He had no idea how hard pole dancing was.
During a cast party of 9 Works Theatricals' Rent about a couple of years ago, I won a free hour of pole dancing lessons in the raffle. I never got to avail of it, so it eventually expired. I never even tried to contact Polecats about it. Even though I do have a little curiosity about pole dancing, I guess it didn't quite spark my interest that much.
I do follow the Polecats' sites on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and just recently I started following their blog as well. I guess it was under the influence of knowing that I have a friend who's a Polecat (Kris), but that was it. Kris is a friend I met through a couple of musical theater workshops at least a decade ago, and after that, we sort of drifted apart.
So anyway, after reading all those posts on their blog site, I started becoming a little more curious, and decided to check out one class to see what it's like. I didn't really have any expectations though, as I have no dance background whatsoever, unless you include my 5 months of ballroom dancing classes.
Yesterday was that day. I was told there was a 1pm beginners class, and also a 2pm class that afternoon (I didn't want to wake up early for the 10am class). I was planning to take the 1pm class, but I didn't exactly calculate the Saturday traffic and commute to Ortigas, plus I had to walk to the place just so I know how to get there without relying on cabs.
I arrived at the Polecats studio while the 1pm class was still going on. There was just one student, one of the teachers (I think it was Kayleen), plus another girl who was somewhat assisting her. I signed up for the next class and filled out a form, then I just sat there watching the last few minutes of the 1pm class. A few girls started trickling in for the next class, and when I saw a couple of girls filling out forms as well, I was relieved that I wouldn't be the only first-timer.
One of the girls approached the rest of us, introducing herself as a blogger who would be documenting her experience, asking if we would mind if photos of us in class would be taken. Of course we wouldn't, though in the back of my mind, I wondered if I would look like the total fool in the photos who didn't know what she was doing with her pole. I got around to talking to her after that. She introduced herself (Joanne) and her boyfriend (eep, forgot his name, sorry), and I told them that I was also a blogger, and asked if I could also link her blog and photos to mine. So yes, I'll be linking it at the end of this blog once she posts them.
Our teacher was Sheng, whom I recognized as Monang, the comical maid in Magsimula Ka. After starting the class with warmups, she asked us first-timers to take the first row of poles right in front of her, while the rest took the others. Eep.
Sheng first taught us some basic spins. The fireman spin. Then there was an "extended fireman," (with one leg stretched out), but when I searched it on YouTube, it was called the martini spin. Plus another spin where you end up on your knees. I forgot what it was called, but on YouTube, it's named the showgirl spin.
I was having fun doing the spins because I easily caught on. I thought it was going to be as easy as those, until Sheng started to teach us a basic climb while she had the other students climb their own poles all the way to the top. At this part of the class, I can only hang on to the pole for a couple of seconds, and then I could feel myself slipping. I watched Joanne in envy, as she easily managed this than I could. While I was still trying to work on it, we had to learn how to do the dreamgirl plus another trick. Once again, I could only stay on the pole halfway through, then slip back down again. I could feel my right calf bruising already. Damn, I realized I had no upper body strength at all.
We ended the class with a little dance with our poles, and I liked that part because we didn't have to do any more climbing, haha. A little choreo, ending with a basic spin, then we had to cool down in one corner of the studio because AJ's men's pole class had to begin. I felt that my arms had turned to jelly after class, and Joanne and I were joking about it as we exchanged blog links.
Even with my jelly-like arms, I managed to make it to yesterday's evening show of Atlantis Productions' Nine at RCBC. It's one awesome show that I was glad I didn't miss. Plus it was an opportunity to see Carlo and Micah again. Dyown was supposed to watch too, but she had to bail at the last minute because her shift at work ended later than she had expected.
So I didn't really conquer the pole. I don't think I'm cut out for pole dancing, because I'm more comfortable staying on the floor with ballroom dancing, hahaha. Plus I rely on muscle memory and lots of practice to get the hang of things, and I don't have my own pole to do it. But I still felt accomplished because I eventually got off my bum to try it out once for curiosity's sake. It's not as easy as others may think, as it requires a lot of power and strength to execute all those tricks and stunts. Thank you so much, Polecats, for this opportunity.
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Edit:
Here's Joanne's blog entry about Polecats. She also posted photos of herself during our class. If you see that teeny splash of bright blue shorts behind her, that's me. Thank goodness I'm not visible so as not to make a fool of myself, hahaha.
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