Howcast https://howcast.com The best source for fun, free, and useful how-to videos and guides. Mon, 09 May 2011 13:00:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://howcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cropped-305991373_448685880636965_5438840228078552196_n-32x32.png Howcast https://howcast.com 32 32 How to Do a Descending Angel Inversion in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460943-how-to-do-a-descending-angel-inversion-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 13:00:46 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460943-how-to-do-a-descending-angel-inversion-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com . And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. This is one of my favorite tricks, we call it the Descending Angel at S Factor. It is an advanced trick, so be sure that you’ve built up the strength to try this beforehand. You’re inverting with your basic inversion, without kicking. You’re pulling your body up into your inversions and of course with all inversions when you’re trying it for the first time be sure you have someone spotting you. Do not try to do this on your own. Have someone there who can watch you and catch you in case you start to fall. Stand on the left side of the pole. Bring your right hand by your eyes, bring your other hand, your palms facing you, onto the pole right above your head. You’ll invert, lifting up wrap your right leg, the calf of your right leg around the front. Lower your hand so it’s out of the way, between the pole and your thigh. And then let your other leg drop down. And arch your back, let this just open up like it’s flowering. Then you’re slowly going to slide down. Take time with that descent, when you come down to the ground you’ll release your leg and you’ll come up. Ok, let’s try that on the left side as well. This time you’re going to be on the right side of the pole. your left hand grasps the pole eye level. Open palm towards your face, bring it on to the pole. You’re going to lift up and bring your left leg around the back and in front. So here we go. Lift up, around the back and in front. Lower your other leg as you bend it and start to open that arch in your body. And let your other hand move over your body to extenuate the beauty of this move. And as your head approaches the ground just tuck your chin in and let your spine melt down one bone at a time and take a luxurious get up. It’s a beautiful trick, be sure your ready before you try it and enjoy it.

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How to Do a Basic Inversion in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460942-how-to-do-a-basic-inversion-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 13:00:46 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460942-how-to-do-a-basic-inversion-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and that’s www.sfactor.com . And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.
I wanna show you how to do a basic inversion on the pole. Be sure thought that you’ve been doing other movements to build up your strength for this. You wanna be able to hold your body weight up with just your arms before attempting this. And I don’t want you to try this on your own. Be sure you have someone spotting you, who is watching you as you are doing this and they are to catch you in case you start falling. Let’s get started. You gonna bring the hand that’s closest to the pole and take a grasp right by your eyes. You other hand, your palms facing you and you grasping the pole above your head. We just gonna practice a movement of tipping your hips up first. You gonna step in with your right foot as you tilt, your hips are bend your left tie. So just practice that motion of tilting your hips up. That’s the motion that’s gonna take you into the inversion. Once you invert and your hips are up, then you gonna bring your left leg in front of the pole. Once you are up there, you’ll bring the other leg behind and squish the pole between your legs. OK, so you are ready. Here we go. Let’s set our hands. Be back a little bit behind the pole as you step in, tilt your hips up, bring your left leg in front of the pole, cross your other leg behind. And then you’ll start to straighten your upper body, you can slide your hands down a little bit between your legs as you continue to squeeze between your ties on to the pole. Relax your upper body, imagine a snake sliding down, that’s what you are doing. And as your head comes right above the ground, you type your chin into your chest, and place one bone at a time, your neck down your spine. When you first try to invert, you’ll probably gonna be tempted to kick vigorously. Try to get that out of the trick eventually. You wanna eventually pool out with control and slowly, because it’s more beautiful to see it that way and also it’s less .. for your body. If you can pull up slowly without kicking, that would be great. OK, see you later.

