Hopeful sports are vying to get on the Olympic platform for many reasons, but the big one is coverage. Having a sport shown to the entire planet can change the face of a sport forever. The Olympic viewership alone creates a gigantic burst of interest and the sport sees a surge in participation, sponsorships and generally some new cash flow. This statement makes some of us in the pole dance community happy and frightens others. Pole’s acceptance from the Global Association of

Our current culture tosses around the term narcissist flippantly, pointing out self-absorbed or selfish behaviors and then quickly labeling them as narcissistic. With the rise of social media we are frequently barraged by a deplorable amount of Instagram selfies, Facebook statuses and pole videos. There needs to be further exploration into what is healthy behavior on social media and what is not. This is particularly important for pole, which has both grown and thrived as a c

New Post with Bad Kitty USA! The human body is a marvelous creation. No matter how challenging the workout, eventually the body adapts. Each week, we have a routine: we attend the same pole classes and for the most part work on the same moves or related moves. Of course this depends on the level, but once past the beginner realm it’s easy to get stuck. Perhaps class has gotten more difficult and you aren’t getting new moves as quickly as you once did. You feel like you are st

New Article with Bad Kitty USA. If you visit different pole studios around the world, it’s apparent that different combinations are taught in those studios, diverse teaching methods are employed and there is a distinctive vibe in each studio. From a business perspective, this is all well and good, but the real art behind a pole studio is having a positive classroom environment and fulfilling classes where students not only learn pole but feel like they are a part of somethin

As discussed in previous articles in this series, the body is an integrated system and when one muscle group becomes imbalanced another muscle group will often react to the disparity. The upper back muscles of the aerialist and poler get substantial use and creating lopsided muscle groups is completely plausible and probable. Our previous posts on shoulder imbalances have focused on the origins of the most common inequalities and examined brief postural fixes. At this point,

Pole and aerial are sports in their infancy, but have movement patterns related to mature sports such as gymnastics and dance. Yet the injuries and imbalances of pole and aerial are still collectively undocumented. Around the studio most of us know from observation that there are common injuries and imbalances amongst polers and aerialists. One of the principal issues is overdeveloped muscle groups versus underdeveloped muscle groups. This usually appears from improper techni

New Post with Bad Kitty USA! Learn three classic burlesque moves that you can incorporate into pole routines and choreo. http://www.badkitty.com/news/classic-burlesque-dance-moves-pole/ Video of Classic Burlesque Moves! Pole’s heritage comes from diverse sports and dance mediums and shares a common history with burlesque dance. The Burlesque dance in the United States began with hurly-burly girls of the 1860s, dancers and performers who provided entertaining social commentary

Strength is obviously a key component in making a break through in pole, however teaching the body the mechanics and how to engage muscles in a proper order also contribute to moving off a plateau. The point of the selected moves in this article are for total body engagement and working on feeling connected to the entire body, or employing complete muscle groups during pole. The goal is to not only connect to the dominant muscles, such as the upper back, but to start uniting

In pole and aerial we hit plateaus, often due to strength, or lack there of. Training with traditional core exercises is fine to get the core ready for basic pole. However, if a student wants to progress beyond the basics, the name of the game is core strength. I tell students pole is pilates abs but on crack, the other nice description I use is that pole requires the core strength of male gymnasts. Ideally, one would train with progression to reach harder pole moves and part

Aerial hoop like nearly all cirque apparatus has a bite, a painful bite that can leave bruises, soreness, pinched skin and tight muscles. For many new students in the hoop, the pain is intolerable and some students may choose not to come back. Retaining students and cutting down the pain are great goals for aerial hoop classes. Here is a collection of quick ways to reduce pain in the hoop. Proper Dynamic Warm-up A dynamic warm-up targets all major muscle groups and prepares t