Author: Pagan

When Pole2Pole contacted me a few months ago to ask if I would judge the British Isles Pole Dance Championships (BIPDC) 2011 I felt honored and immediately agreed.

We (Myself and Nikki) were travelling to Essex to support my lovely students, Beth and Elena, in the Pole2Pole Cup, and were able to stay overnight at a lovely Premier Inn in Rayleigh, and enjoy a fantastic weekend in London.

We were chauffeur driven to the competition venue which was lovely (my first ever limo ride!) To be part of such a talented and lovely judging panel was amazing. The Male Champ (gorgeous and truly lovely) Loic Lebret was sat to my right, as was The US champ Caterina Gennaro…both of whom made me feel really comfortable throughout the night.

It was fantastic to see the pole talent demonstrated throughout the evening, and to meet with friends old and new. It was also lovely to attend a great after party with some very special friends.

You may remember from previous articles that Pagan’s Pole student Beth won her place at The Pole2Pole Cup Final 2011 by winning the Welsh Heat, and Elena came 2nd place in the same competition, therefore also securing a place in the final.

Despite horrendous traffic and missed trains both ladies arrived at The competition venue in Essex on time. I do not need to say that both Elena and Beth were nervous; however this did not show through in their performances one bit.

Beth gave a fun routine to Jamiroquai. Her routine was fluid and elegant, and those toes remained pointed throughout! Elena’s Routine was theatrical and entertaining, demonstrating that a true novice can captivate an audience.

Both ladies performed brillantly and everyone at Pagan’s Pole is SO proud of them both…WELL DONE! 🙂

Pagan’s Pole is so excited to officially announce that they will converting the old nightclub ‘Joop’ into a brand new fitness and dance academy.

After months of waiting we can now officially announce that planning permission has now been granted byGwynedd county Council, and work will shortly commence to turn the nightclub into a marvellous dance studio for all ages, teaching all genres of dance, from belly to break it’ll all be happening!

Tracy Huckfield is the owner of Pagan’s Pole, and has been waiting for this moment for such a long time.  When she heard that the nightclub ‘Joop’ was closed, she immediately began talks with the council and landlord to ensure that her dream could become a reality.

The academy will be the first of it’s kind in North Wales, teaching all genres of dance by a variety of highly qualified instructors.  There will be a 10 pole studio, with the added bonus of circus tuition available.  yes that’s right folks…Hoop; Trapeze and Silks will also be taught, with the possibility of a chinese pole making an appearence!

Building work will commence within the next week, and all being well the academy will be open well before Christmas.  Please keep your eyes and ears open, as there will be exciting updates being made at regular intervals.

The UK Professional Pole Championships 2011 is a new competition designed for professional pole athletes. It is designed to give professional dancers the opportunity to compete against their peers through THREE professional categories – Instructor, Professional, and Elite. UKPPC aims to be a fair, ethical, professional, and transparent competition that recognizes the athleticism and artistry of pole dance.

The first round of this competition consisted of video heats. Competitors submitted a video of themselves performing; and from these videos the top ten performers were selected to enter the semi-final on 9th October in Birmingham; the winning 5 will then make it through to the finals in December.

When I read everything that the UKPPC was standing for I really felt that all professionals should enter in support of this fantastic competition; therefore I submitted my video. Words cannot describe my shock when it was announced that I made it through to the top 10 in the professional category. I felt so honored to be placed with some of the best dancer’s in the industry! WOW! does not even begin to sum up my feelings!

I am now working on my routine for the semi-final. I hope to make all my paganettes and students proud!

For more information of The UKPPC please see:

www.ukppc.co.uk

Pagan’s Pole spent a pleasurable afternoon and evening at the Manchester Heats of UKAPP last night.

Tracy, Lisa, Elena and Tegan enjoyed watching the Heat held in Altrincham, in the fantastic new venue: The Cinnamon Club.

UKAPP is now in it’s 3rd Year and it’s a Pagan’s Pole tradition to go and support the Manchester Heats. UKAPP is one of the most successful UK competitions, and as always last night did not disappoint.

The competitors of every category had made such an effort, and the standard of performance was as always incredibly high. From Swan Lake, to Red Riding Hood, it really was all going on in Manchester!

