Paradisaea Adult Student Showcase – Winter 2021

Our Sunday night Silks class agreed that we all would like to perform in a little showcase at the end of our December session (following Covid protocols). I also was able to invite a student that I have been teaching privately at my home studio to perform. It was going to be her first performance ever, so we worked on her routine together.

Covid numbers had been increasing and there was talk of new restrictions being implemented. I debated participating in the showcase because I was a little nervous about Covid. But I remembered how disappointed I was when we didn’t perform at the Army of Sass showcase in March 2020. I wanted to be able to live my life a little after 2 long years.

Since it was been 2 years since I performed in front of a live audience, so I was excited but very nervous too. I felt better when I realized everyone was nervous about performing and we supported each other. I was also so excited for my student performing and I was a proud pole momma that she came out of her shell to perform.

I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare routines for the showcase. I used a chair routine I was currently teaching, since it was familiar to me, but I didn’t have an ending for it so I freestyled the last part of the routine. I wore sequined elf slippers and had lots of fun with them in the routine. I had a beginning for then pole routine planned out, the rest I freestyled. I was more nervous with the pole routine but overall, I was happy how both routines turned out.

December Performances

December was a very busy month as I had 3 performances! The first one was at Southsides Bar in Fort Erie for a Ladies Night. I did this in 2016 with the SASS girls and that was the first event I did with them. This time though, I am a more confident and stronger performer. There was 5 of us girls that took turns playing on the pole to promote the studio. An old friend of mine was there and I made a few new friends, which made the night even better. The studio owner even got me to dance to a Snoop song. Honesty, when the MC announced me as a dancer of Snoop Dogg’s, I beaming with pride of my accomplishments.

The next performance was at a showcase for the Army of Sass dance showcase. Army of Sass is a separate dance company, but they were using the SASS studio to practice, so they invited the SASS pole girls to perform in their show. We had 9 of us performing, so we did various elements, including pole, acro and chair. My piece of the performance was with the chair. It was neat having so many of us on stage together and all coordinated with different elements.

The third performance, which as a day after the Army of Sass performance was for the Paradisaea After Dark winter showcase. I choose the song I’ll Be Home by Meghan Trainor because it wasn’t as corny traditional Christmas song. The routine was a combination of floor work and chair, which a lot of movements were from the Army of Sass routine, and then ending with some pole silks, again, pulling from previous routines. Because this performance was the day after the other one, it was easier to use choreography I was already familiar with. After the show though, the concept of the show was explained fully to me, it was an 18 + show, so I could have had a sexier routine. I kept the routine pretty tame, knowing the issues I have had in the past with being too sexy at a Paradisaea showcase. We all had a laugh that i was pretty conservatively dressed than my normal for performing.

Dragonfly – November 2019

The owner of SASS asked me if I would be interested in performing at Dragonfly nightclub that is located in the Casino in Niagara Falls. I felt honoured for being asked and jumped at the opportunity. I arranged a time to come set up the pole before the club opened a few weeks before the event to try out the logistics to see if it would even work. It took some brainstorming, but we finally figured out a set up that worked well for the club and my safety.

I was so excited but yet so nervous to be a solo performing being featured at a club. I stressed a lot over my outfit and spent hours trying on practically everything I owned. I ended up buying a new outfit from the Stag Shop a few days before the event as I was not happy with anything I had. I worked out thought, as the Stag Shop was a sponsor of the event.

I got there an hour before the doors opened to set up the pole. My husband came with me to make sure everything was ok and then left to watch the kids at home.

My first performance started at 11:00 and I did sets of 15 minutes until 1:00. Everyone who was worked the club was so great to me. I had my own security at the pole and was given all the free drinks I wanted.

The club has the coolest lights on the ceiling and when I climbed to the top of the pole and overlooked the packed, sold out club under the lights, well, it was such a high. Watching the crowd react to my tricks was just amazing. I had girls in the front just in awe of me. I even made some tips.

By the end of the 2 hours I was completely exhausted. My feet hurt so much and I had a few blisters. I called my husband to pick me up right after I was done, there was nothing more I wanted than my bed!! It was way more physically demeaning than I had expected it to be but at the same time, so much fun!

