Blisters: soften or toughen

We usually think of aerial arts injuries as bruises, fabric burns, and the potential fall to death. But if you're training hard, you might occasionally have to deal with blisters, as well. There's more than one way to deal with them, and common wisdom and whatever Google turns up for you might not be what you need to help you reach your goals.

There are basically two ways of handling blisters: soften them or toughen them.

Most non-athletes, especially women, want to soften the skin. They like having smooth, touchable hands and feet. So most generic advice you hear about blisters will tell you to rub some sort of oil in them, or use a cream. This is a pleasant process that produces pleasant results. However, if you keep training on your softened blisters, they will be prone to breaking. More importantly, your skin will not toughen up as much as it could, so you'll probably keep getting blisters whenever you increase your training or try a new apparatus.

Most aerialists prefer to toughen the skin. It's more important to us that we be able to train more and harder than that we look like hand models. I mean, we're going to be bruised and burned and gimping around anyways; a couple callouses aren't going to make a world of difference. This method is sort of like a guitar player who needs to develop callouses on her fingers to be able to play without pain.

If you prefer to toughen your skin up, rather than sexy it up, you need to get a liquid bandage product. This will enable you to keep training (though if you're experiencing pain, you should still probably take a day or two off), and enable you to train longer and harder in the future.

I went through this a couple months ago when I overdid it on my new silks. I consulted with a pharmacist (this is the sort of thing uninsured people do) who was not an aerialist, but fortunately was a violist, so she knew what I was talking about. She pointed me towards the liquid bandages, and I'm a total convert. It's a fun product to use (it feels like painting!), and I was able to resume training without further problems. (To be fair, I also backed off quite a bit. I had just been so enthusiastic because I hadn't done silks in like a year!)

Disadvantage? You'll probably end up with rough, bumpy man hands and feet. I mean, if you shake my hand, you might notice it's kind of rough for a woman's hands. (I also play guitar.) I don't mind--it's one of those things, like my enlarged biceps, that I'm kind of proud of. And it's important to me that I can train hard when I want to.

But don't feel bad if that's not what you want for yourself. Pole in particular occupies a precarious spot in the athletic world. On one hand, it's (often, not always) an aerial art, and to excel at it requires hard training. On the other hand, many women are drawn to pole because it makes them feel sexy. Like yoga, a pole class is sometimes treated more as pampering than as hard exercise. Someone who goes to the pole in order to express her own beauty and femininity, even if they train to excel, might feel it's counter-productive to make herself less "feminine" in the process.

If you choose to rub deliciously scented oils into your battered hands and feet, that is fine. I just want you to know the options. If you keep poling, your skin will toughen up little by little anyways. Not to the same extent as someone going the callouses route, but it should get you through average, regular training.

Plus, there's no ultimatum here. You can switch it up depending on your needs at the time. If you find yourself needing to train harder for an event, you can start using liquid bandages, and then try to coax your skin back to normal afterwards.

Blisters aren't something you're going to encounter as much as bruises or burn, so it's not something you're going to have to deal with every day. Go into the injury equipped with the knowledge of your options, so you can get out of it and back to training.

Image from Gold Coast Aerial Fitness

Ice pack wine sleeve - clever injury treatment idea!

Aerialists, like most athletes, find that we're frequently icing some part of our body. When something is hurt or even the tiniest bit swollen, we're supposed to ice it a LOT. How much varies from coach to coach and doctor to doctor, but 15 minutes an hour or every other hour is not uncommon.

Icing is a pain in the butt, though. I mean, it's a great treatment, but often impractical. We polers often have wrist or hand injuries to deal with, which aren't convenient to ice because you can't really do anything else while you're waiting.

A month or two ago, I was icing my hands (I overdid it on silks when I first got them, and my fingers were so swollen I couldn't put any of my rings on), and my mom came up with the brilliant idea to use a wine chilling sleeve. I can stick my hands in it like a muff, or slide it over my wrist for a one-step wrap. No bandages to awkwardly try to tie on myself, and I can still use my arm while icing.

This has made me much more willing to ice my wrist (it's just tweaked a bit, nothing serious), as I can just throw it on and get back to whatever I was doing. So I thought I'd share!

