Friday 6 November 2009

My Pole Dance Challenge - The result

Well today was the day I took on my pole dance challenge. In hindsight having quite a few real ales last night with the lovely Amelia B probably wasn't the best idea but I did my best nevertheless. For those of you who don't know what the hell I am on about I was challenged to see how many times I could monkey climb a 50mm x-pole (2.8 metres high) in 60 seconds - click here to see the actual bet on Be Lucky Tote. Anyway here is the video of my challenge;



So 14 climbs in 60 seconds! I am fairly pleased but know I could have done better. Being that time of the month didn't help either (sorry guys - more info than you needed I am sure!). I hope to set up another challenge soon and like the idea of a 60 second climb starting with a shoulder mount from the floor into inverted caterpillar climb then death drop into reverse shoulder mount and so on! I didn't actually train for this challenge but think that if I do another challenge it will encourage me to train harder and boost my fitness levels.

Anyway back to last night and my lovely night out with Miss Amelia B. We started off in the Mannamead to check out the Real Ale festival. I love the idea that you can buy 3 different beers in 1/3 pint glasses for just £1.69! What I didn't love was that one beer from Poland was made with fruit - YUK, if I wanted a fruit based product I wouldn't have ordered an ale!  If you don't appreciate real ale you can ignore the next paragraph.


Here are the 6 beers I sampled and my comments on each;
Shepherd's Neame - Damnbuster - 4.4% - Loved this one but have always been a fan of this brewery. A proper ale!

Batemans - Iron Lady - 4.1% - probably very nice but it was cloudy and the bar staff argued that it was fine even though it clearly wasn't!!
Thwaites - Liberation Ale - 4.5% - Lovely Ale, beautiful colour, Mmmmm!
Browar Namystow - Plum. Avoid unless you like fruit mixed with beer - simply horrible!

Jennings - Cockerhoop - 4.6% - Nice summery Ale, light and refreshing.


Galbraiths - Mr G's luncheon Ale - 3.7% - Lovely colour and pleasant taste. would try again! 


My two clear favourites were the Damnbuster and the Liberation Ale!


After the beer tasting we went to see a contemporary dance production by Attik Dance at the Roland Levinsky Theatre at Plymouth University. I was dying to see the theatre as this was the place I have been excluded from for the past two years. Plymouth University hold an annual 'dance, dance, dance event' which is meant to be socially inclusive and about tackling prejudice - however they will not allow me to pole dance and will not give me a reason why! I have sent them videos of some of my performances to quell any concerns they have but have still been denied access to perform at the event. Remember this is the same event that has salsa and belly dancing in its programme! What was interesting was that the performance I saw last night contained nudity and swearing - So that is obviously fine but pole dancing isn't????


Aside from my crusade to take pole dancing everywhere last nights performance was brilliant and was beautifully put together. I loved the theatre and the lighting was amazing. I also loved the final scene which involved 8 foot scaffold chairs which the dancers moved around on (Mmm - dancers moving their body weight and dancing on a metal structure - sound familiar??). 

So work now calls me and the pile of admin on my desk isn't going anywhere in a hurry.


Stay healthy,


Sam x

1 comment:

Krissy said...

Wow that's amazing! I'd have struggled to do that twice let alone 14 times! Well done :) xx