Poletential's Third Air Show!

Poletential has DONE IT AGAIN!  Their third Air Show was another huge success.  (Check out my post about the second Air Show HERE.) 

This time, the show was on a Friday night, and the ENTIRE REST OF THE WEEKEND was filled with poletastic workshops and events.

The show was headlined by David C. Owen, Nadia Sharif, Flying Laura, Amber Richard, Aerial Amy and the Paper Doll Militia.  Also, many of the amazing students and instructors from Poletential performed.  I think one of my favorite things about a Poletential show is the caliber of performer that they create.  All of the students do such a great job of getting into character.

Anyway, I could talk all day about how amazeballs the performers were.  Nadia Sharif spinning and climbing through an aerial cube.  David C. Owen bending in the craziest ways.  Flying Laura killing it, even though she's still nursing a broken finger.  Aerial Amy making it look easy with her sexy floor work and flawless spins.  Amber Richard busting out an awesome reprise of her Girls Next Door 80's performance.  And local performers, the Paper Doll Militia doing a jaw-dropping silks routine on CHAINS.  But you don't want to read my review.  You want to watch it yourself!  Check out the YouTube play list:



The rest of the weekend was really great too.  Due to some other issues, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to participate in any other events.  On Saturday, Twirly Girls had their 2013 calendar shoot.  It was a long (but fun) day.  But, after the shoot, Rita and I headed back over the bridge to meet Annemarie Davies and Alex Davies (from United Pole Artists), as well as Nadia Sharif (a freaking pole ninja).  And things just got crazier from there.  We joined the Poletential crowd at a local pub where we mingled with the rest of the pros and students from the studio.  There are not many words to explain what happened next.  Mostly just: Best.  Night.  Ever.  hahaha!  Pictures are below.

As we dropped Annemarie, Alex and Nadia off at the hotel, Nadia encouraged Rita and I to come to her workshop the next morning.  At first, I declined, mostly because I had been running around all weekend and needed to do some things at home.  Then I decided, why not...you really shouldn't pass up opportunities when they are smacking you in the face.  So, on Sunday, we attended Nadia and Mina's doubles workshop.  Then I stayed for Aerial Amy's fluidity and floorwork workshop.

The doubles workshop was so fun.  Nadia and Mina are such a great team.  They seem to know what the other is thinking at all times.  We did some partner stretches, then worked on a few pole moves.  The entire workshop lasted over two hours.  Rita and I were not advanced enough to do some of the moves, and since I am a sweaty beast, its really hard for me to partner up with people anyway.  But I felt like we learned a lot.  I did successfully complete an acro shoulder stand off of David C. Owen's thighs!  I so wish I had a photo of that.  Sorry about the whole vagina in your face, David!

Amy's floorwork workshop was amazing in a different way.  We spent an entire 90 minutes on the floor.  Crawling and writhing.  Tossing our hair.  Moving our bodies in very sexy ways.  I don't know how to really describe it.  Sexy is not really something I pull off very well and this definitely took me out of my comfort zone ... in a good way.  I tried very hard to not watch myself in the mirror, as I get VERY self-conscious.  But Amber Richard paid me a very sweet compliment and said I looked just fine.  Sexy is not a size.  Confidence is sexy.  I keep forgetting that.

As I sit here on a Monday morning, tired and sore, I am so glad that I didn't turn down any opportunities.  I had such a great time all weekend and I want to say that I really adore my new little friend, Nadia (she really is tiny, her head only comes up to my boobs!).  My boobies can be her pillows any day!

PoleCon 2012

If you love pole dance/pole fitness, then you at least considered attending Pole Convention 2012.  In it's third year, PoleCon has grown from 500 attendees in DC in 2010 to 800 attendees in Miami in 2011 to over 1,000 attendees in Los Angeles in 2012.  The pole community is growing so quickly.

Rita and I arrived on Thursday, June 21, 2012 in time to attend the Pole Masters Cup.  Bel had arrived the day before as she was participating in X-Pert certification.  We had many Twirly Girls in the house: Yolanda, Diana, Kim, Grace, Shelly, among others.

Friday morning was quiet so we sat by the pool and hung out.  I had every intention of trying to get into Felix Cane's free workshop that afternoon but got distracted and didn't get in line in time.  That evening, we went to Polesque and AERA.  Unfortunately, I missed the cocktail party that welcomed everyone to the convention.