*Disclaimer: I should probably have some sort of cloth under it so the ice pack is not against your skin. You're generally not supposed to have an ice pack right on the skin. But I do it anyways, because apparently I have to learn everything the hard way. I'll let you know if I get frostbite or something.

We have this one (I know the plastic image of Provence is cheesy--it came in an auction basket, we didn't pick it). A good investment if you have wrist problems, or wine!

Studio Review: Pole Chicks, Rockford IL

When I first moved here, I poured over the website of every single pole studio in the area. I was looking for work, and I didn't want to solicit any studios without having a firm idea of what they were up to. Pole Chicks in Rockford made an instant impression in my mind. It was the only site that had pictures of people doing really advanced moves. When I realized how far away it was, I knew there was no way I could work there. But I also felt like, "Well, they probably don't need somebody like me. Looks like they got it covered!"

Rockford is over an hour and a half's drive from me, so I had never intended on going there myself. But when Whitney announced on Facebook that they were offering $5 classes as a special, I reasoned that the trip was justifiable. Even if I spent $20 on gas, the cost for drop-ins at some places is $25, so I'd be kinda breaking even, you know? Well, it made sense to me anyway.

Some pole studios only offer one or two classes a night, but Pole Chicks has a full range. Today alone, I could choose from 10am, 11am, 5pm, 6pm, and 7pm. I decided 5pm would put me least in the way of Chicago rush hour traffic. Leave here around 3, leave there around 6. It worked. Smooth sailing the whole way!

All Pole Chicks' classes are mixed level, and I wasn't sure exactly how that would play out. These are instructed classes, after all, not open pole. It made more sense when I got there. The place is small, and only has a total of six poles. It's not like there was going to be a big class.

One thing I appreciated was the lack of obnoxiously feminine colors. No pink or purple; the room was white and orange, and the one silk they had was black. You can tell it's the kind of place people go to train.

There were four students: me and one other advanced poler, and two beginners (I assume they were beginners--I wasn't really watching to see what they were working on; could have been intermediate). So basically the way it worked was the instructor (Whitney) mostly focused on the beginners, and let the advanced students mostly train on our own, open pole style. She did toss out ideas and suggestions (Pippi, do you know this move? What about this one?), to me at least--I think the other woman was a regular, or another instructor, or something, who was just there to train. It was interesting, because although they didn't show me any moves I didn't know, they had different combos and transitions. For example, getting into a back elbow hold from a brass monkey, whereas I always do it from a pencil/iguana/whatever you call it. (It was a more interesting transition, but doing it from the floor I didn't have room to put my bottom arm straight, which I think is prettier than holding behind the neck).

They mostly just had spin poles, which was awkward for me since I don't spin to much. But it's good for me to be forced to practice like that. At home I tend to just stick to static. I'm a teacher, rather than a performer, and most of my students come to me for help on static. I don't have any problem with dizziness--I mean, I get dizzy, but it doesn't bother me--but some students have major motion sickness problems. Of course that can be combatted to an extent, but if they don't want to learn spin, I don't feel the need to force it on them. That's what you get when you take private lessons--you get to pick what to work on. (Long version of why I don't spin much.)

The poles were nice and grippy, but if I have one complaint it's that the room was a bit too hot. I had to change clothes early on (I had started in my fun grippy vinyl shorts, but was sweating balls), and I had to wipe my shoulder down with a towel three times before I was comfortable doing a fonji. There was a fan, but it wasn't doing a whole lot of good, even if you stood right in front of it.

The ceilings were 10 feet, which is a decent height for poles, but not for silks. I know because that's about what I have for my silks, and there's a ton that I just can't do on them because of that. But at least the ceilings were very easy to work with--there were no stray beams or pipes to worry about bumping, and no drop ceiling. Once I determined I wasn't sweating too much, I was able to do a solid ceiling lay without having to navigate around any ceiling obstacles, which I can't say about a ton of places.