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How to Do a Basic Climb in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460940-how-to-do-a-basic-climb-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 12:45:32 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460940-how-to-do-a-basic-climb-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee. I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelly’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now, and it’s a movement that combines ballet, pilates, strip-tease, and pole dancing. We have a website were you can get more information and that’s www.sfactor.com… and I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. I’m gonna show you how to climb the pole today. This is a basic climb. As women we have a lot of strength in our legs, so I want you to really use the strength of your legs to do this climb. It’s not all about your arms. I’m gonna give you a technique that’s three steps, and if you follow the technique and use your legs you’re going to save your arms. You’re facing your pole, you’ll bring your leg up to the pole. Flex your foot, so it’s on one side of the pole. Bring your knee on the other side. You’re going to pull your body up and bring your second leg behind the first one to push the leg into the pole. That’s your platform that you’re going to push off of. The first step is hands go up. The second is your going to pull your knees up using your abdominal muscles, and the third step is your going to squeeze the pole with your legs and stand up. That will send you up higher. Okay, so here we go. Pull your body up, cross your other leg behind. So first step, hands go up. Second step, use your abs, your arms, and your legs… “scooch” your knees up. Third step, scoot back a little bit, squeeze the pole with your legs to stand up. Again, hands, “scooch” your knees up, and then squeeze the pole between your calves and your knees to stand up. You don’t want to stretch your arms way out there. You want to keep your arms close to your body, there’s more strength in that… and I’m going to emphasize again that third step squeezing the pole and using your legs to stand up, rather than using your arm strength there. And here your either going to slide down on a fireman slide or hold on to the pole with your hands. Release with your legs for just a moment, bring your legs out in-front of you, and start to rock your hips from side to side as you prance your legs down to the ground. So, a couple things… the pole is going to feel a little bit uncomfortable at first it takes some getting used to the feeling of the hard metal against your skin. Also, coming down your going to also get used to that feeling. If you’re feeling a bit of a burn between your legs. Um, so don’t give up I know it’s hard to start at first stick with the three steps, really use the strength of your legs, and you’ll be climbing up in no time

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How to Do a Corkscrew Spin in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460939-how-to-do-a-corkscrew-spin-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 12:31:12 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460939-how-to-do-a-corkscrew-spin-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com . And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.

So here is an advanced beginning trick that we call the Corkscrew at S Factor. It’s a muscle move so you wanna be sure that you’ve been building up your muscles in order to attempt this trick. You’re gonna start at the left side of the pole. Your hands: palms are up to the sky, bring them to the pole, so your top hand is bent right above your head, thumbs are on one side your fingers around the other side. As you step in with your right foot, you’re going to push off of that foot and bring your knee to your shoulder, sounds like a karate kick. You’re gonna push off of this leg, this foot, to push your hips up. Your body is gonna go horizontal to the pole. Wrap your body around like you’ve got velcro on your belly, wrap it around the pole. You really wanna let your head go to the side, to go horizontal. Bring your hands into position, you’re stepping with your right foot, pushing off that foot little high, wrap the top of your thighs and your belly should be pushing against the pole. Commit to letting the body go horizontal. Here we go: step in, little kick, there you are up, slowly release the grip a little bit, soften the grip and low down to your feet.

Now let’s take this with a spin: So instead of just pulling your knee, your leg in like that, just tucking in, you’re going to whip that outside leg out and then pull it in. Step like whips out, spin it down to the floor.
Now let’s take it with a walk: so you can get even more spin if you like. Now you notice, your hand is in the wrong position right now, so as you’re walking let your hand slide down and when you’re ready to go on the trick you’re gonna switch you grip around. And of course you’re gonna do your left side as well. And that’s your Corkscrew. Have fun with it!

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How to Do a Firefly Spin in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460934-how-to-do-a-firefly-spin-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 12:31:12 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460934-how-to-do-a-firefly-spin-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com. And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.
I’m gonna show to you how to do a beautiful spinning trick, that at “S Factor” we call the firefly. Stay on the left side of the poll, your right hand is are above your head, you gonna step with your right foot, reach your left leg out to the left, bring your left hand right across your chest to the pole, and bring your left leg to the pole. You’re pointing your toes, it’s actually really important that you do that, because when you point your toes there is perfectly little notch that is created between your heel and the calf for the pole. It’s perfect. So keep that point, otherwise you’ll lose the grip. So point those toes, and what you gonna do is you gonna push of this right leg towards the direction of the bend leg. And as you do that, you go into the spin. You’ll bring your right foot up to the pole, the top of your foot is on the back of the pole. So your feet are on opposite sides of the pole. They are kinda crossed, your ankles become kinda crossed there. Alright, so let’s do that. Right hands above your head, step with your right foot, reach your left leg out, bring your hand across, left leg comes to the pole, push, pick up that foot and take a little spin, you’re coming down, to feet and pushing up with your hips.
OK, we’re gonna take with a walk now, that will give you more spin, and also instead of just placing the left foot on the pole, now you’re gonna swing it, and that will give you more spin. Swing your leg, hook, push, hand and there is your spin. Once you start feeling comfortable with the spin, go ahead and relax your head, relax your shoulders, take it with a little more lightness and fun, and so you can really just go crazy. Have fun.