I did get to meet a lot of really awesome Facebook pole celebrities.  Jennifer from PoleSkivvies.  Lulu from America's Got Talent.  Roz The Diva.  John Janda and Stephanie Skyy.  Annette Artman.  Sam Green, pole photographer.  Leen Isabel!  The list goes on...  I mean, I got to drive STEVEN RETCHLESS in my truck.  We ate French fries together!  I got to meet my pole sister from Australia, Kym (who is on an adventure around the world practically)! 

I very excitedly found my published articles in both Issue 5 of Vertical Art and Fitness Magazine (the black cover with Steven Retchless) and Pole Dance International Magazine (blogs with photos coming up soon).  

I had many intentions for the weekend.  I wanted to attend seminars and workshops.  I wanted to shop the vendors and meet people.  But what I ended up doing instead was watching.  I watched every single performance over the weekend.  Including the non-PoleCon shows, I videoed about 100 performances.  Part of me wishes I would have walked around more and experienced the convention.  But a bigger part of me is happy I have been able to provide videos for those who couldn't attend. 

My true goal for the weekend was to have something epic happen.  When Nadia Shariff ran up to me and said, "Hey, I recognize those boobs," I felt like my weekend was complete.  

I was really excited to be interviewed by Suzy Q for her documentary, Pole Life, and by Pole World News.  

Below is a playlist for the Saturday morning solo performances, which included my new friends, Lulu and Roz.  Don't miss Clementine, the granny pole dancer:



Below is a playlist for the Saturday afternoon solo performances, which included our very own Shelly Lamb and good friends of Twirly Girls, Pantera and Natasha Wang:



Saturday night was the big Bad Kitty Fashion Show and Showcase of the Stars.  Not to be missed:  My new friend, Annemarie Davies as Napoleon Dynamite. 



I was sad that Felix Cane didn't perform, but figured that maybe she was under contract with cirque du soleil.  She appears in the Michael Jackson Immortal Tour.  I stopped into the after-party, but was tired and ended up sitting in the hot tub and going to bed instead.  

On Sunday, there was the Bad Kitty Spins and Tricks battle:



Sunday afternoon, the group performances lasted about three hours.  It was a long show, but I saw so many great performances.  I have so many ideas for new moves I want to try and only wish I had created an index of cool moves as we went along so I don't have to watch ten hours of video to remind myself.  Don't miss our Twirly Girls, Shelly Lamb and Grace Garcia!  Our sister studio from Nor. Cal., Poletential, also performed.  Check out Golden Eye for some hot mamas!  After watching Kelly Maglia's Vertical Theater demo, I am definitely trying to figure out how to make a second trip to LA in October so I don't miss it. 



My only complaint has to do with the venue.  We were at the Marriott LAX.  They over-sold the hotel and didn't seem to care (there are so many horror stories to even list them all here).  Their internet was also terrible.  For a place that advertises itself as a convention center, you would think they would have a stronger signal for all of those vendors trying to run credit card sales off of their phones.  Even though it's not PoleCon's fault that the hotel was terrible, I guess I would hope that they wouldn't use them again as I watched the hotel be completely rude and unhelpful to their attendees (although for every employee that irritated me, there was one that was awesome.  I guess 50-50 isn't half bad.  No pun intended.)  ;-)  I imagine that next year's event will be in another part of the country, so the chances of returning to LA (or this venue) are slim to none.  Many of us have been debating where the next convention will be.  Although our crowd selfishly hopes it will be in San Francisco, I imagine it makes sense to move it to the middle of the country somewhere, although maybe not Chicago since the Midwest Pole Competition is in that area.  I'm sure they already know where it will be.  Jessalyn says that it takes 13 months to plan each convention.

So, while we are waiting to hear when and where PoleCon 2013 will take place, Bel has decided that I must do a Viking Warrior routine next year.  I am extremely nervous and need to start training a little harder to even pretend to be on par with the performers I saw last weekend.  But I also think it could be a lot of fun and I am game to try.  Maybe I should start trying to perform locally so I can lose that whole sweat-over-every-inch-of-my-body thing that happens now when I get nervous.  Doesn't really go well with pole dancing.

If you were at PoleCon, please tell me your high and low lights!  I'd love to hear about what you liked and what you'd change.