I didn't get to talk to the beginners that much, since they were busy with their instructor. The other advanced student (who I had met briefly before but didn't really know) was very nice, and we got to exchange tricks and ideas (along with the instructor). It's good to be in that kind of environment where people are cooperative and not competitive.

I can't say too much about the quality of instruction, as my part of the class was mostly unstructured, but I can tell you that the beginners did conditioning both before and after, and had a thorough stretch down at the end. Whitney seemed like a really positive and encouraging teacher.

It's rare to find a place where you can do a drop-in at practically any time of day and receive advanced instruction. If I didn't live so far away, and they kept offering classes at $5(!!), I'd probably be in there multiple times a week.

STATS:
Pole Chicks
Equipment: 6 10' 50mm permanent poles, Markstaar, stainless steel, 5 spinning and 1 static. 1 aerial silk.
Amenities: Two bathrooms that double as changing rooms.
Drop-in price: Normally $15. For June 2012, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes are only $5. Get over there!!

I forgot to take a picture again, so the photo is from Pole Chicks' Facebook Page.

Four Things Women Need to Stop Doing to Each Other

Ah, womanhood. We really are our own worst enemy, aren't we? I mean, for all the talk of sisterhood and feminism and anti-bullying and how bad "Mean Girls" are, we all kinda act like that sometimes.

I think part of the problem is that we don't always realize when we're undermining each other. So instead of crying "sisterhood," I thought I'd name some specifics. Here are four things that many women do, without realizing that they're hurting us. If you do these things (and I think all of us do at least one or two of them), please stop.

1. Implying that everyone is jealous of your boyfriend.

Here are some things I've heard said, or seen Facebook-ed, by women who are supposed to be my friends.

"Hands off, ladies--he's mine!"
"Sorry girls, this one's taken!"
"All my friends are jealous of my awesome boyfriend!"
"Maybe if you [something to the effect of "acted like me"] you could get a man like mine!"

OK, I know this is going to be hard to understand, so I'll speak slowly. No one…. cares…. about…. your… boyfriend. At best, we are happy for you. At best. I mean, we're really not that happy for you. If you're in the relationship of your dreams, it probably means you'll be hanging out with us less, which is sad. And you'll be talking about him all the time, which is annoying. Or he could end up really hurting you, which is awful. (I know, I know, he would never do that, he's amazing. We've all heard that one before. Most of us have said it.)

One of the most hindering obstacles to womankind is this innate myth that we are all in competition with each other. And here you are MAKING IT TRUE!

I know you are mostly trying to just give him a compliment, in a backward sort of way. But it really puts us off. And just as bad, you might be hurting someone who is jealous. Not jealous of THAT ONE MAN that you're fending off from an imaginary army of succubi, but jealous that you have found happiness and they don't think they ever will. There are people who go to bed crying every night because they want to be in a happy relationship. Be happy, and express your happiness, but stop rubbing it in.

2. Ripping on people's shoes.

I get it. Your snarky wit is part of your charm. And even if you have nothing else in your life in order, at least you don't wear Hated Shoe Fad Of The Season. Because all people who do are morons who should be shot. Or at least ashamed.

What if I told you there was a device that would make it difficult for you to walk more than a few blocks, and almost impossible to run, and make you easy to knock over by anyone who felt like attacking you, damaged your knees, feet, and spine alignment, all while taking your money by the bennies? Sounds pretty awful, right? What if I told you this tool of entrapment was made especially for women? Sound shockingly misogynistic? And what if I told you you would strap on this device voluntarily, due entirely to pressure from society, especially from other women? Well that's just fucked up.

OK, obviously I'm talking about shoes. And if you like shoes, that's totally cool! Wearing gorgeous high heels makes many women feel empowered, sexy, and, well, tall. Believe me, I teach pole dancing, I see how different people feel in a pair of flattering platforms. And some polers like to dance barefoot. And that's OK; I think almost all of us accept that it's a matter of personal preference and there are benefits and drawbacks to both.

Unfortunately, this "live and let live" doesn't carry over into the real world. With every comfortable shoe that becomes popular, some people--usually women--feel the need to rant about how ugly and gross they are and how they would NEVER EVER wear them. Crocs, Uggs, Birkenstocks, flip-flops, Vibrams. Somehow other people's choices of footwear are a GREAT OFFENSE to the people who have to look at them.

