"The Dancer beleives that his art has something to say which cannot be expressed in words or in any other way than by dancing... There are times when the simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words. There are movements which impinge upon the nerves with a strength that is incomparable, for movement has the power to stir the senses and emotions, unique in itself. This is the dancer's justification for being, and his reason for searching further for deeper aspects of his art."
-- Doris Humphrey, 1937
-- Doris Humphrey, 1937
I've been thinking lately about teaching pole, and why I want to. Here is what I have come up with.
I LOVE dancing. And I've been doing it since I can remember - from my early childhood (before I started dance classes at age 5 or 6) dancing around to christmas music and my dad's Tom Petty in the basement, to today with pole dancing, I've pretty much been a dancer my whole life - it was the first thing i can remember loving. I take joy in the movement, and that makes me want to share it - if I can show just one person how to take joy in the movement of their body, I have made a positive impact on the world, because joy taken in movement through dance can translate into joy taken in every day life, which then ripples through everything. I love how dance puts me fully in my body, makes me conscious of my movement and how graceful that, in turn, makes me feel.
I love pole dance specifically for a couple different reasons. First is that there is no age restriction. Most forms of dance are catered towards young kids - in some cases, even starting as late as 12 or 13 carries the risk of ending up in a class with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds. There are not very many classes for adults out there - especially beginners. I think it's especially hard for those with absolutely no previous dance training at all - they have the added challenge of trying to learn how to move their body to mimic another person, often in ways they've never tried to move before.
Second is that there is nno style restriction with pole. We teach the movements, but everyone brings their own style to it. You can pole with just tricks, you can pole with just dance transitions, you can do spins, or any combination of the three. You can make your dance athletic, funky, sexy, graceful, flirty, sensual, angry, dramatic - really, you can bring almost any feel you want to the range of movements that pole dance encompasses. I personally find myself leaning more to the graceful and flowing, although I like to play with fun and flirty, and I've been trying to build my comfortability and confidence up enough that I can try dancing in a way that is blatantly sexy and sensual - I feel it would be a very empowering thing to explore - I'm planning on posting on that sometime soon.
The other thing I'd like to bring up in regards to why I want to teach is a reconnection to your physical, sensual self. I think that a disconnection with our bodies is one of the biggest reasons why so many people struggle with low self esteem. To find joy in the movement of your body, and fall in love with the world through sight, smell, sound, and most especially touch is a beautiful and amazing thing - and how can you feel that you are not good enough, or your body isn't good enough when you're experiencing joy through it? I speak from experience when I say it's pretty hard to feel bad about yourself when you feel so good about what you're experiencing. The tricky part is remembering to include those experiences in your life - and I find that dance brings me naturally to that place, and makes it easy to connect.
There is one more point of teaching that I'd like to mention - it's going to need a post of it's own for me to put everything in detail, but here's a brief overview. I want to teach choreography, finding/creating your dance style, adding more presence and emotion to your dancing, and how to polish tricks you already know to make them look better. But mostly I want to teach how to really feel the dance deep into the body, and take joy in the feelings it evokes there.
I LOVE dancing. And I've been doing it since I can remember - from my early childhood (before I started dance classes at age 5 or 6) dancing around to christmas music and my dad's Tom Petty in the basement, to today with pole dancing, I've pretty much been a dancer my whole life - it was the first thing i can remember loving. I take joy in the movement, and that makes me want to share it - if I can show just one person how to take joy in the movement of their body, I have made a positive impact on the world, because joy taken in movement through dance can translate into joy taken in every day life, which then ripples through everything. I love how dance puts me fully in my body, makes me conscious of my movement and how graceful that, in turn, makes me feel.
I love pole dance specifically for a couple different reasons. First is that there is no age restriction. Most forms of dance are catered towards young kids - in some cases, even starting as late as 12 or 13 carries the risk of ending up in a class with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds. There are not very many classes for adults out there - especially beginners. I think it's especially hard for those with absolutely no previous dance training at all - they have the added challenge of trying to learn how to move their body to mimic another person, often in ways they've never tried to move before.
Second is that there is nno style restriction with pole. We teach the movements, but everyone brings their own style to it. You can pole with just tricks, you can pole with just dance transitions, you can do spins, or any combination of the three. You can make your dance athletic, funky, sexy, graceful, flirty, sensual, angry, dramatic - really, you can bring almost any feel you want to the range of movements that pole dance encompasses. I personally find myself leaning more to the graceful and flowing, although I like to play with fun and flirty, and I've been trying to build my comfortability and confidence up enough that I can try dancing in a way that is blatantly sexy and sensual - I feel it would be a very empowering thing to explore - I'm planning on posting on that sometime soon.
The other thing I'd like to bring up in regards to why I want to teach is a reconnection to your physical, sensual self. I think that a disconnection with our bodies is one of the biggest reasons why so many people struggle with low self esteem. To find joy in the movement of your body, and fall in love with the world through sight, smell, sound, and most especially touch is a beautiful and amazing thing - and how can you feel that you are not good enough, or your body isn't good enough when you're experiencing joy through it? I speak from experience when I say it's pretty hard to feel bad about yourself when you feel so good about what you're experiencing. The tricky part is remembering to include those experiences in your life - and I find that dance brings me naturally to that place, and makes it easy to connect.
There is one more point of teaching that I'd like to mention - it's going to need a post of it's own for me to put everything in detail, but here's a brief overview. I want to teach choreography, finding/creating your dance style, adding more presence and emotion to your dancing, and how to polish tricks you already know to make them look better. But mostly I want to teach how to really feel the dance deep into the body, and take joy in the feelings it evokes there.
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