SASS St.Catharines Grand Opening Showcase – October 2019

For the Grand Opening showcase at SASS, I was in 2 performance, a group and a solo. The group performance was the opening act and I messed up a few movements. I knew I didn’t practice enough but really hoped my muscle memory would take me through. I think my nerves got the best of me so I was happy I was in the back corner of the group!

For my solo performance, I choose to revamp the Lightening Crashes pole silks routine from the June showcase at the old studio. I added in a few new tricks, changed my costume and included my daughter in the routine. My daughter is taking ballet classes, so she danced a ballet interlude while I tied up the silks for the next part of the routine. I loved sharing the stage with my daughter.

When My Two Worlds Collide

When I was working at a car dealership, all the sales people were asked to make a promotional video for social media. I said I wasn’t comfortable speaking on camera, but I could do something aerial. So I came up with the idea of rigging my silks in the dealership and making a video based around tricks on silks. I think it’s safe to say that when I was performing tricks for the video, my coworkers were quite impressed. I was quite happy with the how the video turned out.

When the dealership was a vendor at a local event, Floatfest in Welland, I brought my aerial rig and hoop. I set up the rig beside the cars we drove to the event and I performed hoop to help draw attention and promote the dealership. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my co workers at the canal while being able to do what I love to do. I even got a picture in the local paper!

Then I began working at a local radio station selling advertising. Like in any sales job, it is easier to sell to people you know first. The first radio advertisement package I sold was to my silks studio Paradisaea. It was fun working on the advertisement with the radio producer and then to hear the ad play on th radio.

However, both car and radio sales didn’t end up working out for me since they were 100% commission based. I had to find something with a more stable income in order to support my family and my hobbies. Although, I hope that in future envendeurs, I will be able to incorporate my aerial and fitness abilities into my work life again.

Paradisaea Summer Recital – June 2019

The Paradisaea end of semester showcase was June 15th and the theme was Through the Eyes of Tim Burton.  The Sunday night class I’m in did a routine to a song from Beetlejuice.  This routine was exciting for me, as I got placed in the middle because I was the one consistently getting the tricks.  It was big for me since when I first started silks, I was given easier tricks to perform at the recitals, now I’m being challenged with more advanced tricks and being placed in the center.  I felt like I practised enough and was ready, wasn’t even really nervous. The showcase went really well and so did our routine.  The only disappointing part was I didn’t have any friends or family there to watch me.  I work so hard and I don’t think people realize how much it means to me to have them there to support me.

New Equipment – Summer 2018

I’ve been looking at purchasing a stage pole for a long time. I wanted a portable pole that I could
bring to photo shoots and events. But at a price tag over $1000, it was not in my budget. My husband offered to help me out as he saw the benefits of such an investment. We also decided that an aerial rig would be advantageous, as then I could use my hoop and silks on a portable rig. He managed to save money in shipping by driving to the Toronto X-Pole location to pick up the equipment directly.

When he brought it home, it was like I was a delighted child on Christmas morning, impatient to dive into the boxes, assemble and play with my exciting new toys.

I was able to put my equipment to the first test at the vendor fundraiser. I only set the apparatus’ up once before the event, so I was unsure how it would go. It went smoother than I thought, even with it being so hot. I panicked for minute as I thought I forgot the wrenches for the pole, but my son found it and all was good. Other vendors commented his impressed they were with how I managed to set up such large equipment by myself.

I then was able to use my aerial rig at a photo shoot. A photographer a shot with before contacting about doing another shoot, I said I just got done equipment that I would love to try out. He said he has a friend that owes a winery that we could use, given the location, I thought the aerial rig with silks would be best. So, there I was, setting up my rig in the middle of the Reif Winery vineyard, which was an incredible experience. The winery owner is also a hobby photographer, so he shoot photos as well. I would have never thought that by starting pole and aerial, what kind of experiences that would allow me to have.

I also used the equipment just for my own personal training at home. I set it up in the back yard to train. I used it to teach my niece some silks tricks when she was visiting from B.C. I also set the rig up in the front yard so me and my daughter could show off our talents at our annual street end of summer party.

