Weekend Crush: Sadie, Coloradan Belly Dancer

Sadie's been on my Weekend-Crushes-to-be list for too long. She has some kind of voodoo magic that wants you want to watch her forever. You may even be fooled into thinking you can just get up from your belly dance induced trance and start dancing like a pro... okay, maybe that's just me, but is it ever hard! Her belly dance is inspired by her athletic background and it shows. I just want to have half her ability to isolate muscles!





Did you catch all that craziness around 2:00?? The most I've been able to achieve is isolating my upper and lower abs separately, and doing some sort of a belly roll. And these are doable with more defined abs, but I am partial to belly rolls with belly to them. If you are ever down about not having pole star abs, just remember you have belly dancer abs. You're Welcome. :)

Other than the ab, hip, and chest isolations to dream for I love that Sadie is this everyday Coloradan, originally from Wisconsin, who has turned her passion for the sensual, mysterious, and exotic belly dance into a reality. I have always wanted to see someone with a strong belly dance background do a pole and belly dance fusion (C'mon Sadie!). Mayhap we can pester Aerial Gypsy from Femtastic Dance to do one? If you've seen one, please do share in the comments! I suppose it would take a lot of strength to pole in a skirt, or maybe a shorter skirt? And no jingly coins.

I leave you to contemplate Sadie's America's Got Talent submission with her best friend, Kaya. (Ugh, Piers, you dolt. I still hate dislike him for being horrible to Steven.) Dance friends make everything about a million times better:

Weekend Crush: Lora Hill, Fights Bullying with Dance

"You know when Lora came to me a couple years ago with the idea, the first words that came out of her mouth were, it could be chaotic, it could be...' And I said 'Great!'"

Awesome. This is principal Kelly Halvorsen's response to a project to change high school kids' lives through dance. Lora had this crazy idea to get kids dancing on Friday mornings and it had some really interesting results.

"When it comes to music, we all stand together" --Lora Hill

Every Friday morning she sets up speakers and turns on the music. What's really cool is that all sorts of students join right in--even teachers dance. It is amazing to see everyone moving together; there are no words, just unity. You can watch video of it at the Ed Moments website. Ed moments is supported by Education Minnesota, a union of 70,000 Minnesotan educators and staff. Remember who else is Minnesotan? Uh huh, yours truly. I am so proud that our teachers are spreading this. I'm convinced that Minnesota has the best teachers (we certainly have awesome public schools) and it was my teachers that made me believe in myself in spite of growing up with an abusive mother.

“I know what can happen to the bullied,” she says. “Suicide. But I also know what can happen to bullies. Prison. “I’m committed to both.”

It's all about confidence. If you can give a student confidence you give them the power to be who they want to be. That kind of strength can stop both students from needing to victimize and students from allowing themselves to be bullied. This reminds me of the strength our pole dance community draws from engaging our bodies for expression and fitness. We come together because we are working on common fitness goals and we learn to embrace differences. That's powerful. I love what Lora Hill is doing and I hope she inspires people to find creative solutions rather than repeating the same hollow messages of what not to do. After all, unity and strength comes from action.

Photo: Lockers by Phil Roeder. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

Weekend Crush: Sasha Cohen, Queen of Spirals

Today I need this pick-me-up: heavenly flexibility and the best example of emoting. Sasha Cohen is my inspiration by serendipity. I was checking off IB requirements--the hated CAS (Creativity Action Service) hours--around the time my mother's work gave her tickets to see the Campbell's International. Art and nerdiness were my game, not this. Not the physical expression of intellect and emotion. You can say whatever you like about her Olympic falls but no one has her amazing expressiveness or spirals that can make you cry. Can make me cry. This olympic season was bittersweet--yes, there was some technically remarkable performances and Julia Lipnitskaia was a flexible dream to watch but no one had that magic. And I doubt anyone will.



This Valentine's Day my throat hurts and my head is pounding; on top of that, my Valentine is out-of-state at his mother's wedding. And I crumpled my wrist typing and then sleeping on it. If you watch Grey's Anatomy, I am having the dark and twisties. When my days go wrong I catch myself going into my bad memories. If I can be honest about what I love, I can be honest about what hurts and I have quite the selection of torments to visit. Around the time I was checking off CAS hours and reflecting on Sasha's allure I knew in my heart my mother was covering up Brian molesting our youngest sister.

