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We are just recovered from a sparkle-tastic weekend at Pole Theatre Ireland 2016… Phew!
It’s been a busy few months here at IPDA HQ as we’ve been preparing and training for this competition: myself and fellow instructor Leanne Cummins took to the stage, as well as our Intermediate students Edyta and Mar! On New Year’s Day we all got the good news that we had been selected as finalists to compete in this amazing competition (yay!) and since then we have been training and spending countless hours refining and perfecting our acts. Mar and Edyta have been taking weekly one-to-one lessons in addition to their regular classes to bring to life their ideas and amazing performance pieces.
Mar and Edyta both competed in the Amateur Level Classique Category (ie: ) while myself and Leanne competed in the Pro Level Classique Category. While Classique celebrates the sexy or ‘traditional’ pole dance, competitors are required to artfully remove at least one piece of costume, in a manner which makes sense in regards to their performance, as well as dancing in heels (which is different to just wearing a pair of heels) 😉 Other pre-requisites are musicality, engaging with the audience and making a piece that is sexy from start to finish rather than just choosing the most difficult tricks!
Whilst none of us were successful in gaining trophies at this competition, we were all successful in creating truly original performances that were authentic, well thought-out, engaging, and most importantly, sexy and entertaining! We ‘brought sexy back’ in an unapologetic way, and we feel we represented sexy and exotic pole dance well.
Mar’s piece was a direct interpretation of her chosen song, ‘Magdalena’ by A Perfect Circle, to bring to life the ‘goddess’ stripper character of the song who was likened to Mary Magdalena. Watch her routine below, her movements are like melting chocolate!
Edyta’s performance was about a ‘pole dancer’s dream’ and perfectly captured the joy and raw pleasure of pole dance, with some dark and unexpected twists! She rocked the house with this dynamic and energetic piece!
Leanne Cummins (current All Ireland Pole Dancing Champion) chose a darker theme for her piece, and chose to battle her night terrors with her epic knee high boots! (video pending!)
And myself, I chose to bring together my 2 loves, Exotic pole dance and Burlesque in one titillating (yes, pun intended), bump ‘n’ grindy, shimmy-tastic performance! I had a lot of fun with piece; all I wanted to do was showcase all of the things I love about sexy pole and Burlesque, the naughtiness, the simplicity, the sheer sexiness and ability to make the smallest movements carry the biggest impact!
Winning competitions is awesome, but sometimes you have to take a step back from the idea of ‘winning’ and ‘losing’; once one’s own personal and creative goals have been fulfilled, everything else is a bonus 🙂
I want to give a special shout out to all of our amazing IPDA ladies who came along to cheer us on and support us! Lauren, Olya, Jillian, Lulu (who deserves a special shout out for her backstage help!), Sarah, Claire, Laura H, Laura F, Jean, Frances, Gabriela, Anna, Marta, Cordelia, Yvonne and Jam, and of course all the boyfriends and family members who attended! Thanks to the judges (especially Tiff Finney who we just adore) for their amazing positive feedback, and well done to all of the winners on the night, including our own Ariel Edesess of Studio 53 Galway!
Next up, ‘Bringing Sexy Back’ week in July! And of course, our usual daily operations, which includes bringing sexy back and helping our clients to reach their potential each and every day…
To your success,
Arlene Caffrey xx
PS: Not yet a member of IPDA? Or interested in training with us over Skype? Click here to request a free consultation and we will help you on your way to becoming stronger, sexier and more flexible!