – is an advantage for many holds and poses.

Perhaps the most famous Chinese pole pose (and yes, it’s a strength move) is the flag. Here’s a clip of Dominic Lacasse holding the flag for an incredible 43.5s (he holds the world record), and another short, but deeply impressive, clip of him ‘walking’ in a circle from the flag pose. Update: OneMetal has just published an interview with Dominic Lacasse.

Learning Chinese pole

My first lesson with my instructor Jon was a real challenge, but great fun too. As well as the standard Chinese climb I learnt 10 positions, mainly transitions and rest positions. Most of the moves work well on a dance pole too, though some are more difficult because of the lower grip levels.

Chinese pole Climb

The Chinese pole Climb places both feet flat on the pole. You tend to use more the ball of the foot pushing in. It’s important to keep the hips towards the pole, and bent arms. The second you find yourself sinking back with straight arms it becomes very hard. I found this difficult at first as it was a very foreign way to climb the pole. (Plus I had completely the wrong shoes on!)

This climb is harder on a dance pole, but it’s great fun to do in bare feet or wearing a grippy pair of trainers. It’s an energetic and unusual way to start a routine, and can look particularly striking if you’re performing on a tall pole.

Gazelle Change

Invert into the Gemini, but keep your free leg straight and dropping over your back, rather than sinking into the classic Gemini position. Then swing your free leg towards you, squeeze between your thighs, swing your torso around the pole, gripping the pole in your armpit, and finally change your leg to the Reverse Gemini. Then you can repeat the move again in the other direction.

The Gazelle is harder on a dance pole because of the lack of rubber, but it’s still very doable. Step through the move slowly at first and remember to grip with your thighs. I also recommend using your hands on the pole to change sides at first.

Make sure you start nice and high as the body does descend a little during this move, and be prepared to ignore the burn on your outside leg as you change position and ‘drop’ into the end pose – ouch! If you’re precise enough, it’s a very dramatic way to do the Gemini over and over again in a routine, changing sides as you descend.

Hip Lock and Drop

The Hip Lock is a variation on the Sit. With the pole centred, twist the legs as though you’re going into the Barbed Wire, then lean forwards and round the pole to lock the pose.

The Hip Lock and Drop starts with a Hip Lock at the top of the pole. From there, slowly slide down by relaxing your body and allowing a little slip. After I’d done this, Jon got me to speed it up. I went to the top, took a deep breath and released, and tightened again as the ground came rushing up to meet me. Took my breath away!

My instructor’s Chinese pole showreel.

Other Chinese pole positions

• Frog – A rest position. Bend both feet and knees outwards, placing the feet onto the pole below your bottom. Your hips should be open. Bring your dominant arm around the front of the pole to lock in. You can also straighten your dominant leg out once locked. A very traditional circus move.
• Rest position 2 – Like the Icon, but place your less dominant foot onto the pole to create grip, rather than using the side of your leg.
• Leg Lock – Another variation on the Sit. Sit on the pole and get into the Ox (cross your non-dominant leg on the pole, put the back of your dominant leg’s knee around your foot and hook your dominant foot under the pole to create the lock).
• Attitude – The Knees Variation with your lower foot on the pole to create the lock. It’s important to angle the foot towards the ground and keep your hips forward.
• Lay Back – Like the Fang, but grip with the thighs rather than the feet.
• Handstand – A Double Grip Straight Edge. Stand next to the pole, take the hand position and kick up into it.
• Hip Lock Walk Down – Take the Hip Lock position, then straighten your left leg and walk your hands down the pole, squeezing with your legs, until the straight leg hooks on the back of the pole with the foot. You can hold this position with no hands on the pole before setting up to the do the Handstand.

I got a huge amount out of my first lesson, but it also made me realise just how much I still have to learn. And my goodness I hurt the following day! I thought I was pole fit, but I now know just how hard I need to work at building up my core strength in particular. I felt like I had run a marathon!

Chinese pole dancing

The pole community has grown hugely in the past few years. Our first DVD has 66 moves on, and we reckoned we had included pretty much all known spins and poses at the time. You only need to check sites like WikiPole, which currently lists over 300 moves, for evidence of the explosion of creativity since then.