I also was sure I would never become anyone worthwhile; I believed so blindly in everything my mother said. I was a monster. I was like her ex. I was wasting time thinking about college. When Sasha Cohen skated in Turino she was my idol. She was power, grace, and beauty. She was tragic; brilliant but, as Scott Hamilton commented, "a perennial runner up." So much like a high school student that would get A's and suddenly all F's. The oldest sibling that failed her baby sister.

Those spirals are not impossibilities--they are dreams

I found love. I realized how intelligent I am and I stopped apologizing for being proud. And when I discovered the amazing sport of pole dance, I decided to become my own version of Sasha Cohen. My blog is about splits and back bends but also about finding inner power, grace, and beauty. Maybe I will never be among the ranks of competitive pole dancers but I will be a first generation college graduate and break the cycle of domestic violence in my family through motherhood. I will also figure out where my splits went and learn to dance expressively. Oh! Extended Allegra and that dance pose--needle--scale will also be mine. Somehow. Someday.

Weekend Crush: Megan Branch

Gorgeous, talented, emotive... I adore Megan Branch. She has that floating-on-air dancing that I would love to have one day, that I will hopefully have the abs and control for. It's contemporary dance and then again it's also very personal, very her:



She has a beautiful story, too. In her audition for So You Think You Can Dance she described her love for her mother and the work they both put into her dance. Her mom worked extra night shifts to get her through dancing after Megan's parents divorced. Growing up it always made me sad how few people really appreciate the sacrifices their parents make; Megan is one of the few. All she needs to be the picture of perfection is to translate contemporary dance into pole dance.

This particular dance, I am Lost, got me through my Bible as Literature course. I was sick, trying to keep my daughter in clean clothes and my two-month-old cared for with this last class to finish up for my transfer degree. Four days before my extended deadline I had four essays to write and a semester project to finish; it was rough. Every time I lost focus and wanted to go for a run or just plain watch T.V. I took a moment to watch this. Watching Megan lose herself in her dance helped me find enough of myself to keep working at it. Dance is magical that way.

Above getting in on SYTYCD, Megan is so much inspiration in one. There are those amazing abs, for starters. She has crazy stability in the most bizarre poses, something I love because it expresses such a range of emotion. Her flexibility is absolutely lovely. I want to do that crazy toe thing at 0:44 but my high heel issues will mean quite a bit of work first. Still, you never know what I might do next.

Weekend Crush: Ronda Rousey

Last night was one of those nights. I am the odd one out on betting days--in my family we bet imaginary money on boxing and MMA matches and yell at the screen--but last night was a little different. I actually got into the action because I wanted to see if pretty Ronda Rousey could kick butt. And I hoped for it.

I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about mixed martial arts but I love to see women follow their dreams, even if it means going outside traditional gender roles. You know those little face shots they show with the competitor stats? I loved seeing a lovely shot of Ronda Rousey vs. the aptly nicknamed "Girlrilla" Meisa Tate. Okay, so I was immediately biased against Tate for being... alardosa... One of those people that just has to call attention to herself and "act big."

Tate did, for her credit, start out well. But just look at how it ended.... my arm hurts just looking at that! I don't care how flexible your shoulders are, there is no surviving this kind of arm ripping fury. I'll let you guess who won this match.

I Reserve the Right to Fangirl Out

Why is flattery always assumed to be fake? I was helping my husband study for his Business Interviewing class when I read that in an exchange you should not use a lot of flattery because it comes off as insincere and makes people feel uncomfortable. Well haul me off to flattery corrections! (Weekend Crush, anyone?)

Cape Flatter Trail (c) mlcastle
CC Attribution 2.0 License

I will concede that flattery can make people feel uncomfortable. I believe it should not. This is something conditioned in so many places to keep people from acting like arrogant snobs so I can understand the feeling. I liken it to the crippling need to qualify self-flattery. Women are very guilty of this--ask a woman about her best feature and you can bet she will also point out a flaw. Stop!!! You can take a compliment and you can boast about your best attributes without being snobby. It all comes down to tone and moderation. Sometimes it's okay to boast. I would even say as humans we have a need to do so.

So I try to limit my flattery. The truth of the matter is that if I tell I love how you dance or that your hair color is absolutely gorgeous, I mean it. There are certain people that I would have made my Weekend Crush several times over and mentioned in more posts if I did not hesitate to make them feel uncomfortable (like this magical goddess or my continual source of inspiration). Besides, I have a feeling I might seem like a bit of a stalker after the umpteenth time of saying how their posts light up my day. Just a little. 

