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.

Why I will always defend the "Sexy Side"

I don't own a single pair of clear heels. The stilettos I have are babied and would never come near my treadmill so they would never be part of my pole workouts or dancing either. Yet when I read about certain organizations trying to strip the sexy side away from pole I speak out. Go sanitize anything else you want but pole--there are so many reasons not to.

Why your workout should be sexy

Petra's Yoga Poses (c) Lululemon Athletica
CC Attribution 2.0 License

Regardless of whether you pursue fitness to wear a teeny polka dot bikini or to improve your heart health, your workout should be sexy. I'm not talking about necessarily wearing a midriff-bearing sports tank or doing oh-so-sexy hot yoga. For some people their workout includes these things, sometimes mine does, but day one of a fitness routine does not entail great abs and defined legs which makes this tricky. Mine sure didn't!

For people like us feeling great about our bodies while working out makes all the difference. It should not be all about the after picture--no matter where you are at there will always be an after in your future. Your focus needs to be on what you are doing today or you will easily burn out. This is so important to me that when I first started the idea of this blog under a different url I called it "Working out becomes sexy fun." Go ahead, laugh, I still do! Silly as that name is, the "dash of sexy" in Flexines comes from the idea of transforming the idea of working out from a journey to becoming sexy to a journey that is sexy. Don't focus on how hot you will look in your swim suit, focus on how sexy your workout makes you feel. You know that experiment where Pavlov rang a bell when he feed some dogs, then afterward the dogs would salivate at the sound of a bell? Getting ready to workout should make you salivate (not literally lol) rather than be some torturous chore.

How do you make your workout sexy?

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: 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

Feeling unsexy this summer?

(c) United Pole Artists, Used with permission

It's bikini season, the perfect time to show off rocking bodies and strut your sexy. In the pole world it's even bigger than that since UPA's Bringing Sexy Back is going on again (through today).  For some of us this turns into a bit of an issue because we don't feel that sexy. So what do we do?

I just finished reading yet another discussion on Facebook where one side trashed "imperfect" bodies and the other side promoted self-love. Seriously, this again? People, no one will work on her fitness level if she does not love her body! Does it appall me when people neglect their bodies to the point of unhealthy obesity? Yes, it does. But I can't decide this at a glance. And I'm not perfect--who could define perfect?--plus everyone deserves to be happy. 

Just like I don't like being judged as "must be anorexic" I won't be judging someone as "must be lazy and gluttonous." In fact, at my thinnest I was incredibly lazy and gluttonous. Genetics saved me from looking as unhealthy as I was. People more active than I am that eat better than me get

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

My Weekend Crush: Sheena LaShay

Photo (c) Glen Graham Photography

Do you live an authentic life?

 If you're Sheena, you can say yes, emphatically.

I first loved Sheena as the glue that holds the Pole Dancing Bloggers group together, along with the lovely Valentina. (Like so much pole awesomeness, I found out about this pole group from KiKi's Pole Blog.) If you aren't familiar with the Pole Dancing Bloggers group we do monthly themed posts and link up; it's a great way for the pole world to get more of what we love--to feed our pole addiction! (What else?) To have the kind of initiative and dedication it takes to keep the pole-blogiverse going, well, that's something special. So special it got me curious: who is this Sheena Lashay anyways?

Guys if you haven't clicked on over already, check her out. Unafraid to be sexy , unique, or to have her voice be heard, Sheena is a pole activist and more. She describes her two sirens and reminds us to be ourselves in a society that tells us to be everyone else. It is a message that is particularly important to us as pole dancers since we constantly find ourselves up against families and workplaces that say being a pole dancer is dirty. Sometimes we find ourselves stepping into a mold where we close off our sensuality to maintain that pole is athletic and artistic. Am I honest with myself when I write the "hello boys" trick off as "just not my thing," for example? I don't yet have an answer for myself in my internal dialogue.

Photo (c) Glen Graham Photography

Some of you may know this about me: my life experience includes sexual abuse and violence. I spent too many years trying to cover up for my mom so when I find someone who openly gives her views on sexual abuse I am glad. I am glad to hear the stories that make some people look away. We need to hear these conversations in our communities or how will we ever get past it and make a difference? We need to still be true to the sexy side. Sheena's right, being open with sensuality and changing what we think and say about it can help us take the "wrong" out of sexy. We can do this in our pole communities and our families and maybe then all of us that are not sure about our sexy side can figure out if and why we are shying away from it.

Sheena talks about having people in her life who can know the different sides of herself. I challenge you to think about the different sides of your own self and how to set them free. As pole dancers, we already have the unique advantage of a largely open-minded community to be parts of ourselves some of us can't be at work or maybe in our neighborhoods. Free your mind to who you are and live that authentic life.

Photo (c) Glen Graham Photography

Weekend Crush: Jenyne Butterfly

Jenyne is what I call more of a "pole athlete" (for comparison, Anastasia is more of a "polerina" to me). She definitely rocks some power moves, like her signature Iguana-mount Air Walk--and some killer muscles at that. She's the super athlete, yet flirty and adorable down to the small gestures she makes with her hands. So many reasons to love her!

Even better, she's super flexy! What is there not to love about a woman that can stick her legs straight behind her head? And her Extended Allegra... an absolute dream. So maybe I pretend to be Anastasia when I'm stretching. Maybe. She certainly is a whole lot of inspiration in one person!

I found a YouTube video the other day that made me love her all the more because she held a lot of her
poses--most of them, in fact! I wish pole dancers wouldn't whip through moves so fast. It's a big complaint of mine, maybe just because I am a newer poler and I don't catch the individual moves as they switch quickly, or maybe it is just too jerky for me. I haven't quite decided but I know I love performances where the move is held so it can be fully appreciated, and I think Jenyne more than delivered!