But there’s still huge unexplored potential, and a huge amount we can learn from Chinese pole in pole dancing. I hope to introduce it into my own teaching and routines soon and can’t wait for my next lesson!

Have you used any of these (or other) Chinese pole moves in your pole routines? Would you like to learn more? I’m really excited about the possibilities, and I’d love to know what you think too!

Fun links

• Eike von Stuckenbrok Chinese Pole @ Chamäleon (Soap Show) (YouTube)
• Crazy Chinese Pole (By Jay Shen) (YouTube)
• Dancing Like No One’s Watching – performance by my instructor, inspired by the film Napoleon Dynamite (Vimeo)
• Crazy Chinese Poles Insanity (YouTube)
• Chinese Poles – info and positions from Simply Circus

We’ve tested the most popular pole dancing grip aids to let you know what will help you beat those sweaty hands and what will leave you slipping and sliding down the pole.

DMM chalk ball

I came across this wonderful white powder (really, it’s chalk!) while shopping for a new jacket. DMM chalk balls are made specifically for rock climbers, who perhaps have an even greater need for good hand grip than we do.

And the climbers have obviously got it right – this chalk offers superb grip. Whether you’re about to perform on stage in a hot venue or are working hard to nail a new move, this chalk should guarantee you sweat-free holds and give you the grip and assurance you need.

I pole danced for a good 30 minutes without feeling the need to reapply it, so you should be able to get all the way through a performance or training session without worrying about sweaty hands.

And it’s not just suitable for hands – the chalk works well on the thighs and other parts of the body too. A ball should last you a long time as a little goes a long way, though be careful not to use too much or you’ll build up a nasty residue on your pole.

It’s not all good news: the chalk can become very sticky when mixed with water, so check your pole is clean and dry before you use it. Make sure you store the ball properly too, or it will do its best to turn your pole room into an unwanted winter wonderland. (I found this out the hard way.)

This is the best grip product I’ve used, and at just £1.99 for a ball it costs less than half that of the other products we’ve tested here. The next time you’re looking for a grip aid, try one of these.

Shopping options Snow & Rock (UK) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US)

Gorilla Gold

I’ve heard some great things about Gorilla Gold grip enhancer, and at £5.99 it’s reasonably priced too. Gorilla Gold is a small cloth impregnated with a sticky beeswax and was originally designed for tennis players with grip problems. (Apparently it works “like pine tar, but without the mess,” though we didn’t check that ourselves.)

They advise you to touch the cloth gently until you reach the desired ‘tack’ and return it to the pack for next time. Gorilla Gold suggests the cloth should last for 20-30 applications, depending on how much you use.

I really didn’t get on with Gorilla Gold. It made my hands feel extremely sticky (in a syrupy, or perhaps pine tarry, way), but it gave me very little extra grip. The first time I spun round the pole after applying it, I slipped to the ground so quickly I screamed!

The problem seems to be that the beeswax doesn’t dry at all after applying it (and I only used a tiny bit, squeezing the cloth lightly two or three times). Rather than offering additional grip, Gorilla Gold acts almost like a lubricant, helping you slide even faster down the pole. It’s probably great with the more porous grips on tennis rackets or golf clubs, but it just doesn’t work with an impregnable metal pole.

I tried again after cleaning most of it off my hands so I just had a tiny amount left on, and this time it did improve my grip a little. It feels a bit like a pole that’s been used for a while, so if you like a dirty pole then this may be a way of getting that texture quickly. (Though make sure you only use a tiny amount!)

And it does leave the pole dirty. A lot of the beeswax transferred from my hands while I was testing it, leaving a large amount of difficult-to-shift gunk on my pole that took me about five minutes to clean off.

Gorilla Gold is sticky, but not grippy. Not recommended for pole dancing.

Shopping options Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US)

Mighty Grip

Mighty Grip is probably the most popular grip product in the pole dance community, and is sufficiently popular amongst polers for the company to target it specifically at pole people. Mighty Grip has also done well to get some super names like Pantera to endorse their product.