Crocs are not contagious. There is no second-hand flip-flop pollution. If you don't like it, walk around looking fabulous in your FMPs, you sexy thang. And if you want to have a private, unvoiced (and un-smirked and un-eyerolled) moment of self-satisfaction for looking better than everyone else, that is fine. I say you've earned it.

I usually wear relatively nice shoes. I'm VERY picky about comfort, but I try. Last week I realized that I have a bunion. I always knew I was going to get one (my mom has a bad one and had pre-bunion symptoms), but I thought I had a few more good years left. Until I was in choir and realized I could feel it pressing up in front of the side of my shoe. So I'm basically fucked for pretty footwear now. I hope you'll forgive me if you see me walking around in my Birkenstocks. If I had been doing that in the first place, I probably wouldn't have foot problems as it is!

It's not just that, though. Hobbling around in pain because your shoes are biting your feet is stupid. It's 2012, we've invented space rockets and Hulu and isolated soy protein! Why don't we have nice shoes that we can walk in? (Yes, I know there are some, but they are exceptions, plus you don't really know until after you've bought them and worn them around town a bit.) Because we'd rather tear each other down for making sensible choices than demand that the fashion industry stop glamorizing fashion-induced suffering.

I wish I had the confidence to rock a pair of Vibrams--would probably help my bunion--but I don't. Your judgements are not helping.

3. Listening behind people's backs.

It's funny how we've all come to a consensus that no one should talk about anyone behind their backs. Funny for two reasons: 1. Everyone does it, and 2. We don't have a consensus about what talking behind someone's back means. (Usually, it means something other people are doing, but never you!)

I think what most people mean when they say "I don't talk about people behind their backs" is "I don't say mean things about defined people in front of a large group or in front of a person I don't know very well." But to your best friend? Your husband? Your mom? Your inner circle of confidants? If you are talking about someone behind their backs to one other person, the one person you trust more than anyone else in the world, in a room where no one else can hear, you are still talking about someone behind their back!

That's not what gets me, though. I think that's just part of how we deal with life.

What gets me is that this whole "talking about someone" is, at the least, a two-person process.

If I say, "Mary's a jerk, she did x y and z to me," and you say "I don't want to take sides but I'm sorry you're fighting," you are as guilty as I am. Especially if the conversation started, "What happened between you and Mary?" So then I answer your question, causing me to talk about Mary behind her back. But then you don't participate in the discussion (aside from milking more juicy gossip out of me) because you don't talk about people behind their backs. Hmmm.

You've got two choices here. Gossip back (or don't) and stop pretending to be a saint, or stop me. Cut me off. Have you ever said "Please don't talk about my friend that way?" Have you ever said, "I don't want to know what happened?" Have you ever said "Let's not gossip"--BEFORE I told you what you wanted to know? It's hard! You look like an asshole to your friend who wants to vent, and you're left in the dark about the situation. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, I'm just pointing out that speaking up in the face of injustice--especially when you're the only one speaking up, which you will be--is, and has always been, hard.

And honestly--and I do believe that we shouldn't be two-faced towards each other--but honestly, when I reflect, I think I have the most respect for people who just told me. "Here's the drama, here's what happened, I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but you deserve to know." Pussyfooting around a subject, especially among friends, is not productive.

4. Slut-shaming.

We're at a point in history where almost everyone in our society admits to liking sex, admits to having premarital sex, and admits to having more than one sexual partner over the course of a lifetime.

The great equalizer, right? We're all doing it! There must be no such thing as sluts anymore, because we're all sluts!

Haaaaaaa.

What kind of logic says, "It's OK if I have sex with two people this year, but she's a whore because she had sex with four people this year"? Or says, "It's ok if I show my legs up to the knee, but she's a slut because she shows half of her thigh"? It's a couple lousy inches of fabric and a couple lousy penises.

And what in GOD'S name kind of logic says "He's going home with that bar skank, good for him," but "She's going home with that frat boy, why can't she keep her legs closed?" I know I'm not the first person to point this out, but it takes two. Or more. But at least two.

