Holding one's body on a slippy metal pole has always been an interesting battle. Apart from gravity not helping in one's ability to stay on a pole there are several other factors that come into play: It seems that if the pole is too cold then it is not grippy and if the pole is too hot it encourages you to sweat so you also lack grip. If the air is cold then it is difficult to warm your muscles so they become weaker and do not perform to their best.
Obviously you can't wear clothes to keep you warm as they do not stick to the pole either. Oh and then there is the small matter of nerves: Whether you are nervous of performing or whether you are nervous because you are just trying a new move that is challenging your fear factor the result is usually that the body starts to sweat and this may result in no adhesion to the pole and a swift unplanned descent to the floor!
If you didn't see Horizon last night then you would have missed the fantastic debate on why we have a problem with nudity, why we are hairless in the first place and how we went from being hairy to hairless and then to wearing clothes. You can click here to watch the programme on BBC i-player. The programme features some interesting info on why we sweat and how essential sweating is to us as humans.
However important sweat is to human beings it is not good for pole dancing and therefore I have become increasingly reliant on my gloves for performances and exhibitions. My favourite gloves are the Nomis junior sports mitt (half finger) which Nomis have stopped making however I have sourced some old stock so will have some new gloves in by the end of next week, check out the website for full details. I also have a new contact from Nomis who may be able to get me some more stocks of my favourite gloves. You can see the gloves in action in the photo of me above performing a twisted grip handspring, picture courtesy of Chris Trent from Global Eye Photography.
Another solution for sweaty palms are products such as mighty grip which I have used for over a year but I find it is not strong enough to deal with competition sweat - trust me in the fact that comeptitions do very funny things to your palms and you can seat from your palms even if you are cold! I have just secured a deal to stock a new product called Dry Hands which may work for those who do not get on with mighty grip, I will keep you posted and will add it to the website as soon as my first delivery arrives.
Other art of dance news: The Advanced instructional pole dancing DVD Volume 1 has seen a delay in its launch due to me having to re-record some of the voice-overs but it should be ready for release in the next few weeks. The BBC documentary is scheduled for next Thursday 12th March on BBC3 at 8pm and is part of the Real Britain series, the series actually starts tomorrow so I will be watching the first 2 parts to see what sort of style the programme takes. Lastly I should have some exciting news for you regarding the forthcoming national UK site - the Pole Dance Community and another new national site that I am sworn to secrecy on!! More news very soon.....
Stay Healthy,
Sam x
3 comments:
Hi there,
My name is Darryl Cassingham and I am the Heead of Research for Nomis.
Indeed we have moved our glove range to an allied brand called Hirzl (http://www.hirzl.com/) who are currently utilising our wet control technology in their golf gloves. I do know more models are coming and that there are some half finger varieties for other sports coming soon.
There is an opportunity to make these gloves for you, but unfortunately minimums are 3,000 gloves at a time.
If you need any other help please let me know. I guess you are contacting Tony at the Australian distribution centre???
Cheers,
Darryl
Hi Daryl, If you are reading this would you be able to drop me an e-mail to sam@theartofdance.co.uk. Sam x
Fab pic.
I've found cold more of a problem than heat. I did a show on NYE where backstage was freezing so by the time I got onstage, I didn't have any grip at all. Really frustrating that venue managers don't understand that if they want you to perform well, they need to give you the conditions to do so!
Puss
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