Look Mom! I Can Pole Dance!!!

Saturday night, my sister and I hosted a bachelorette party for our future (awesome) sister-in-law, Ashley.  Allie, my mom, and I went to pick Ashley up at 4:30 with her mom and her daughter Tayla. On the car ride to the studio we blasted some good tunes and had a big sing along. Tayla made a special request for some Justin Beiber and my sister caught a little bit on video - she's cute as a button!

When we showed up at the studio, though, I have to admit I was a little shaky about the whole thing. First of all, a pole-dancing class (in my mind) is bound to be awkward regardless of the situation. But then going with your mother and a 6-year old girl has all the makings of an extra special breed of weird.

We walked into the room as another bachelorette party was finishing up - crawling on the floor and posing for provocative post-pole dancing pictures. Right off the bat we were all feeling a little bit uncomfortable - should we go inside, should we wait outside??? As we stood in the doorway debating our next move, we were ushered in by our instructor, who added the second layer of weirdness... let's just say she was a bit intimidating at first. Standing almost 6-feet tall (in some ridiculously tall thigh high boots), skinny as a bean pole, with a pierced lip and bleach blond hair died pink, blue, and black at the tips. I was thinking - o my god, what have we gotten ourselves into.

But as soon as we got on the poles, the whole thing changed. It was a blast. The instructor was really friendly and was a great teacher and before we knew it we were all spinning around the poles like... well not like pro's, but we definitely were spinning.

Once we were lined up on our poles, the instructor told us that the class is best done in heels or, if not heels, bare feet. There was a wall of heels in the corner of the studio that were up for grabs if we didn't have our own. To say that they were less than appealing is an understatement, so we all began the class in bare feet. It wasn't 10 minutes before we learned that pole dancing in bare feet is about as far from sexy as you can get - not to mention it's a heck of a lot easier to spin around a pole when your bare feet aren't sticking to the floor.  Needless to say (by the pictures) we quickly bucked up and grabbed some shoes off the wall (which looked like a stripper lost-and-found). I decided that if I was going to wear these ridiculous heels I would go big or go home and that's how I ended up in these crazy guys.

After some warm up moves, our instructor choreographed a little dance (less than a minute long) that included some spins and dips and what I would consider basic pole dancing moves.  She explained that we would spend the next hour learning step-by-step how to do it the whole thing.  It is amazing how much work goes into 60 seconds of attempting to look sexy, I have a whole new appreciation for women who do this for a living.

Ashley was the superstar of the group...

She was doing splits, she even went upside down! That is one strong little lady...

Tayla's just like her mommy!!

As for Allie and me... some times we got it and it looked pretty good.

  Other times.... not so much!

 Regardless, we had an absolute blast. By the end of the class we were crawling on the floor and swinging around the polls with out a care in the world. 

For the grande finale we turned up the jams and grabed some paper money to toss at Ashley as she performed the dance for us, it was hilarious. 

As for the whole experience? Two enthusiastic thumbs up! I would definitely do it again, I think I even learned a thing or two (but then again... looking at my picture above, maybe not!)