I reserve the right to fangirl out. 

The magic of fitness and pole dance in particular is that everyday people make the best idols. People that have real jobs and real commitments to family on a real budget that manage to change to a healthy lifestyle inspire me. People with no dance background who learn lyrical pole dance inspire me. Being an everyday person is not an excuse I will ever let you use to get out of being one of my inspirations--it's part of the reason any one person would be.

Weekend Crush: Mirai Nagasu

Mirai Nagasu (c) The Skating Club of Boston
CC Attribution 2.0 License

There is something particularly serene about Mirai Nagasu.  Maybe that's why she tends to skate a pretty clean program, well at least compared to my first love in figure skating. Her laybacks are very elegant--there is definitely some flexy to love there! (See clip below from the 2013 Finlandia Trophy.)

Weekend Crush: Michelle Stanek

I think after having Michelle Stanek's All the Time routine stuck in my head all this week it's time to make her my Weekend Crush! If you haven't seen it yet you are way overdue. And if you have seen it, I think you could use another look at her effortless standing splits at about 1:28. Just saying.

 

I know I just said sexy dance is not my style but this is really making me want to put in the work to dance like this. Michelle nails some crazy impressive and sultry moves. Of the sexy pole dancers out there she's the first to make me want to become her. Maybe that has a bit to do with said standing split.

Then, too--doesn't she look exactly like JJ from Criminal Minds here? My brain just jumped to JJ and Prentiss doing pole doubles. This needs to happen!

I am going to have my work cut out to nail any one of her moves. The standing split is going on my wishlist yesterday along with whatever that black magic is at :34. This may just be the motivation I need to get to my ab work after I have my baby. At least I can keep working on my splits in the meantime! I'm sure it helps that she has been dancing since she was a child. She definitely has great timing in all her performances and beautiful artistry from dance. Then on top of that all the sexy? An absolute dream.

Weekend Crush: Kenneth Kao, DC

He teaches Kung Fu, practices chiropractic medicine, and oh yeah, there's that bit where he jumped from one pole to another at this year's Pole Expo. If you are a pole dancer you have definitely heard the litany: Do NOT jump into moves! This is true for those of us that are risking injury by compensating a lack of strength with momentum--in his case his strength gives him the control to pull off such an insane move. Don't blink, it happens around 0:45. And yes, this is one of those video I recommend clicking the gear and choosing HD!




I found this awesome video on NinaReed.com. Coolest part? He's actually one of her pole instructors! Dr. Kenneth Kao is an instructor at Vertical Fusion Boulder. I can't imagine taking instruction from him, wow! Or even better, following the recommendation on his practice's site, "Anyone is welcome to fly him out to location for specialized care or instruction, or just for fun!" I'm adding that to my list of ways to spend my money when I win the lottery. I can dream!

As if that wasn't enough Kenneth Kao is also a published writer and loves to learn about the human condition. The English nerd in me is all sorts of happy knowing this. It seems to me that pole dance tends to go with intellectual awesomenes; there must be something to that. In fact, I am certain of it and will be posting some of my findings to that effect soon! Check out links to his Dr. Kao's published works on his personal blog, The Chaos of Balance.

Weekend Crush: Steven Retchless

I have adored Steven Retchless since very early in my pole fitness journey--and how could you not? There's the fact that he's all sorts of flexy, makes shoulder mounts look like child's play, and well, he's not so hard on the eyes. I have watched his Boston Ballroom performance countless times and the reason why comes down to how beautifully expressive he is. Yes, he has amazing flexibility and strength and that draws you in but it is the story that keeps you coming back for more. Oh and if you think I'm going to confess to how many times I've rewatched his videos... let's just say "a lot." lol

Take his remi layback, for one. The remi sit/layback is a move that can look so simple you think you can nail it, then try five million times and still be swinging belly first towards the pole. (Which is why I have reluctantly shelfed it for now). Is that just me? Maybe it's just me, lol. Anyways for those of you who have watched his

Weekend Crush: Johnny Weir

Johnny Weir (c) VancityAllie
CC Attribution 2.0 License

I almost have to look away when I see Johnny Weir oozing pure sex on the ice. Almost. Except that this is completely impossible through an awesome combination of glitter, sequins, and crazy jumps. Then there's the flexy, oh wow is he flexible!

