Busy, busy!

Life at the art of dance has been very busy; our pole dancing and burlesque classes have been really full and even the yoga classes are starting to take off. Last Friday was one of our regular art of dance socials at Annabel's Cabaret and we saw some fabulous student performances from our amatuer burlesque ladies as well as our male pole dancing student. The night kicked of with Betty Corbeau wowing the audience with a raunchy routine, she was followed by Miss Bella Beau who dazzled the crowd with a class act. Next up was Della La Tusch who gave us a very sexy number which truly entertained. Last but definitely not least was Miss Purr-dee with her 'needs to be loved' routine, it was the second live performance from Miss Purr-dee and you could see a remarkable improvement from the first time round, Miss Purr-dee has a gentle, feminine style that encaptures and delights. After the amateur acts the stage was seized by our very own Burlesque artist Georgina Gale who introduced us to her latest routine entitled red and gold. I think this is by far Georgina's greatest and most beautiful routine to date. Apologies for the brief review of the evening but I have lots to cover today!

After the burlesque acts we saw our male student pole dancer Chip McThrust putting on a real show of strength and including moves such as the Chinese Flag and the Shoulder Mount Plank, there were some signs of performance nerves but Chip's strength shone through and he was able to demonstrate the true gymnastic nature of pole dancing. Next up was me! As usual I have spent many hours slating my performance but was happy with my new shoulder mount combo, cupid drop and Allgra. I was followed by the amazing Limara Silk who danced outstandingly and included a fabulous holly drop from the supeman as well as two of her signature moves; the floating ballerina and pixie spin. Last on the pole was Sue aka Georgina Gale, I missed this final performance but was told that is was absolutely breath taking. Unfortunatley none of the videos were bright enough to view but there are some videos later in the blog from another event. A big thank you to the lovely Amelia B for MCing and putting up with my stressfulness on the night!!

On Friday 5th March the art of dance team performed at a charity night at WoW nightclub to raise money for Children's Hospice South West. When we agreed to perform at the club we knew that the venue had it's on pole but we didn't realise it was a 60mm pole, if you are a pole dancer you will know that 45mm or 50mm are the usual UK pole diameters as these are comfortable for a ladies hand to grip, 60mm is not. Add to this problem the fact that the pole is spinning and situated withn 4 feet of a mirrored wall. I have to say that my risk assessments failed on this ocassion and Rosanna's long legs were the first to hit the mirror on her first set and a lighting rig on the second. I too experienced some sudden changes from spinning to static as my feet collided with the edge of the wall. Despite conditions we managed to pull some nice tricks out of the bag and no-one gained any serious injuries.

I have to say that the crowd were lovely and Chantelle the organiser had put on a really fabulous evening including some great exhibitors, a fashion show from Spoilt fashions, topless waiters (pictures to follow...) and a male stripper who was actually quite terrifying, his performance started well with him exciting the crowd whilst dressed in a US firefighting costume but the lube covered, swinging genitalia at the end drew looks of sheer horror from the audience! Anyway we all had a fun evening and it was nice to spend time with nearly all of my team. Here are a few clips of our pole performances, apologies for the darkness of the  videos;

Click here to see Georgina Gale in action performing her latest red and gold burlesque routine as well her classic diamonds routine. 

Must sign of now as have loads to do including planning my election campaign and preparing for another chaity night next Friday at Exeter University. I will leave you with this lovely article about a lady who discovered pole dancing in her 40's and  is now completely addicted. I had the pleasure of meeting Karen at the launch of JLN fitness last year. More news to follow on this year's UK Pole Dance Day too....

Stay Healthy,

Sam x