Saturday, March 09, 2013

The ballet dancer on the pole

Yesterday, I went to my first pole dancing class.
It was all part of a coupon I found online, 5 classes for $25.
I convinced a friend of mine to come with me.

We both did not know what to expect. I have heard though that it is a good workout.
The other women there made up an eclectic body. A couple of younger girls with very long hair (aren't they afraid their hair would get entangled around that pole?) and quite a few middle-aged women who looked like they were there to revitalize their marriage or something.

The class started with cleaning the poles! Yes, imagine whatever number of women who have touched, grabbed, hooked their limbs around that same pole you are holding on to!

Then came 10 minutes of stretching and 10 minutes of abs work!
Those. Were. Gruelling. Exercises.
We then moved on to some 'sexy' hip exercises.
The thing is, I've been a dancer since I was 5yrs old, I know my body and how to move it and yes, I can make my hips move this way, but I did not learn how to flip my hair while doing so! The most embarrassing moments were when the instructor was yelling at us to look sexy, while 'working' it as if she's a professional! She yelled at us to slap our butts, and after a delayed reaction, we all did and then started laughing.

How do you learn sexy?
Well this instructor seemed to think that if she yells at us hard enough, we'll magically know how to be sexy! Of course, every time she yelled, I'd end up laughing. The whole thing seemed ridiculous at the time! How do I release my neck and flick my hair at the pole (without banging my forehead on it!) when all I've learned so far have been to hold my head up high and hold my position? Quite a challenge!

My arms hurt today and I have bruises on my knees where I've landed quite a few times.
Those abs exercises also made it hard to laugh today.
Let's see what week 2 will have in store for us.