If we have ALL had sex, premarital sex, sex with different people--we are all sluts, or none of us are. The way a person dresses and how many drinks it takes them before they let their inhibitions go doesn't change that. So the next time you look at another woman and think to yourself, "What a trashy whore," remember that you are saying that about yourself, too.

Are you guilty of any of these? What would you add to the list?

Image from youthvoices.net.

CircEsteem Spring Circus

I consider myself very lucky to be a long-standing member of the circus community. After all, it was sheerly a twist of fate that brought me to my first aerial classes, back when most people (including myself) didn't know what aerial silks were. (Or to borrow a musician joke, "I had circus on vinyl.") Unfortunately, my income suffered massively when the economy tanked, and I had to scale back my participation. No more weekly or twice-weekly classes for me. I narrowed my training to lesson exchange and independent partner training when schedules permitted. It was great and I learned a lot, but it was irregular.

Now that I've moved to a city where I don't have a lesson exchange partner or a training partner, and I haven't been able to afford classes to get out and meet people (I went from being a starving artist to a starving student), I've been feeling pretty out of the loop. So in a Facebook-ed effort to reach out to the circus community and try to find a way to become involved, someone told me that a children's circus training company might be needing an acro-pole teacher.

So on Saturday afternoon, I was invited to meet with the directors of CircEsteem, try out their poles, and watch their show.

CircEsteem is a group that teaches circus arts--spanning both physical comedy and aerial acrobatics--to children of all ages. (I was told their current age range was 7-17.) The company has a charitable bent to it--many bends, I'd say. They teach refugee kids circus arts, and help them with their homework. They send poor kids home with groceries for their families (thanks to a partnership with Whole Foods). I assume they have paying students as well, though I'm not sure exactly how it all works.

This performances was their annual student recital. No instructors performed, and the kids even wrote much of their own material. Even more impressive when you consider that there were about 90 kids performing. Yes, 90. Large groups, small groups, duets, and even some polished solos.

I arrived a few hours before the show to talk business. Walking into a room full of 90 child circus performers is an experience in itself. The room was full of juggling and unicycling. I can neither juggle nor unicycle (actually, I can't even bicycle), so seeing 9-year-olds do both with aplomb is humbling.

I got to help put up a tent! I love that about circus. The first thing that happened when I arrived was someone stuck a tent post and a handful of fasteners in my hands. I enjoy doing that kind of work, as long as I'm not the one who has to figure out the logistics.

The show opened with the whole full of kids juggling. Have you ever seen an entire stage filled with kids juggling (successfully)? It looks like this:

The whole first half of the show was groups of kids who had written their own scenes. There was a lot of clowning/physical comedy, which unfortunately I couldn't hear because I was in the back row. And a lot of unicycling and juggling, which, as I mentioned above, is embarrasingly impressive. But there were also trapeze, silks, and, yes, a pole act.

The pole act was mostly made up of 6 or 7 girls (and I think one boy) doing frog climbs as high as they could, posing in a frog hold (like a frog climb, except you do a back armpit hold with your inside arm so you can release your hands), and climbing back down. A few did foot splits ("Reiko splits") and one even did a half flag! It was especially cute because they had some sort of Charlie's Angels theme going on.

Even though the first half was really long (I told you, there were 90 kids), I didn't want to leave at intermission. I really wanted to see everything!

The second half was more individual work than the first--solos, duets, trios. It was great to see each student showcase their talent. You could tell many of them had been at this for years. I mean, can you imagine to be in high school and be able to do a complete lyra solo? Doing pole solos kills me, and I've been poling since before some of the kids in this company were born!

The highlight for me was that they actually had a German wheel performance! German wheel is one of my favorite acrobatic arts to watch. I've never tried it, but one of the directors, Carlo, told me that Chicago is something of a hub (get it?) for German wheel, so maybe someday soon! There aren't a lot of places to learn in NY, probably because it requires so much floor space--one of the rarest commodities in New York City.

Now for the info my friends will really want to know: the poles.

