My first day, minute, hour at #bobbiselizabethst I’ll never forget. 8:15pm, Wednesday 4th May, 2016 with Miss Cody Cabana
I think we can all guess what I was wearing. Heels? Nope. 👠❌
Hot pants? Solid Nope. 👙🚫
What I did have on was a very big, excited smile. 🤓✔️
I had tried one pole class back in NZ, when I was 18. A new studio in Wellington was advertising free trial classes. The poles were heaps thicker and didn’t spin. Not gonna lie, I snuck back in for a 2nd free trial, because I loved it so much. Unfortunately I was studying and living off 2min noodles, so I couldn’t finance joining up. By the time I was working full time, I had moved back to my small home town, where pole dancing was yet to take off.
Moving to Australia, and all life’s other confuffle’s, made it a fond and distant memory.
Still, after all those years I wanted to start pole properly and for so many reasons! I was sick of my stiff body, over the boring PT sessions and I knew I was lacking creativity in my life.
Earlier last year I had befriended Zoe, an amazing instructor from Trick Fitness in Canberra. She was my biggest inspiration to start.
Around Easter, I went to her house and saw amazing photos of her pole dancing, in what I considered death defying tricks and positions. I knew for sure I needed to try pole again, after seeing those photos. She was SO flexible. And fit. And happy. What did I have to lose?
So there I was, first class at Bobbi’s, excited, nervous and then-
Did Cody just say THEME? And DRESS UP?
Are we learning a routine to NELLY?! All my favourite things, all rolled into one!
I knew after my week 8 performance and watching the advanced girls (you know who you are!), I would have to find a very good excuse to give up pole. By golly, I want to be hanging on by one ankle too!
I was itching to get to int 1 and get upside down ASAP, but alas, we had a week break. One of the girls on reception told me to try Foxy’s “get me the hell out of int 1” workshop before going into Int 1. I can’t recommend it enough! I did my upside down V first go and I was hooked! I wanted to always be upside down! I’d wake up at 530am and go for my morning run and then practice in the dark, on a playground pole.
Unfortunately, years of long distance running and not enough stretching led to veeeery limited flexibility. I repeated Int 1 for that pesky open leg Jamilla. My hips just kill when I do this. One day, I’m sure I’ll love it, but for now this is my nemesis move.
My other hurdle, is how I walk like a new born calf in high heels 🐮. I seem to always stumble if I’m not holding on to the pole (and sometimes when I am!)
My best example of this was at the Christmas party.
Still, this has to be the highlight in my pole journey so far! It had been my dream for a while to pole clean. (How cute are the kittys? Hello Natalie Lacey and Lucca Valentine 😻) And I just love to be involved and know all the ins and outs of pole and behind the scenes (aka FOMO).
I was ecstatic when I got to help at the Christmas party! You would have thought I had won Miss World, the way I was carrying on! I was so excited, I even bought my own wipe down cloth, just in case! I would have been totally lost without Ava, because turns out in all my excitement, I realised I had no clue how to actually pole clean. Then I got so nervous that Daniel, who was performing first, and Stephanie were the ones calming ME down!
But then it was great and Chilli said I had a nice bum and all my dreams were coming true!
And then I fell over.
..BUT on the bright side I ended the year with a bang! (And a bum roll!) 🎉🍑
To say I would be lost with out pole (and slap) is an understatement. Before pole, when I first came to Australia, I’d been through a bit of a rough patch. I’d somehow picked up these silly body confidence issues, which then led me to become obsessed with what I ate and I was borderline orthorexic.
I’d force myself to go to the gym, which I hated, and I always worried I could be fitter or thinner and compared myself to every fitness model on Instagram. I really wasn’t myself.
But now my life with pole it’s DA BOMB 💣 i love that I get to dress up every 8 weeks! I’ve made some amazing friends and I am inspired everyday by our teachers.
I hardly look twice or criticise my bod like I used to. I’m a smudge more flexi eg I can sit in a pigeon pose with out planning my funeral and I’m fitter and stronger than I’ve ever been (minus all the Christmas pud).
This all took me a while to notice, because I was just too happy dancing!
I’m sure we’ve all got pole goals to work towards. I’m a huge advocate for #thestruggleisreal and I have often had to battle my inner mean gal (the nasty chica in your head that says you “can’t” or you aren’t good enough), but like Jingyu Chen said, the sky is the limit! Do your thing, have fun and trust the process! It’s ok to be a caterpillar, as long as you don’t let a tough cocoon stop you from becoming a butterfly 💁🏼
And now I will leave you with my new personal motto: “don’t stop until you spatchcock!”
💖 Chels xo