As always in UKAPP, it wasn’t just the competitors that had worked hard to please. The guest performers were absolutely outstanding. Jess Leanne Norris, Karen Chaundy, the Bombshells and Suzie Q and Toby J put on the most amazing pole acts, that left audience members emotional, joyful, astounded, and everything else in between.

UKAPP has a reputation for its fun and lively atmosphere and I think every person there would agree that each year it just keeps getting bigger and better. Well done to Kat and Stacey for another marvellous comp, and well done to every single competitor of the evening. We now look forward to watching the winners all compete against each other in the final.

Yes Folks, I’ve finally done it! For those of you who know me well, you will be aware that I have been constantly saying how I need to get my level 5 AAP grading filmed and into The Pole Dance Community asap!

Yet time has a habit of flying by, and days turn into weeks far too quickly! However I am pleased to announce that I finally roped my partner into holding a video camera while I completed my Level 5 assessment and forwarded these videos to The PDC. I am even more pleased to announce that I have passed the assessment and now a fully graded Level 5 PDC approved dancer! Many thanks to Sam Remmer of The PDC for her time, and for excusing my new puppy who really wanted to join in on my exam!

Tracy, Katie and Heather were able to attend Deb Riley’s workshop in Milton Keynes on the 5th June 2011.

Despite the Paganettes aching from an exhausting circus training session, the girls were willing to put their all into the workshop.

The workshop began with basic spins on spinning pole, simple enough? Hell no! Even a basic fireman suddenly became difficult (particularly with arms that felt like they were dropping off!). However, it wasn’t long before we’d progressed from spinning pole firemen to spinning pole handsprings!

The workshop was amazing fun, and Deb being her usual bubbly, gorgeous self kept the paganette’s morale up. A thoroughly enjoyable class!

It began on a scorching hot Friday afternoon…Tracy, Heather and Katie set off to Milton Keynes full of excitement and anticipation, knowing that they were all about to experience something new and marvellous!

After a 5 hour drive we finally arrived at our hostesses house. Emma, instructor at MK Pole Fitness had kindly offered to put us up, and she made us feel welcome and at ease immediately. We enjoyed a lovely evening with her and Leanne (also instructor at MK Pole Fitness) and rested up ready for our busy pole and circus sessions.

The following morning began with an awesome shopping trip around Milton Keynes central and the nicest jacket potato mankind has ever experienced! We then proceeded to the MK Pole Fitness Studio where we jammed with old friends Luke, Leanne and Emma, and met new friends…most impressive of all being a 13 year old young lady, Megan, who could really pole….AMAZING!!!! We were also introduced to Hannah, head instructor and owner of MK Pole Fitness. Hannah was soon demonstrating her abilities on the pole, and left us in awe with her grace and strength….yet another AMAZING!!!!

After a 2 hour pole session we headed to the circus studio…and were astounded with how beautiful and relaxed the whole place was. Hannah was a patient and marvellous teacher, explaining and demonstrating everything with such ease. We began with basic MSE on the hoop and soon found our hands in tatters!! We followed this with some Hoop tricks and poses, all of which were highly enjoyable but worked us hard!

After hoop we began on the silks. Again we started with some basic MSE and followed with tricks and poses. We soon discovered that silk work is extremely tiring and hard on the body, despite this it truly was a fantastic and fun workout. The last piece of equipment was the trapeze, probably the easier of the 3. We were able to experiment on the trapeze and even managed some doubles work, which was fabulous!

After all that exercise we were only able to chill in front of Britain’s Got Talent that night and allow our bodies some recovery time. The following day we said goodbye to our fantastic new friends and headed off to the Polenastics studio for a workshop with the one and only Deb Riley. At this point we were all aching real bad from the day before, yet we worked hard and our spinning handsprings, and flag to brass monkeys were pretty good! Deb is such fun to be around that we couldn’t help smile the whole way through despite our aching limbs!

The journey home was filled with many ‘ouch’ sounds, but we were all in great spirit. Our weekend had been fantastic and we thank everyone who helped to make it so special.

Please check out our gallery for images of this experience!