He's unapologetically himself. Period. I bet there are judges out there that wish they could nab him on an infraction--wardrobe malfunction, anything!--and scrape his sexy self off the ice. Even though he's typically covered head to toe, sometimes with a little extra as a showy collar cuff, he may as well be naked. This tickles me so much because figure skating has a history of being a bit dry. See the Debi Thomas rule for reference. (This banned unitards until 2005 because Debi was "showing too much" in her sexy little number.) I have to say Johnny far out-sexies her within 10 seconds of any given performance. As we pole dancers know wearing sparse fabric does not make the sexy--

Weekend Crush: Kurt Browning

That Skate 2013 (c) Queen Yuna
CC Attribution 2.0 License

Kurt Browning has been one of my favorite figure skaters ever since I saw an early video of him skating along to Singing in the Rain (we'll check it out  in a bit). It's impossible to watch him at it and not be drawn right in and uplifted; he has such a sunny personality on the ice. Even with my limited figure skating knowledge the level of difficulty of his moves are apparent, and yet all he seems to care about is entertaining.

He's dressed up as everything from the classic, elegant Gene Kelly to a circus clown. No matter what the look you really can't miss his awesome footwork. One of his videos and I'm off on a hours-long jag of video searches touching on my favorite from Sasha Cohen and back again to my pole loves like Anastasia Skukhtorova. In one word: inspirational. I don't care if you love figure skating, dance, pole, ballet, or anything else athletic and expressive; you can find something to love about Kurt Browning.

Then there are his many competitive accolades including being the first man to land a quadruple jump in competition. What I personally love the most

Weekend Crush: Pole Dancing Professor, Lisa Faulkner

http://www.inherimagephoto.com/

Lisa Faulkner, PhD, embodies a lot of what Flexines is about. She definitely brings her dash of sexy to the pole world and has just the right touch of nerdy pole dancer. I love that there is a constant undertone of deep thought and empowerment to everything she writes on her site, poledancingprofessor.com. In fact, I think she is the perfect example of who pole dancers are. There is a recurring thread on StudioVeena about what we pole dancers do for a living and the responses are resoundingly both diverse and impressive. We are doctors, machinists, nurses, social workers, and yes, pole dancing professors.

Here's what caught my attention: the call of the Siren. I first noticed Lisa's celebration of herself and this playful, sensual spirit in the images she shares on her Facebook page. What is a siren? What is the call of a siren? I think this image

Weekend Crush: Missy Franklin

I normally do not get into the Olympics, other than my love of figure skating, so this week's Weekend Crush is a little different for me. What's so special about Missy Franklin? For one her awesome performance in the 100 m dash even though she started out behind. Also, how cute is she in the US Olympic swimming team's Call Me Maybe parody? (below)

Weekend Crush: Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness

Nope, not free falling--that's a handstand
(c) Nerd Fitness, Used with permission

Just because you're nerdy doesn't mean you can't be in fantastic shape. Check out this handstand--Steve doesn't look like the stereotypical nerd. But a look around his site, Nerd Fitness, with its comic book fonts and video game references its unmistakably, well, nerdy.

What I really love about Nerd Fitness is that it is geared towards people of all fitness levels, including those of us that find ourselves on a journey from bookworm (that's me!) or video game junkie to fit. When I started pole fitness around September 2012 I had to make some serious changes even though I jogged for 15-20 minutes... well, every few weeks or so anyways. I found Nerd Fitness because I wanted to do some body weight exercises but really pathetically lacked the strength to do it. There I was on Google, searching for exercises for pull ups--and very discouraged to find that most people posting about pull ups assumed the reader could do them.

Enter Nerd Fitness.

Weekend Crush: Jerome Fitness

I found Jerome Fitness while searching for info on PNF stretching and was hooked. His YouTube tutorials cover fitness, flexibility, nutrition--and a few laughs too. Who says who can't have a little fun getting flexier and stronger?