I'd say they are about 20 feet high, and they are sturdy but somehow removable (I didn't spend a much time looking at the rig, as that stuff tends to be over my head, no pun intended). They're just under 50mm, and are currently only spray painted, though they may become either powder- or rubber-coated in the near future. The grip is good, as I was able to climb to the top with no feet without using any product (and it hadn't been rosined up or anything), but could still execute spins. All in all, VERY fun to play on.

Anyway, they might be able to use me, depending on how registration goes. So if they get a lot of kids signed up, I should at least be making some guest appearances. Too bad it is so far--I know lots of poling moms out here in the West suburbs who would love to get their kids started on acro-pole!!

I have silks!

Finally, after six years of recreational tissuing, I have my own set of silks!

Why didn't I have them before? Well, two main reasons. First was that, since I started circus, I lived in a tiny Manhattan apartment. I didn't have room for both pole and silks. Pole works better (not optimal, but better) with a standard-height ceiling than silks do, and pole is my primary apparatus anyway.

Secondly, I had no shortage of training opportunities in New York. There were both session and drop-in classes every day of the week, and even when I couldn't afford classes (most of the time), finding training space was easy. The Skybox, Streb, and Circus Warehouse were all easy to get to and affordable for open workouts or silks rental, and I had people who I did pole-silks exchange with.

It's different where I am now. The couple of places to train, which I'm sure are all great, are really far away from me. Aside from my pole teaching and some small-time music and writing gigs, I'm basically an unemployed grad student, so there's no way I can afford classes. And anyways, now that I'm living it up in suburbia, I have more space. Not a luxurious amount, but coming from the Upper West Side, it feels staggering.

Plus, my students have been begging me to teach them. I've even had a local pole studio ask me to teach silks classes for them.

So I finally used my tax refund to buy my own set of silks. My dad's a skilled engineer, and he and I carefully weighed all our rigging options. We came up with something that allows a decent amount of space and height, and excellent safety. I'm gonna experiment with it for another week or so to make sure I like it. So far, so good!

So I've been re-training myself. I've actually been going with the extremely basic building blocks so far. Unlike with pole, I didn't originally train in silks in order to teach, so now I have to look at everything again from a pedagogical perspective. What's the clearest way to explain this? What mistakes are students likely to make? How do you bail out of this if something goes wrong? (My students laugh that when I teach them a difficult new move I usually start by teaching them what I call "the bail.") So I'm revisiting things that I normally do without thinking, and thinking very hard about them. Which, honestly, I love.

The silks I got are really wide, so it's an intense hand workout, but doesn't pinch the body too much. Not too stretchy. I do have a swivel (whee). They're far enough away from the pole that the two can live in harmony.

So I'll be busy playing on that for the next few weeks, getting my silks mojo back and developing a pedagogy. Hope to see you all in the studio soon!

Studio Review: Tiger Lily Vertical Fitness & Dance, Geneva IL

Tiger Lily was the first pole studio I visited when I moved to Chicago. I mean, it's one of the first anythings I visited. I was right off the boat, and a local poler I'd been corresponding with tipped me off to their grand opening party, and invited me to meet up there. I didn't know anyone or anything about the local pole or aerial scenes, so this was my introduction.

Last night, over six months later, I went back for open pole. I'd been wanting to go for ages! They kept mentioning their Open Poles on Facebook, and it just kept not working out for me. Mostly because, as a severely underemployed grad student, I just didn't have the $20 (for non-Tiger Lily students). But I sincerely did want to go. I love my Platinum Stages brass convertible, but my space is just too tight for some of the things I need to do. I need to do hard climbs (shoulder inversion climbs, no-feet climbs, inverted climbs) to train my muscles, and I need height to climb. I mean, I can jump to the top of my damn pole at home. Plus, as an independent poler, I am pretty isolated, and I like to get out and meet people. And sometimes it's nice to train when other people are looking, 'cause then you have to make an effort to look good and not just drag your feet!

So I signed up for Open Pole online the night before. I got an email from Sarah, one of the co-owners (whom I've met several times in person--actually she took my conditioning class once, she's strong!), telling me the class was moved an hour later (and of course offering me a refund it that wasn't OK). That was fine, as Geneva is not that close to me, so I got to take the extra time to digest dinner before jumping around like a poling maniac.

