Girls about practicing hard, pole dancing and burlesque
Twerk, go-go and other dances with a dubious reputation from a cultural taboo turned into a popular sport that allows you not only to love your body and learn to own it, but also to spend time in good company. We have already figured out what the emancipative power of such practices with “sexual” overtones are, and now questioned four girls about what the twinkle, pole dance and burlesque are in practice.
I have been dancing in various forms since childhood: there was choreography, modern dances, and teenage discos - I gave a Cossack a normal one there. Before the university I was very active in dancing, and then this story somehow ended. But a year ago, my girlfriend participated in one experiment, where you had to do a lot of sports and dancing - in general, different types of activity. She went to the studio "Air" and led me there to classes on the twist. I always wanted to try to learn how to twist: it seemed to me that it was very cool to effectively shake a separate part of the body, that is, an ass. Masters twisting can shake ass, standing on his head, on one leg, can shake each buttock in turn.
Tvork is a supertechnical dance. With the fact that in him the butt is completely isolated from the body, the whole body is pumped - legs, back and even arms, because sometimes you are standing on your hands. The first half of the workout, we swing the press, ass, legs, and the second half we dance, we learn all sorts of bundles. In spite of the fact that I am plastic and I love to dance, when I came to work a year ago, I immediately realized that I had forgotten a lot. And, probably, just these classes pushed me to love dancing and music again. In general, all modern music seems to be created for a twig: there is such an imposition of fast rhythms in it, that otherwise it is impossible to dance with your hands and shoulders shaking your ass.
After the hard way I signed up for strip plastic and now I go there more often, I like it even more. Plastic is what everyone lacks in general, and having learned it, you can deal with any dance and any music. You learn to fully control your body and do it with pleasure, you can calmly stroke it, touch it while dancing, love your body as it is. Although I’m never thin, I’m almost the only one in the whole group who goes to classes in crop tops and not in a big T-shirt: I like to watch my body, how it moves in space, how it changes . I also go to jazz classes. There we do performances to the music of Rihanna or Beyonce - we learn to dance like they themselves and their ballet dance on stage or in music videos. Periodically we crawl on the floor in the form of a wild cat, as in the clips of Beyonce, and I like it terribly. I really want to try pole dance - it seems to me that it is wildly cool.
Dancing gives a huge charge of emotions, because I dance a lot, I go to different sections seven or eight times a week, and I spend almost all of Sunday there. In general, I am a big sports fan - endorphins are whipping with him. At home, I train with the Nike Training Club app, practice on the treadmill, and as soon as it starts to warm up, I go for a run on the street and look forward to the start of the outdoor swimming pool season. The same dances without sports training, as a rule, are difficult. Even in the strip plastic classes, we thoroughly work out muscles, almost like in Pilates or yoga.
The coolest thing about dancing is that you learn to move your body in space, as you like, and fully feel it. No sport with its mechanicalness will give it. The musical accompaniment is very important for me: the music that the teachers put on all the sections mentioned is the music that I listen to in life, so I really like to learn to move under it. Now I can do a lot and sometimes I catch myself at the fact that, for example, at home I start shaking my ass without cause. In addition, it is good to come to the party not to just stand at the bar and get worn out, but to get a good break away. I love to dance since the days of school discos and I think that over the years, nothing has changed - you just have to go after what you are drawn to.
Pole dance is a type of air balancing. This sport has been practiced since the days of Ancient China and India - and only men, because it was considered a dangerous occupation. Later the artists of Cirque du Soleil began to use the pylon for their acrobatic numbers, and only then all this movement partially moved to strip clubs. In the late nineties, the first pole dance championships began to take place - in order to go beyond the usual presentation of this lesson and show everyone that pole dance is power, power, grace, charisma and a lot of work on your body.
Once in my life there came a moment when I really wanted to change something. In the subway, I came across an ad for pole dance classes and decided to sign up. After the first workout, I felt like a complete log, but I was hooked, and I began to practice. At first, I went twice a week, then three, and then I already wanted to study every day. In the end I was offered to become a coach.
Contrary to all established stereotypes, I want to say that pole dance is very hard. First of all, it is a sport, a sport and once again a sport in which no result can be achieved without constant and serious physical exertion. All muscle groups are involved, and in the end, even previously undeveloped muscles will pump, each tendon and each joint will become stronger. Although it is professionally difficult to do professionally, the result always makes you proud - to be proud, first of all, that, having crossed the pain, bruises, the constant feeling of fatigue in your whole body, you show the result.
Pole dance is not only physical but also psychological work: you have to be prepared to wait for it to work out, to overcome uncertainty and fear. Looking at my charges, I see how each of them changes with each passing day. I am not talking only about physical changes. Of course, the figures of my students are becoming more fit, muscles are beginning to appear, the existence of which they had not previously guessed. But besides this, the gait, the glance, even the speech is changing. Dancing on a pole, you learn to love your body, you have a reasonably good reason to be proud of yourself, your achievements, and this gives you confidence. Everyone comes to pole dance for different reasons, but only those who are not afraid to open up to themselves, those who are willing to work, enjoy their success and enjoy the process, remain.