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How to Prevent Sliding in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460932-how-to-prevent-sliding-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 12:01:02 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460932-how-to-prevent-sliding-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee. I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, pilates, striptease, and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and that’s www.sfactor.com.
I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. As a balance you want to find between having enough of a grip on the pole, not sliding, and also allowing for spinning to happen. Obviously, you don’t want to wear any lotion on your hands or any part of your body that’s gonna touch the pole, including oils in your hair. If you touch your hair you might bring that onto the pole. If you want to use some kind of conditioner on your legs that’s not gonna make it slick for you on the pole. Aloe Vera gel is kind of something I’ve discovered that works really well. You can use alcohol; put it on a rag to wipe down your pole to keep the pole dry and free of buildup. Some poles use Windex or water, so look at the instructions on your pole to see what’s appropriate. Humidity and the temperature of the room also affect how the pole feels. The warmer and more humid it is, the stickier your grip’s gonna be. You also want to warm up the pole. Do some easy walks around the pole, some easy spins, and as the pole heats up with your body heat and your body heats up, that, your grip will get better. If you still have problems with very sweaty hands and slipping there are some products you can get. Dry Hands is one that I know that’s on the market and when you put it on it repels moisture, so it actually kind of keeps the moisture from your hands from getting on the pole. If you have the other issue of too dry hands, there’s a product Mighty Grip. This makes your grip a little more tacky so that you’re not sliding from being too dry. There are also gloves that they make for pole dancing and if you’re using a stationary pole you want to be sure that the palm is not tacky. I have a student actually who uses driving gloves with leather, a leather palm, and that works really well for her. If you buy a new pole and you feel that it’s too slippery, I had a student who bought a sanding pad and just roughed up the surface to make the grip a little more sticky for her. So get creative. See what works for you. Find that perfect balance for yourself, a comfy grip and you’ll be able to spin and do your inversions and anything you want on the pole.

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How to Stretch for Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460929-how-to-stretch-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 10:00:43 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460929-how-to-stretch-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee. I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, pilates, striptease, and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and that’s www.sfactor.com.
I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. It’s really important to warm up for Pole Dancing with stretches before you start, to prevent yourself from getting injured and also when you’re working your muscles so hard, you want to elongate them as well. I’m gonna show you some stretches to do on the pole and we’re gonna start first on the left side of the pole. you’re gonna bring your feet in really close and your hand by the pole, next to your eyes, you’ll bring your other hand over your head and just lean away. Wrap your hands around the back of the pole. Just lean away with your hip, push your hip out towards that opposite wall. Imagine your body between 2 panes of glass. You’re gonna hold that stretch for 5 seconds and be sure to breathe. After 5 seconds you’re gonna switch over and do the same thing on the other side. So wrap your hands around the back of the pole, push out with your hip, and like a half moon just stretch and breathe. Breathe where it feels tight. Now we’re gonna do a stretch where you’re facing the pole. Your feet are in close next to the pole. Bring your hands in front of your face and reach your butt out. I’m just gonna lean away from the pole. Lift your chin. This is a good hamstring stretch and it also lengthens your muscles in your arms. And then you’re gonna scoop your tailbone under; tuck your chin into your chest, just round your back. Really reach the middle of your back towards the opposite wall. Try to widen that space, um, the middle of your back. Now you’re gonna bring your back to the pole, your hands behind your head, so your palms are facing away. Just wrap them around the back and taking your time, you’re gonna reach your hips away. Just stretch your hips forward and you can let your head drop back if that feels good. This should be a nice stretch to the front of your body. If you have lower back issues something good to do is to keep your lower back on the pole and what you’re gonna do, you’re gonna do the same stretch, bringing your hands behind your head and just leaning your chest forward. Feel like you’re reaching your heart up to where the wall and the ceiling meet. So remember, take a few minutes before you work the pole to get stretched out and warmed up.