The door was actually locked when I got there (they let me in when they saw me standing there looking confused though). Turns out I was the only Open Pole student, and there was a photo shoot going on before my class. I was disappointed that it wouldn't be a more social workout, and probably would have cancelled if I'd known it was going to be just me. But at least I got to hang out with Caroline, the other owner, who I hadn't gotten to really talk to much yet. She's cool, I like her!

Tiger Lily is not a huge studio, and while they do fall back on hot pink, they use it in much tamer quantities than other studios, alternating it with easier-to-digest shades of lilac. So we can forgive them that.

The dressing room--I'm not sure if that was their usual dressing room or if the photo shoot people were in the usual dressing room. Anyways, it was small but cute, I think it had a fainting couch or something. And it's OK that it's small because they only have one pole room, and there are only 8 student poles, and they only do one-to-a-pole classes, so there's not gonna be more than eight people needing to get dressed at the same time anyways.

The pole room is very simple, with nine poles--8 for the students and one for the teacher--reaching close to 10 feet high (they weren't able to give me an exact height measure so we were estimating). The really cool thing is that the eight student poles are at the front and back of the room, with the teacher pole in the center--not in the front of the class, as in a normal dance class. I think that's brilliant. Not only does each person get an equal view, but pole is a three-dimensional art form. There is a lot of spinning (and unintentional rotating), so you really do need a 360-view. After all, while theaters where traditional dance takes place usually present a two-dimensional, face-front view to the audience, like a TV screen, aerial pole has its origins in strip clubs and circus tents, both of which usually offer seating on all sides of the performer. So it only makes sense that we should perform it that way when we can, or at least teach it that way.

Since there wasn't a class before me, the poles weren't as warmed up/grippy as they might have been. They were stainless steel, and I know people say those are less grippy than brass, but I find that as long as they're warm they are about the same. I picked out the four poles that were the warmest (all towards the center of the room--those must have been the ones they were using for the photo shoot!), and used them for my climbing, and then settled on one towards the front so I could use the mirror.

There was a wall of mirrors, which is always helpful (I like to check to make sure I'm even on things like iron X's and shoulder planks), but there was a ballet bar attached to it that always seemed to be RIGHT in my way. Guess I'll have to practice my power moves aerially next time!

The ceilings are drop ceilings, and the ribbing is on the narrow side, so it's nigh impossible to do any ceiling work. I can usually find a happy place for my feet in a ceiling lay on a drop ceiling, but here no matter what I did I ended up poking through the ceiling.

The sound system was solid. Caroline offered to put my iPod on, but I'm sick of my own music so I let hers run. We didn't play it that loud 'cause we wanted to chat, but I'm sure it can get crazy in there for a dance party.

I don't think they had a shower (correct me if I'm wrong), but they did have a nice bathroom with baskets of complimentary q-tips and tampons for those in need, which I thought was cute! 

Like my last studio review, this was Open Pole, so I can't really say anything about the instruction. Caroline offered to spot me plenty of times though, and asked if I needed help if I even made the slightest grunt. So I guess that's the best "instruction" you can get in a non-instructed class!

I wish I could say something about the clientele, but obviously I can't in this case! Apparently there are usually a few women at Open Pole, but I just came on an off night.

Anyways, Tiger Lily is a smaller place than Flirty Girl and Tease and Rondi's and I think even Bombshell (trying to think of all the studios I've been to in Chicago), but it has a nice feel and friendly instructors. Open Pole is their only drop-in class, which is on Fridays at least once a month (sometimes more), so if you're in the area and looking for a place to practice, definitely check it out!!

STATS:
Tiger Lily Vertical Fitness & Dance
Equipment: 9 10' 50mm permanent poles, Platinum Stages, stainless steel, static-spinning convertible
Amenities: Just the entryway (some merch available) and the pole room, with one or two small dressing rooms
Drop-In Price: $20 for non-students, $10 for students. Open pole is currently the only drop-in class.


Photo from Tiger Lily's Facebook page, because I forgot to take one.