It should be understood that the burlesque is not even a kind of dance, but stage art, built at the same time on accepting your own body and presenting it as an object of art, no matter what it is. Among the stars, there are plenty of very thin and very lush ones (such as the luxurious Dirty Martini, which Karl Lagerfeld once shot for Chanel). There are sports dancers, and very fragile. In the end, the most important thing in our business is how you carry yourself. Enough good posture and charisma, and the rest already comes with experience that can only be obtained on stage.
When I started to perform, I imagined a burlesque as something much more danceable. The first years I taught exactly dance, I prepared choreography for pupils - something between authentic jazz and strip plastics. Then I suddenly realized that most people do not come at all for the dance, but for self-confidence, behind this playful femininity, which is revealed in burlesque. Therefore, now in the classroom we first of all pay attention to posture, smile, try on different images, ideas of femininity and sexuality, and come up with the choreography collectively. We talk about the history of music and entertainment of the twentieth century, together we watch movies and discuss what we see. I really want to believe that in the end I not only show women how to gracefully put on a leg and hold their heads proudly, but also have time to tell them at least a little about the culture of cabaret and variety show, about those who created it. I hope it turns out to make them feel how amazing it is and how different it is from modern show business, built on very different ideals.
Exercise in the case of classes is minimal, but, of course, when it becomes your profession, you suddenly begin to work endlessly, like all dancers, and now burlesque becomes the motivation to stand at the machine or go to workout on a hardboard. Each artist has his own difficulties, because you set tasks for yourself and invent a stage image, and then you try to fake it til you make it - like Mata Hari, who has never been an exotic dancer, but wanted to become one so much that made the whole of Europe believe as if she grew up in an Indian temple. And then it turns out that since you called yourself a burlesque artist, you are expected not only and not so much a good show, but also daily languor, emancipation and secret knowledge about how to care for yourself and how to behave in all situations. For me personally, this was a complete surprise: outside the stage I was never the most feminine, nor the most well-groomed, nor the most self-confident. It has not yet turned out that this is also part of the work.
In general, many of my foreign colleagues and friends say that good burlesque classes are in equal proportions dancing and psychotherapy. And I totally agree with that. The greatest joy is to see with what tenderness pupils start to look at themselves, sometimes by the end of the first lesson. Each new group, each new master class is something very intimate, it is a search for comfort in your own body and with your own character according to your own rules. In almost any burlesque show, about 70% of the audience are ladies who find it interesting and pleasant to see ordinary women on the stage, but in luxurious costumes, free and loose, in harmony with their own sexuality. Moreover, modern burlesque is a completely unique part of the entertainment industry in the sense that most producers, photographers, and costumers are also women. For many of us, this is not only work, but also a place where friends come from, support, intimacy, going beyond the dressing room, rehearsal room or photo studio.
I started dancing pole dance when I was 29 years old: a studio was opened in my house, and I made up my mind. Before that, I didn’t play any sport, but I supported my figure with the fact that I had eaten very little, - until now the very thought of food restrictions makes me sad. The first year of training in pole dance was particularly painful: nothing worked, and it was very painful. I must say that no miracle happened. Yes, in three years of classes I learned how to do most of the basic elements, yes, I could do some tricks, but I could not dance so that I could “wow”. There were periods when I was engaged very much. I can not say that this turned out to be much better, but I discovered the joy of physical activity: this is the case when they are only interested in sports and food.
Now there is no time for the pole, so I try to keep myself in shape by other methods - I do the rocking-chair a couple of times a week and try to walk a lot. In general, 6-10 kilometers on foot per day - and well, all the problems immediately go into the background. Last year I swam twice a week, but now I’ve stopped. If more time appears, I will probably go to some dances again. Well, I just love to suffer, to do what is impossible at all, and dancing is clearly not mine. I think I would go to booty dance - and you feel good, and people have something to show. Twerk would try too. And the pole is painful and difficult. In addition, I have very sensitive skin, so that during class tears often rolled and sparks fell from my eyes.
Stretching is also not my strong point. Sometimes it seemed to me that Pinocchio moved into me, - so “wooden” I moved. But patience, work, three workouts a week - and even Pinocchio can show the level. I must say, it is not easy when everyone in the group succeeds in everything, and you - so-so. In general, all the suffering - from comparisons. Of course, you will not go against inclinations, but with all this I can not say that my torments on the pole were useless. First, I improved my physical shape, my gait became easier, and my movements smoother. Secondly, I realized that if I train, then sooner or later it starts to turn out.
Photo: 40s & Shorties