Art of dance Rock Chick Social.

After what seems like an eternity off the pole after my knee injury I finally got the chance to perform again last Friday night; The art of dance had been given the Loft (formerly the Quay club) on the Barbican to put on a showcase of pole dancing and burlesque. I was unsure how the night was going to go as we have had mixed success with socials in the past and have experienced the usual horror stories of being told that a venue ceiling is solid and then finding out it isn't!

The rock chick night was planned to run from 7.30pm till 11pm when the club would then open to the public for Andy Howard's cheesey rock night, all the performers went for a rock theme and most of the audience dressed accordingly, everyone looked amazing.

Here is the line-up with links to the relevant videos, the vids are a little dark and I am not the most amazing camera-woman. I won't critique each performance apart from saying that everyone was amazing so check out each link:

First up was the gorgeous Georgina Gale with a stunning burlesque routine to Dean Martin's 'Sway'. After the burlesque act was our student showcase with students Noni Hunter and Laura Boyden performing like professionals. Next up was Rosanna Durban with a fabulous rock medley which was a real crowd pleaser and then it was my turn (see video below). After my injury I have found it hard to get back into full pole fitness and I am still very limited with the pole tricks that I can do, so many pole moves involve pressure to the knees! Despite my limitations and a complete lack of time to choreograph I was actually pleased with my freestyle act although, like everyone, I found the heat very hard to deal with and my palms were so sweaty that I was surprised I could grip at all.



The Student Pole Jam was a chance for some of our students to showcase their skills without having the pressure of a full routine, despite the mixed ability of the students they all managed to pull out some brilliant tricks and combinations.

After me it was time for Tamar Preston to do her thing and she did not disappoint. Tamar was followed by our teaching assistants Emma Thorpe (who is training for UKAPP) and Megan Hookins, both ladies wowed the crowd with their very different styles.

Unfortunately Jana was unable to perform as she was on call and had to dash off to deal with a cat with cystitis and a dog with spinal trauma. I am looking forward to seeing her dance at the next night.

The finale for the night involved Guest instructor Vicky Terri from Vix's Pole Fitness pulling of a high energy routine to Chop Suey by 'System of a Damned' followed by Sue aka Georgina Gale with a steamy yet beautiful routine to Supermassive Black Hole by 'Muse'.

I am so proud of my staff team and my students, they did me proud. After a rocky couple of years at the art of dance involving financial difficulty and staff issues it is so nice to be back on track again with an amazing staff team and a business that is starting to work.

One of the things that really impressed me about Friday night's performances is the variety of styles on offer, each dancer excelled in a different way with creativity, individual flair and precise execution of tricks. I really should have invited MP Gary Streeter to come along and take a peek so he could be educated.

So the next social will take place in 2 months time (date to be confirmed) and I will be delegating a few tasks so I don't run around like a headless chicken again. Big thanks to Andy Howard for sorting the venue and DJing and a huge thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of the art of dance, you have no idea how much it means to me.

Stay Healthy,

Sam x

p.s. Apologies to Brian and Gordon for leaving them in the DJ box last night, I promise you guys can come out next time.