Awesome splits, right?
(c) Jerome Fitness, used with permission

One of my favorite things are the middle splits pointers. First of all, how awesome are his side splits? This has to be a martial arts thing--I've noticed that they tend to have better side splits than front splits, must be the kicking. I think I need to cross-train in this, I could learn to love the ability to kick people in the head. But I digress, lol. Maybe it's me but most of the videos I find are of the "ohhh lookit me!" variety; Jerome's Flexibility Training channel goes over practical tips like hip positioning, warming up, and avoiding injury. I love that he's just a regular person who loves fitness. Well, a regular person with incredible flexibility and strength too!

A fun fact about Jerome: he is actually an ectomorph. If I just lost you, some people gain muscle and weight

Weekend Crush: Grace Bruce

From being a flexibility guru on YouTube to playing a Snatcher in Harry Potter Deathly Hallows, Grace Bruce is a whole lot of awesome in one person. You know those moves where you kick past your head? Yeah, she can do that. Her strength and flexibility are incredible and serve her well in her varied pursuits, notably dance and martial arts.

Grace (right) and Chloe (left)
(c) Bruce Sistaz, Used with Permission

Even better, Grace and her sister Chloe help those of us aspiring to their levels of flexy. They have a series, Flexy Fridays, featuring tutorials on flexibility enhancing stretches. What I love is that they include really great warmups plus give valuable pointers along the way. It's not just a show-and-tell of their staggering flexibility, which by itself would still be awe inspiring. If you're not near their flexibility level you (like me) you can still benefit from their tutorials since they do suggest tips for beginners. One stretch I added to my routine is from their Stretches for Box Splits. I hate stretching box/middle splits but I just imagine Grace & Chloe's super kicks and bite the bullet :) Their teamwork makes me wish I could coerce convince my sister to do some pole fit or stretching for sure.

Of course, Grace didn't become flexible overnight. She's been involved in martial arts from a very young age.  I notice that in the Flexy Friday series not only do they include warmups but also ease into poses. It's nice to see that someone at her

Weekend Crush: Karol Helms

I'm not exactly sure what it is about Karol Helms. She is just irresistibly sexy--yes, the fans (more on this in bit), garters, and hot fishnets help, but there is something more. Her style is very different from my own in a way that makes me want to go dye my hair red and buy a slinky corset. Maybe it's her enviable strength, sexy flow, or her athletic legs?

One of my favorite tidbits about Karol is that she started out with the fuzzy YouTube videos of beginner moves like anyone else might. She has a whole tutorial section, definitely a godsend for those of us who learn exclusively from home. Someone (I wish I could remember who!) on StudioVeena once mentioned there

Weekend Crush: Oona Kivela

Upbeat, athletic movement defines Oona from her bouncy, center-of-the-head pony tail to her emphatically pointed feet. We love Oona because she is perky--and gravity defying!

Oona started her fitness journey very early in life: she was nine-years-old when she started gymnastics. Hold on. As someone who found her fitness/pole journey comparatively later in life, this can be intimidating. Following the advice of one of my favorite muses let's just ooh and ahh and be inspired to dabble in a few gymnastics moves. After all, small steps are what build up to greatness of Oona proportions :D

My Weekend Crush: Flexines (our Fans!)

"Global internet access" by Notions Capital
Creative Commons Attribuiton 2.0 License

This time around you all get the honor! Without our readers, friends, and stretch/pole jam buddies Flexines would not be possible. Thank you to the founding members (that's a fun story, keep a look out for a post later), all the bloggers that have been a part of Flexines, and the friends and family that support us all.

I never cease to be amazed at how Flexines has been able to connect us all to each other. I have met so many inspiring people--and there furry family members too! I have gotten the chance to connect with some awesome pole blogs out there, including KiKi's Pole Blog, A Man Who Pole Dances, Flying Spinner (I am sure I am forgetting at least a few blogs too). 

Every time I get to virtually meet a new pole dancer it is just as new and amazing as the first time I connected   chat on StudioVeena. (I am so sad to see that go; they still have their awesome forum though :D) Last chat calipolepixie was motivating Divine with these awesome checklists. Cali makes herself--and sometimes friends--useful monthly checklists with reasonable goals. During another chat KiKi described how much a photo log has helped her progress. It goes to show that someone far enough away to be in a different time zone can jog your mind and give you new ideas. We keep each other in check by being accountable to show up and meet, but still have flexibility (no pun intended!) to miss a few days.

It is so neat to log on and see our views, Twitter followers, and Facebook likes. Hello world, we see you seeing us! And we love you, too! Thank you for your support--it's what keeps us going and challenges us to improve.