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How to Pole Dance with Mai Yee https://howcast.com/videos/460927-how-to-pole-dance-with-mai-yee-pole-dance/ Mon, 09 May 2011 10:00:43 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460927-how-to-pole-dance-with-mai-yee-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name’s Mai Yee. I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan, New York. S Factor was created by a woman for women. It was created by Sheila Kelley and it’s a movement that combines ballet, pilates, strip tease, and pole dancing to promote health and confidence and empowerment for women of all ages, of all body types. It’s for women exclusively. We have studios throughout the country. Three locations in Manhattan, New York, multiple locations in California, and also Chicago and Houston. We have a website where you can get more information at that’s www.sfactor.com. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. I’ve been an instructor for four. I had a very different career, at one time. I was in much more of a corporate setting and I went to this introductory class at S Factor and it captivated me so much. The movement was so beautiful that I thought, this is what I want to do. This is it. It’s so wonderful to see how it changes many people’s lives and I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.

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How to Choose a Pole for Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/463356-how-to-choose-a-pole-pole-dance/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:15:48 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/463356-how-to-choose-a-pole-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com . And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. If you are in the market to buy a dance pole, there are a lot of things to consider. First of all you want to decide whether you’d like to buy a stationery static pole or spinning pole and there are some poles that offer both. Most beginners do start on the stationery but if you’d like the option in the future of being able to play with the spinning pole, you might consider one that offers that option. There are 4 different types of materials that poles are made out of. Stainless steel, that’s what this is, chrome, brass and titanium gold. The stainless steel and the chrome are probably going to be the most common in studios around the country. They offer good surface areas for spins, but they are a little more slippery when you are first starting and trying to kind of build up muscle power in your hands. Brass is a softer metal and the grip is much stickier on that, so for things like inversions, that’s helpful, but when you are spinning, you might get a little stuck. And titanium, it’s probably in terms of the grip, somewhere in between the stainless steel, chrome and the brass. You also want to decide what size pole you are going to get, what diameter size you are going to get. This is your standard 2 inch diameter or 15 millimeter pole and so you can see my hand grip how that fits around it. If you have particularly petite hands you might consider getting the smaller diameter which is an inch and three quarters, it’s 45 millimeters, but do be aware that your inversions when you are holding with just your legs, that’s going to be more challenging because you will have less surface area to squeeze. Consider what, if you are taking class at a studio what they use, so that you can practice with the same type of poles that your studio uses. You also want to look at the space in your home where you are going to install the pole and consider whether you are going to get something’s that permanent or something that you are going to take down and travel with. If you have particularly high ceilings, over 11 feet, you are going to need to put something up permanently. Removable poles have kind of the max in terms of high they go. Want to look at your flooring as well, if there is tile or concrete that might indicate a portable pole or removable pole because you won’t be able to drill into the floor. So lots of different choices. Consider your needs, your desires and buy yourself a pole.

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How to Pole Dance in Stripper Shoes https://howcast.com/videos/460933-how-to-dance-in-stripper-shoes-pole-dance/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:01:30 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460933-how-to-dance-in-stripper-shoes-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name’s Mai Yee. I’m the instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now, and it’s a movement that combines ballet, Pilates, strip tease, and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information and that’s www.sfactor.com. And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.

One of the really fun things about pole dancing is that we get to wear stripper shoes. That’s what we call these. These are generally six inches or higher in the heel and they have a platform. They really accentuate your hips, your breasts, that beautiful arch in your back, and it reminds you you’re a woman. You can’t forget you’re a woman when you’re wearing these shoes. You can buy these shoes at specialty stores, online, or at your local studios. And there’s just tons of different styles to choose from. I would recommend having something with an ankle strap so that it keeps your ankle stable while you’re dancing. And you want to be also aware that if you have fabric or ornaments like this, it’s going to make your climb a little more slippery. If you want a good grip when you’re climbing, stick with plastic, vinyl, or boots. Boots give you a great grip when you climb.

I’m going to show you how to get used to the balance in the shoes. So if this is the first time you’re putting them on, just stand with your feet hip width apart. You’re going to soften your knees. Just shift your weight from side to side. Just feel that balance. That’s OK, right? No problem with that. Now much more gingerly, you’re going to shift your weight forward and backward, but much smaller and much more gingerly. Whoa. So what you feel is the balance is much more vicarious forwards and backwards. The balance in these shoes are sideways, so remember that.