Mighty Grip is a powdered thermoplastic that comes in a tiny 7g bottle, usually priced at £4.99. So you don’t get a lot for your money, but the manufacturer stresses that a little goes a long way – I think you should get 100 applications out of it, depending on how much you use of course. To use Mighty Grip, shake a few drops of the powder on your hands, create a fist while the powder melts and you’re good to go.

The extra grip I got was excellent, particularly after I started to work up a bit of a sweat. The powder is quick to apply and clean to use, and it’s easy to slip the compact bottle into your hand bag too!

I did find that I needed to reapply the product after about 15 minutes of vigorous poling – the grip, while it lasted, was as good as the DMM chalk, but it just didn’t stay as long.

Mighty Grip leaves a slight white ‘dust’ on your hands. It’s easy to clean off, but could look a little unsightly if you’re performing for photos or HD video. As with all grip products, it left a little residue on my pole, but less than most.

Mighty Grip is an excellent pole dancing grip aid, but it doesn’t last as long as (and costs quite a bit more than) the DMM chalk. So overall I’d choose the chalk, but I’m definitely going to keep one of these in my bag for when I go out.

Shopping options Pole Exercise (UK & world) | Mighty Grip (US & world)

Platinum Grip

Claimed to be the ultimate liquid pole dance gripping solution, Platinum Stage’s grip aid comes in a small bottle filled with clear liquid that you apply to your hands or legs and allow to dry. It’s relatively new to the market, having launched in the UK just a few weeks ago.

Platinum Grip comes in 35ml or 70ml bottles, and I estimate that a 35ml bottle will last for 50-80 applications, depending on how liberally you apply it of course. It retails at $9.99 (35ml) or $15.99 (70ml) in the US and at £9.99 (70ml) in the UK.

I was impressed the Platinum Grip. It gives a very reassuring extra dose of grip on the pole and, as it’s a clear liquid, there are no white marks on your hands after it’s dried.

However, as I started to sweat, I found that a greasy substance was deposited on the pole that was quite tough to clean off, even with acetone or alcohol. I also needed to reapply it after 15-20 minutes: roughly the same as Mighty Grip, but not as long-lasting as the DMM chalk.

Despite these minor downsides, this is by far the best liquid grip aid I’ve used. It’s a very close thing between this and Mighty Grip, the other product targeted specifically at pole dancers. Mighty Grip tends to leave less residue and would be my choice – just – but if having white hands bothers you more then this is a great alternative.

Shopping options Platinum Stages (US) | Adam Jay (UK)

Liquid Chalk

Liquid chalk has been used by pole dancers as a grip aid for years. It usually comes in fairly large (250ml) bottles for £5-7, which you just pour over your hands and leave to dry before using.

Your pole grip is improved significantly with liquid chalk at first, but when you start to sweat the product turns into a rather gooey mess on your hands. And while the grip offered is good, it’s not quite as sticky as other products we’ve covered here.

There is an art to using liquid chalk effectively. Liquid chalk is made from magnesium carbonate (chalk), rosin (solid resin) and alcohol (which dissolves the resin and evaporates when applied). When properly shaken, the gluey liquid makes your hands very dry but also very white. The white has a tendency to get onto everything, and white marks on your outfit, the pole and the floor are not usually a great look.

But if left to settle, the chalk and rosin will separate in the bottle, and you can then pour some of the clear (and largely chalk-free) liquid onto your hands. This liquid is nowhere near as dry as the mixed chalky version, but I found the grip was actually slightly better.

Separating the mixture doesn’t work with all liquid chalk, so it may be impossible to avoid the white marks. Some people swear by this product and still use it today, but other grip aids offer superior grip and much less mess.

Shopping options Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US) | Kickback Sports (UK)

Vodka

Perhaps an unorthodox way to clean your pole, but vodka actually works really well, leaving the pole clean and shiny and with all of that poling gunk stripped off. You can pour a little on your hands to clean them too.

