This week I have been approved to be a Level 2 Instructor by Sam Remmer at the Pole Dance Community. I feel honoured, as this is not something just any pole teacher can get, I had to send my CV detailing my success in the pole world over the past 8 and half years, along with student testimonials and 2 references from PDC approved schools.
You can read it all here: http://www.poledancecommunity.co.uk/magazine/articles/jolene-parlour-achieves-level-2-status.html
I know a lot of people may not agree with me, but I really don’t see Pole Dancing being accepted into the Olympics in the near future. This is going to take years and before that happens we need to start working together. We have a lot of work to do before this can even be considered to be an Olympic Sport.
There have been a few attempts over the years to try and set up some sort of governing board or federation, and most of the time these have been shot down, by people saying things like ‘what gives them the right to set standards etc?’, I don’t think everyone realises that we need this sort of thing to set standards and regulations for the pole world. I mean you wouldn’t get some one commenting on Ice Skating saying, ‘now she is performing what we call the ‘Toe Loop Jump’ also known as the Kick n Spin and the Dizzy’. Everything has a name, this is the sort of thing that needs to be tackled by a federation of some sort.
Also I am getting feeback from students that there are many rubbish teachers that have very little knowledge about how to teach pole and these teachers are even ending up in big ‘well respected’ health clubs! Again we need standards set if we want the Olympics to take us seriously.
We now have a Pole Dancer group set up with Equity, this happened in 2007 and is a big move forward in the pole world. Sam Remmer who is on the board has also set up Pole Dance Community to help us create a better and safer pole world. This couldn’t of been set up by a better person, but still she has been subject to ridicule, on people saying ‘What makes her think she can do this?!’ We need someone like Sam to take charge and set something up, as without it the pole world is becoming bigger but more dangerous.
We are still at the start of people learning to pole dance for fitness, I think in the next 15 years we are going to see a lot of changes, including most moves having just one name (not 5!), more instructor training, more class locations, better class structures, more pole studios, more pole related CPD, also I think it would be nice if Pole can be accepted by the IDTA as a recognised form of dance.
In my personal opinion I can’t really see pole being in the Olympics, to me it will always be dance, and I know you get Figure Skating as a sport in the Olympics but you don’t see Street Dance or Ballet as a sport there. I understand that pole is very much gymnastic based, but I don’t see it as an Olympic sport.
Last weekend was another jam packed weekend full of pole, well allmost all pole.
On Friday I went to South Street in reading to watch my friend Danielle Corbishly in a performance called ‘1000 Revolutions Per Moment’. we had to follow the actors and performers around Reading, the key was to follow the music, where ever we heard music that was where we went to. It was very bizzare and made us all feel like kids again! It felt a bit like we were doing a massive treasure hunt around the town!
Saturday night was Poledivas in Bristol, much busier than the London heat. Everyone did fanastic routines, a few stood out for me, and Advance Amateur called Karry Summers, she did an excellent high energy routine to one of my favourite songs by System of a Down, I wasn’t surprised when she won the heat.
Sam Remmer from Art of Dance, Plymouth was on first for the professionals, her tricks amaze me everytime! I do not under stand how her tricks are solid as a rock, there is no movement or shaking.
Kate Johnstone from Spin City, Bristol did a fab routine to Smells Like Teen Spirit, you would never of guessed she had never done a big performance before, she had so much confidence and her routine was very fun.
On Sunday I was lucky enough to get a last minute spot on the Suzie Q Workshop in Bracknell. I was very surprised to see most of the moves didn’t require a stupid amount of flexibilty. She very much focused on strength, and reminded me a lot of Pantera. Suzie is a total nut on the spinny pole, she loves anything that makes her head spin and feel giddy. She is truely an inspiration on spinny pole!
I was asked by Storm from the Sunday Show on ‘On FM Radio’ if I would come in and have a chat about Pole Fitness and the issues regarding Sam Remmers performance at South Devon College. Yesterday I arrived in Hammersmith with Jason and went on air at about 12.40pm.
We discussed Sams performance and also how pole fitness is becoming more popular, we even spoke about how Jason and I met through a pole jam a few years ago. Storm knew a bit about pole fitness already seeing as she has already done a class up in Glasgow.
The 10 minutes was over so quickly but I think we done a good job of spreading the word about how fun and hard working pole fitness can be!
I am hoping to get a sound byte from the show, so I will post is here if I do.
Website for On FM Radio
I’m sure a lot of you by now will have heard about Sam Remmer’s pole performance at South Devon College as part of the college’s ‘Be Healthy Week’. One of my students mentioned it to me last night, and I was a bit worried, I thought here we go another pole dancer introducing teens to pole dressed in their high heels, and hot pants, gyrating round a pole and claiming to be about fitness….but no!…Sam’s performance was pole fitness!!
Sam was dressed in sports wear and showed off her amazing skills in pole combining incredible strength, grace and poise.
From what I could hear on the video students and staff seemed silent during her routine, perhaps in awe of her talent. To me this is a positive step as it showed they were actually watching her and paying attention.
What does seem strange is how there hasn’t been any official complaints, but the staff were not happy as their students were unfocused during the afternoon whilst sharing videos and photos they had taken of the performance on their mobile phones. The staff ‘assumed’ Sam’s routine was inappropriate for the young adults, therefore kicking up a fuss (please note this was before they had seen Sam’s performance!!).
I would like to point out a couple of things……I am sure if there had been a skateboard demo instead the students would have been filming them and comparing footage through out the afternoon…..now would the skaters have been inappropriate just because the students were showing interest after the event…or would this of been a good thing?….
I think it boils down to people stereotyping pole fitness to be something seen in strip clubs, when actually very little pole fitness is seen in those type of clubs.
I can’t help but wonder why these students are allowed to have mobile phones switched on during lesson time anyway?…..
Click here for Sam’s routine at South Devon College
Here is a photo of Sam taken at a competition last year (reproduced with permission)