We’re going to take a little walk with these shoes now. Drag your feet, crossing the front of your body and push out with your hips. At S Factor, we call this the S-walk. Push out with your hips. You’re taking advantage of the sideways balance of these shoes and accentuating your curves as you’re walking. So take your time. These shoes are not about getting anywhere fast. It’s more about being seen, so take your time. Anything that you can do without the shoes you can do with the shoes with the pole. Spins, no problem, right? And even invert. It makes working out a lot more fun.

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How to Get Started Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460928-how-to-get-started-pole-dance/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:01:30 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460928-how-to-get-started-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee. I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, pilates, striptease, and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and that’s www.sfactor.com.
I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. Pole dancing is different than any other type of exercise or dance that you may have tried because it pulls in this other element of your sensuality as a woman. And that’s really what makes it so special and beautiful. At sfactor where I teach, we really try to take students to come from that place of sensuality. Something that helps to do that is to slow down more than you’re used to. You’re carrying your focus inside and you’re feeling what your body’s feeling. you’re noticing what your emotions are and you’re moving from that place. And then when you learn the movement‚ you learn the technique, you infuse the movement with feeling good in your body and feeling sensual. Something that adds to it is having music that you love having something really yummy playing in background and moving to music that’s going to make you feel sensual and sultry.
It’s really important to warm your body up adequately before you do any kind of movement on the pole. That’s a must to prevent from injuring yourself. If you do some push-ups to warm up your back and your shoulders, some sit-ups to warm up your core, stretch your legs, which we’re focusing on your hamstrings and your quadriceps and do a whole body stretch as well.
People sometimes worry that they need a lot of arm strength to get started. And you’re definitely going to build arm strength but you’re going to do this gradually. Take it slow, be patient with yourself, learn basically how to move around the pole, maybe first without your feet leaving ground.
When you’re first getting started, a walk around the pole will be the first thing you’re going to do. Put your hand above your head onto the pole. Just feel your body weight hanging off that arm. Just get used to that feeling of holding your body weight away from the pole. Let your body start to fall forward. You’re going to catch with your foot and fall forward again and catch with your foot. And when you feel comfortable with that, add a little extra swing with your leg so you can get used to that feeling of swinging around the pole and then starting with easier spins and as your arm strength builds up and you start to add something more advance, tougher tricks.

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How to Do a Peter Pan Spin in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460938-how-to-do-a-peter-pan-spin-pole-dance/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:01:30 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460938-how-to-do-a-peter-pan-spin-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com . And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.
I am gonna show you a trick that we call the Peter Pan at S Factor. It’s an advanced beginning trick, so it’s something that you want to have built up your strength for beforehand with doing easier spins and strength training on the pole. It’s a beautiful, graceful trick that it’s like Peter Pan flying through the air. It’s very, very light. So I’m gonna break it down slowly first: come to the left side of your pole, bring your hand above your head onto the pole, you step with your right foot, reach your left leg out, and you push off of your right leg as your hand, your left hand comes to the pole, you’re gonna turn your fingers down and reach down towards the ground onto the pole. This hand pushes your hips away, that’s the purpose of the second hand, and as you go into the spin you bent your legs. Here we go: right hand, step, reach your leg, push, hand comes to the pole, and you bent your knees and you just flow down to your toes like a little fairy. Let’s do that again with a walk now: They’ll give you a little extra momentum as they’re spinning. Step right, step left, step right, push off, and go into your spin. It’s also really important for you to work both sides of your body, so as you learn the trick on your strong side, then take it on the other side and build up your muscle power and your movement on the other side as well. And that’s your Peter Pan. Fly!

