I was back in my normal class last night, which is such an interesting and inspiring place to be. The girls are SO tough – strong, willful, ballsy women who push each other to be better. They’re a tight knit group, and I joined late, so I do a lot of observation of the others. There’s so much support in the room – the girls usually have a chosen partner that they team with each night, for spotting, breakdown of tricks, even photos (there are a lot of photos in our class). I love getting to see the difference in what we can all do, and I mean that in the best way – how Casey has become a little pole monkey, or Kelly’s extension on the Flatline, or Beth’s super bendy back, how Morgan nailed an aerial ayesha, how Mary Grace is the picture of grace and fluidity, etc.

Most of all, I’ve been so grateful lately to have the guidance and support of my instructor, Drea – she’s given me invaluable tips recently, in regards to the competition, but she’s always been so wonderful to all of us. Especially being that this is my first competition, and I’m probably in over my head, she’s been really sweet about giving me suggestions and tips.

Last night’s class was excellent. I went home afterward, bouncy and hyper and obsessively chattering about pole. I can feel the difference in my strength since starting training – I was able to do things that have given me problems for a year, which is SO gratifying. I worked on the moves that Drea broke down for us, also taking time to work on ideas for pole runs, transitions and possible combos for the competition, coming up with one I like better than the one I was going to go with originally. I worked on the spinning pole during our freestyle, so I can get used to it, and by the end of class, had all but scrapped what I was planning on doing because it just doesn’t work on spinning. As much as I need to nail down the exact things going into the routine, it was also really good to realize, “Hey, this doesn’t work” NOW, as opposed to trying and trying to make it work and having to scrap it later on. Sure, it means going back to the drawing board today and trying to mentally work out where things will go for the next few days, but I think I can log in some good time to work it out.

I’m in search of a new practice space, as my current one is closed for a bit – my home pole isn’t the right height to really do a full rehearsal, but I can definitely do a good portion of it there, now that I’ve rearranged my living room and opened up the space. I’ll be working today on floor work ideas (rehearsing certain things over and over, including my opening choreo), as well as listening to my song and seeing where I think certain stuff can flow.

Can’t believe it’s only 4 weeks away! *faints*

Side note: each week in class, we all work on our aerial pencil (from twisted hand grip), and I am SO CLOSE to nailing it – I’ve gotten it a couple of times, but am not yet able to hold it for the full five seconds of conditioning without a spotter. But, I work on it every class, because someday soon, it will be mine. 🙂 Drea is spotting me in this pic, although she’s in the process of backing out of it, as I was so close to getting it on my own. Soon, pencil. Soon you will be mine.

Pencil, you are almost mine!