Celebrating your 2017 pole achievements

It’s that time of year again where every fucker on social media decides to do some sort of post analysing the past 12 months, listing all their achievements and failures like some sort of spiel you would here on X Factor before proudly stating that the following year will be “their year.” Well guess what dear readers, your old friend Foxen over here is no different from your other social media counterparts, with the exception of a pole-related twist.

I always feel there is something exciting about the arrival of a new year, especially for us pole dancers, as we start to plan all the awesome tricks and combos that we want to achieve and feel pumped to get back into the studio and bust out some moves. However, before we start racing ahead and planning our 2018 pole goals, I believe it’s super important to look back at your progress over 2017 before charging into 2018. Before giving oneself a kick up the ass, give yourself a pat on the back first!

All too often us pole dancers are guilty of looking too far into the future and chasing rainbows, fucking hell I know I definitely am. Whenever I’m at practice, instead of feeling proud of myself for achieving a new trick, I’m instead sat in awe staring at my two best friends Jess and Dana- Jess with her hip flexors and shoulders as bendy as cheese strings and Dana with her spine that can fold itself into all manner of positions! But now, thanks to the gentle bullying of these two and my other pole family members, I have been encouraged to look back at what I have achieved instead of measuring my progress against others. And I strongly urge you lovely readers to do so to! Whether you just started pole this year and managed to do your first successful chair spin or pole sit, or if you’re a wee bit more advanced and have managed to achieve your first handspring, Ayesha or any other trick, note it down and give yourself the praise you deserve.

In case you’re interested, here are my top five pole milestones that I managed to reach in 2017 that I’m a tad proud of.

1. The Shoulder mount

Damn it took me bloody ages to achieve this! When I started shoulder mount training in April 2016, I couldn’t even get my legs of the floor in a scissor kick motion. By some miracle, by September/October time, I managed to get my ass off the floor and held it about half-2/3rds of the way up. This level of progress plateaued for about eight months until, on the momentous day of 28^th August 2017, the magic finally happened and my ass flew above my head, which is what you can see in the photo above! I’ve been practicing my shoulder mounts since and they have stayed there, YAY! Now to train then on my bad side and pray for the sweet release of death in the process.

2. Extended Butterfly!

A good old fashioned Butterfly was always my go-to trick, so learning how to take it up a notch into an extended and make all my muggle friends and relatives go “ooooh!” felt awesome! It was more difficult than I expected at first, but again I’m gradually feeling stronger in this trick.

3. Embracing my body more on that stage.

As the number of pole performances I have done has increased, the sizes of my costumes have dramatically decreased. I am more than proud to be a Classique/Authentic/Stripper style pole dancer and like to offer my own little nod of recognition to our stripper foremothers for thrusting pole dance into the spotlight by revealing as much flesh as I can when performing. I recommend getting your baps out (within the regulations of your venue of course) when up on stage, it’s massively liberating!

4. Choreographing and performing a routine with a story/theme

I love pole performances that tell a story or have a solid theme and it’s my dream to enter Pole Theatre one day, so I thought I would get a bit of practice in this year and craft a sexy serial killer themed routine (yes I know it’s an odd concept, but I like to think it worked!) For the first time I mixed to tracks together, used a plethora of props (including the lovely human one my dear friend Dannis) and had some sort of a story throughout. It wasn’t a perfect routine trick wise, but I definitely got a taste for more theatrical pieces and want to up my pole story telling game in 2018!

5. Chrome Chronicles!

Okay, so it’s not directly pole dancing as such, but this little blog in front of your very eyes was born in 1^st February 2017! Writing has always been my first passion in life, so finding a way to combine my love of pole with my love of writing has been a more than joyous edition to my little life. Thank you to all of you who take the time to read my blog and comment on my posts, you make this grouchy old cow very happy indeed!

If you have any awesome pole milestones that you have reached in 2017, give yourself a round of applause then drop them in the comments!