Wednesday, April 25, 2012

More Confessions of a Twirly Boy...


    
    I Won! I won the Pole Dance Off against Lori!

    Wait, I better back up a little here. You may not know what I am talking about. 

    I was challenged to a Pole Dance Off by my friend Lori to win the heart of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. We had been going back and forth, for a while on which one of us The Rock wanted. Lori thought that she would be able to seal the deal by challenging me to a Pole Dance. She had two years experience on the pole and I had none. Well, I was not going to let that stand in the way, so I accepted.

     The Pole Dance Off was set to happen at the Lovely Rita Fundraiser, which only gave me nine weeks to get in shape and learn to pole dance. I got signed up for my first class at Twirly Girl Pole Fitness and my instructor was…. Lori. Crap, I am going to lose The Rock forever!

        So, let me get back to my pole training. I had a great instructor in Lori! She had me doing sways, fairies and lotuses in no time. I cannot forget Bel either. Bel is the owner of Twirly Girl Pole Fitness. She is an amazing person and was so patient in her teaching. At any rate, after some sore muscles and a few bruises (aka Pole Kisses); I had the basics down and was on my way to being a Twirly Boy.

    Next, we had to pick a song to dance too. Lori was gracious enough to let me choose and I went with Pink’s F**k’in Perfect.  Then we had to choreograph the number. At this point, I started going to Twirly Girl twice a week so we could rehearse the number. Again, this great group of ladies was there to help in the process, from suggesting movies to filming us while we worked on the number. Rita, as in The Lovely Rita, was a big help and so encouraging to me.

    At one point, I found that I was able to climb the pole while it was spinning. Lori and Rita said that I should use that in my solo part of the dance off. I worked on the climbing and then on the decent. I ended up with letting my legs swing out and slowly slide down the pole. I also continued to work on a few parts of the routine that I kept getting hung up on.

    Finally, the big day arrived. Surprisingly I was not nervous about the performance. However there was one little glitch in the day. The air conditioner had gone out in the studio. It was hot!
Amazingly, nobody let that hold them back. I watched every performer give it their all. Then came time for Lori and me to do our performance. We were given an introduction by Bel and Rita and we took to the poles.

    We nailed it! I loved hearing the audience cheer when I climbed the pole, but my favorite part of our routine is near the beginning. After walking around the pole a few times, Lori and I would come face to face. At that point, Lori would always get a big grin on her face. It is at that point you realize that the most important part of the routine is to just have fun. And that is what we did.

    After we finished our performance, we were greeted by The Rock! Ok, it was Rita’s husband holding a Rock mask in front of his face. Then both Lori and I were given photos of The Rock that Rita had photoshoped us into.

    So, I had won the pole dance off, but here is the real thing; I had already won in several bigger and better ways by just signing up for pole dancing. One of the wins, or should I say loses, is my wait. I have lost around twenty pounds. That is a good ego boost right there. The biggest win is that I have made new friends thru this whole process. I have found that everyone at Twirly Girl Pole Fitness is really supportive and encouraging. I was treated just like one of the girls. I have gotten to meet or know better some amazing people. I am even going to keep on taking pole classes.

    There is that old saying; it is not the destination that is important but the journey there. It’s true, and I am continuing on in my journey.