Should I take a lap dance class before I take a pole dance class?
Many people approach pole and lap dance as two separate entities, which they certainly can be. However in the more exotic dance genres I feel the two are very intertwined and linked, similar to how modern dance uses a lot of ballet as its basis (sorry dance purists, but I was a ballerina before I was a pole dancer, as were many of the ladies I worked with).
So you are a beginner, and you want to take pole dance lessons, but you also want to look authentic, not like a “housewife that learned a pole trick”, am I right? Yes you would benefit from some lap dance lessons. Many women haven’t spent much time in strip clubs so they aren’t familiar with even the most basic lap dance moves. That’s ok, I totally understand, the only reason I ever went into a strip club was to make money and without that lure I didn’t ever see a need to hang out in a strip club (only once did I go into a club for non work purposes & a famous actor threw up on a brand new pair of shoes…but I’m digressing).
I once spent a very unpleasant weekend getting a pole certification from a woman who absolutely hated real pole dancers because of the lap dance aspect. We started off with a lecture portion of class where she threw in some barbs about strippers, lap dancers, etc. It was then time to get onto the pole & within thirty seconds she said “The blonde was a stripper…hey WERE YOU A STRIPPER?! I can tell by watching you move.” “Yes, and I can tell you weren’t by watching you move.” I guess it was ok for her to say but not me. Of course by this time in my career I had been taking dance classes for 27 years, had studied dance at three universities & held several fitness certifications so she could really only pick on me based on the stigma behind it.
So why bother learning lap dance it if you are more interested in pole? If there is a stigma?
From a pure dance perspective it gives meaning to your movement. I can bring anyone to the pole and within a few minutes have them spinning & engaging with the pole in a way that suits their body type, strengths & personality. Any good instructor should be able to do that (what makes a bad, good or great instructor….another blog, but they aren’t all good & it isn’t always based on how well they themselves pole dance). But even if you can get on the pole DO YOU LOOK LIKE A POLE DANCER or someone that learned a pole trick? A mimicry of a pole dancer or an actual pole dancer?
Knowing some lap dance really helps you look like a real pole dancer.
Think of other dance modalities, any dancer will tell you you drill, drill drill. In ballet you spend a lot of time at the barre. At least half of class sometimes more. But do you ever see Ballets performed at the barre? The Nutcracker? Giselle? Swan Lake? There are no barre acts. But the barre is physical training that gives ballet its flavor, its basic moves, it is a movement language. Lap dance is the basis of the movement language that is pole dance. The shoulder rolls, the arm expressions, the hip undulations and momentum can be taught on the pole but the have very little meaning until you take someone, put them in front of a chair (and an imaginary partner) and say here is the emphasis, the pressure, the amount of time. I can warm up a group of ladies with lap dance that have never been in a club or on a pole and when I take them to the pole after 15 minutes of “lap” they “get it”.
See you in class!
XOXO
Lana
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