Week 1 - Find your Flow: An Introduction
Last week we spoke about some of the concepts that are important when it comes to improving our flow: the most important being the ability to train like an O.G Pole Dancer and simply slow down. This week we are going to start introducing specific steps you can take on this journey.
In order to polish our tricks and movements we need to move from the thinking stage to the feeling stage, from the what to the how. If you're focusing on where to put your feet, or which leg hooks or which way your body is turning, then you're not focusing on HOW you're doing those things. Is your toe pointed? What are your arms doing? And you certainly won't be feeling in to those movements either.
What does it mean to feel what we're doing?
When we are focused on the mechanical elements of a pole trick or movement, we cannot FEEL in to our bodies in the same way. Our brain power is taken up with the simple step of moving each limb in the right order. Feeling your movements is about where you energy is directed. Can you even feel what your hands doing? Is there energy there? Or is it a limp fish? Does it feel good to move in that way?
We've all seen performers who are so utterly in their bodies and in each movement, and we feel what they do also. They look sexy because they feel sexy, and we end up feeling it too. It's a very abstract concept and hard to define in words, but when you get there, you'll know it.
So how do we actually do that?
First we need to start building a repertoire or catalogue of tricks and sequences we enjoy. This can be in our head, in a pole journal, using an app or social media account, but we need to be able to start recording everything we enjoy best. It's not about being good at absolutely everything, but about curating the things we naturally gravitate to and then polishing them.
Many pole dancers feel like failures when they can't achieve something specific, but not every trick is for every body, and we all prefer certain movements over others. It's absolutely fine to not like doing certain movements, you don't have to, because there will be hundreds of other things you enjoy doing more.
We'll talk about how we polish them next week, but for now, go and start recording your repertoire somewhere. What have you learn? What do you enjoy doing the most? After every training session add to your record. If you really hate something or can't do it then just leave it off! It's YOUR repertoire. No one elses.
See you next week for more flow tips!
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