Pole Events in Summer 2018

The summer came and went in a blink of the eye. I spent the summer going to several pole events though out the summer.

The first event was a vendor fundraiser event for a women’s shelter. I went with the girls from SASS, we set up 2 poles in the center of the hall and we did demonstrations. There was not a lot of people there other than the ones working their own vendor booths, but we had fun just playing together for a few hours.

The second event was the Five Alarm Ladies Night, a firefighter charity fundraiser. I went to this event in 2013, which is where I seen the girls from SASS doing pole demonstrations.  I was in complete awe of what the girls could do and it made me determined to try. I was inspired and wanted to be strong and confident like them. Five years later, I was at the event WITH the girls at the studio performing demonstrations.

Being part of a vendor was a very different experience from when I was part of the audience watching the show. Firstly, when the woman came in, they showed zero interest in the pole and it was evident that they saw us as competition. The woman were all dressed up, hoping to snag a firefighter. When they walked in and saw a bunch of girls in booty shorts on a pole, it was threatening to them. Fast forward an hour after the woman have had a few drinks and saw the firefighters dance on stage, their options of us changed. They approached us to try out the pole and asked about classes. We were no longer the enemy; we could help their game.

The following day, I went to the Canadian Pole Fitness Association’s competition at the Toronto Pro SuperShow. I went with a bunch of the girls from SASS to support one of the girls from the studio competing. She did fantastic and placed 3rd in the semi-pro division!! It was nice to hang out with the girls outside the studio for the day.

Lastly, I performed demonstrations at a vendor fundraiser for mental health, similar to the I did with SASS, but this one I did solo. Well, actually I brought my kids along, my son helped me with the equipment and my daughter performed with me. We has performed a combination of pole, pole silks, silks and lyra. It was hot an exhausting putting the equipment up, performing for 4 hours and then taking all the equipment down. Overall though, a great experience and my first paid event!

Pole Silks – Spring 2018

When I competed last August, I seen a pole silks performance that mesmerized me. I never seen anything like it before. It’s rigging silks onto the pole to combine the 2 styles together. It is beautiful. I had to try it!

Since it is new, none of the studios in my area teach or even have pole silks. So, I researched where to do my own. I ended up the silk rig attachment, called Silkii from X Pole. I also had to buy the permanent mount for my pole as the pressure fitted pole is not safe to use with the Silkii.

I watched a lot of videos and starting teaching myself as I played around. I fell in love. I loved fusing the 2 apparatus’ together.

My instructor at Paradisaea asked me if I was going to perform in the April showcase. I said no at first. But then she suggested a pole silks routine, I thought that was a great motivation to train! I was nervous though, as I only played on them once and here I was, committed to a full routine in a few months.

I don’t know how I even managed to put a routine together, but I did and I was very happy with it. One of my pole instructors said she loved how I made the routine flow so well. The fact that I taught myself was a huge accomplishment.

Great White North Pole Competition – August 2017

I did it! I competed! I competed in Verticlove’s Great White North Pole Competition. It was my first competition so I entered the amateur division. The song I choose was the acoustic version of TLC’s “Unpretty.” My costume was white lace top and bottoms with a sheer robe and 8 inch Pleaser heels. I wrote body shaming words on my body which was shown when I opened my robe at the beginning of the song. As the song goes on, I find my confidence through pole dancing and shed the robe at the end showing the words Beautiful and Strong on my biceps.

I loved my concept for the performance and kept my choreography to tricks I knew really well. Where it went wrong was not practicing it enough to really make it flow, clean up my inverts and lines in poses. I also didn’t practice writing the words on my body. I accidentally ended up buying permanent paint to write the words. My concept was to smear the body shaming words as I dance so show that I’m wiping the negativity away. But since the paint was permanent, it did not wipe off, and it was not dark enough for the audience to see it clearly.

After I performed, I was too nervous to watch the other competitors. I walked around the Hamilton harbour during a thunderstorm and reflected on my performance.

I didn’t end up placing but I felt a winner just getting up on stage to compete. It was an amazing experience and learnt a lot for future performances.  It was good to get the first one under my belt as now I have a better understanding of what the judges are looking for.