Of course it won’t improve grip beyond your natural dry hands level, but it’s a great alternative to (cleaning!) alcohol or acetone if you find yourself caught short. The only downside I can see is the reaction of others when you pull out a large bottle of Smirnoff on stage to clean the pole. :)

Shopping options Hmm…

Mighty Grip gloves

As well as their powder, Mighty Grip sells specially-designed pole dancing gloves. Inspired by the gloves weight lifters use, these fingerless gloves have a padded front that offers useful protection to your hands during intensive pole sessions.

The Mighty Grip gloves come in two versions: tack, for spinning poles; and non-tack, for static poles.

The non-tack gloves are designed to give you a better grip while still allowing you to spin. I found them very enjoyable to use, though as I continued to train I found my hands starting to sweat and move about a little inside the gloves. It’s important to buy the right size to limit movement as much as possible. Mighty Grip also recommends using some of their powder before you put the gloves on, and doing so did make the grip a little better.

The tack gloves are something else. Their shiny patent front gave me huge amounts of grip, no matter how difficult the move was. And boy do you notice – my hands remained on the pole long after my body had left, and moves that I was finding technically challenging became much more attainable. Spins are of course out of the question, but these gloves are great for static poses or a spinning pole.

I had the same problem with the gloves moving a little when my hands started to sweat, so this time I used the DMM chalk before putting the gloves back on. The combination worked really well and I had a great – and very productive – pole practice afterwards!

Both gloves come in a variety of colours and sizes from XS to L, so you should be able to find a pair that suits both your hands and your style. :) They’re priced at £10.99, which is significantly more than the other grip aids, but then it’s a different sort of product (and hopefully one that should last for years, not months).

The non-tack gloves offer a similar level of stick to the best grip aids we’ve reviewed here. The tack gloves offer vastly more grip than any other aid we’ve looked at, though of course their extreme stickiness does limit how widely you can use them.

These gloves aren’t a replacement for other grip aids: they (obviously) only cover the hands and work best in combination with another grip aid, but they do offer padding to protect the hands and, in the case of the tack gloves, huge grip. Recommended.

Non-tack shopping options Pole Exercise (UK & world) | Mighty Grip (US & world)
Tack shopping options Pole Exercise (UK & world) | Mighty Grip (US & world)

Pole health warning: don’t use these products

I know we’ve just spent a whole post talking about how great they are, and grip products can be a life saver if you’re really struggling with a move, have an important performance or just fancy an impromptu pole jam with friends.

But I strongly recommend only using them for those special occasions and not for general pole training. It’s important to build your confidence, strength and trick repertoire the natural way, or you may end up unable to perform without them.

Over to you

Do you use these grip products? What do you think? Do you prefer something else instead? I’d love to know – tell me about it in the comments!

We’re very excited to announce the release of a digitally remastered version of our first Pole Exercise DVD.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hard at work reworking and improving the quality of the video.

We’ve had a lot of comments from you about the DVD, some of it telling us what you liked (which is great :) and some telling us what you’d change.

What came up most in your feedback was

• The quality of the teaching was great, and you liked having all those moves on one disc too.
• The quality of the footage wasn’t so great. In particular, it was rather dark.

Recolouring the DVD

You’ve probably noticed how the ‘feel’ of the colours varies between films. Take the image here from the latest Transformers blockbuster: it’s vibrant, energetic and glossy; the colours really seem to pop out of the screen, reinforcing the action movie theme.

Now compare it to the screenshot from Lost in Translation. These colours are a lot more subdued and desaturated to give a darker, more melancholy feel, again complementing the plotline.

Most of the film and TV you see today has been recoloured (or graded) to give the look that the director was after. Luckily this is done after the film has been shot, so we were able put our DVD through the same grading process.

After settling on the look we wanted, we spent quite a bit of time making the footage brighter and more vibrant. We also revised the music and sound, updated the move names (adding some alternative names that are now common) and replaced the DVD navigation and extras to give it a more polished feel.

Here’s a short video showing the original footage (actually one of the better clips) and the grading steps we applied to make the new DVD.

DVD 1 remastered

I’m extremely proud of our remaster. It’s great to be able to showcase our teaching in a better light (literally!) and it shows how far we have come as a producer of DVDs.

The DVD is on pre-order now and will be released on 15 February. Order now to get your DVD posted as soon as the new stock arrives!