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How to Do Strength-Building Exercises for Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460931-how-to-do-strength-building-exercises-pole-dance/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:45:47 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460931-how-to-do-strength-building-exercises-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee. I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor Studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, pilates, striptease, and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and that’s www.sfactor.com.
I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. I’d like to show you today how to do strength-building exercises on the pole. This would be great for you to build up your strength to get ready for tougher tricks and also to warm up before you do pole movement. The first one we’re gonna do, you’re gonna face the pole. You’re gonna jump up and hold your body, without squeezing the pole with your legs, hold as long as you can and then start to bend your knees and lower down to the floor. So you ready? Here we go. Jump up, hold yourself as long as you can, when you start to slide, bend your knees and lower yourself down to the floor. And if that’s too much to ask at first, you’re gonna lower yourself down to your feet, that’s fine too. Then switch your hands, other hand on top. We’re gonna do that again. Inhale as you jump up. And lower down to your knees or your feet. The next one we’re gonna do is face the pole, you’re gonna bring your hands in front of your face, lower your butt down. Grasp the pole with your hands to hold your weight, and you’re gonna lift your feet off the ground and you’ll pull your face up to your hands. And if you can, lower back down to your knees or to your feet. All right. And of course we’ve got to do everything both sides so switch hands, no jumping because you’re gonna build your strength by using your muscles to lift yourself. The next one we’re one do is you’re going to be on the side of the pole, left side of the pole to start. Your right hand is by your eyes. And this is a great exercise because this is the position in which you’re gonna learn to invert eventually. So your hand by your pole is by your eyes. Bring your palm so it faces you and then bring it onto the pole right above your head so it’s like a little window that your head goes through. Engage your abdominal. Try to keep your arms close into your body, don’t let them get stretched out. And you’re gonna lift up, and if you can, lift up your knees as well. Again, no jumping. Here we go. Inhale and lift. And lower down. Even if you’re not lifting up so much and it’s just a little baby… and down, that’s fine. You’re still getting stronger, you’re training your muscles to work properly. So if you keep at it, you keep working it, and you keep good form, you’re gonna be stronger in no time.

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How to Do a Half-Pint Spin in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460935-how-to-do-a-half-pint-spin-pole-dance/ Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:31:04 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460935-how-to-do-a-half-pint-spin-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com . And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information – and that’s www.sfactor.com – and I’m here today to talk to you about Pole Dancing. I’m going to show you how to do a beautiful spinning trick that we call the Half-Pint at S Factor. It’s a trick that doesn’t take a lot of effort, but it’s a bit of a brain-teaser, so you just want to follow the steps and allow it to happen. Just relax, follow the steps, and it’ll happen. So your right hand comes above your head; you’re on the left side of the pole. You’re going to step on the ball of your left foot – come up high on the ball of your left foot – and reach your right leg behind you. Your right leg is going to spin backwards as your left hand comes across your chest onto the pole, and you’re just going to leave that left foot down as that happens, and then the spin will happen. So here we go: right hand on the pole, step on the ball of your left foot, reach your right leg out, spin it backwards, hand comes to the pole, and the spin happens. So you don’t have to do anything at all with the left leg. Just leave it down, and the pole naturally bends the back of your left leg. Let’s do that with a walk now, give it a little more momentum. You’re going to take a walk – step with your right foot, step with your left – come up, spin that right leg back, and spiral around. Everything you do with your right arm, let’s do on your left as well, because you want to build your body up evenly on both sides. So we’re going to take a step with our right foot, left foot, come up high on the ball of your right foot, reach your left leg out, hand comes to the pole, and it spins you around. And that is your Half-Pint! Enjoy it!

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How to Do a Pole Bend in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460937-how-to-do-a-pole-bend-pole-dance/ Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:31:04 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460937-how-to-do-a-pole-bend-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee, I’m an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s “S Factor” studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now. It’s a movement that combines ballet, palates, striptease and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and it is www.sfactor.com. And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.. I’m going to show you a move that we call the Pole Bend at S Factor. It’s a back bend using the pole for support. We’re going to start to the left side of your pole, come about a foot and a half away, and have your feet hip width apart. You’re going to reach your right hand back until it comes on the outside of the pole. Bring your shoulder to the pole. Lift up on the balls of your feet and push your hips up. Then you’ll drop your head back and using your hand to control the speed, you’re going to back bend using the pole for support to slowly sliding down the pole. Take your time and breathe. Let them see the beautiful curves of your body. When your head comes right above the ground you’re going to tuck your chin into your chest and just let your spine slowly melt down. Let’s do that, now with the left hand. Now, stand with your feet hip width apart. Lift back with your left hand until it comes to the outside of the pole. Bring your shoulder to the pole and lift up to demi-pointe. That’s the balls of your feet. You’re pushing your hips up and letting your head drop back. You’re going to take a luxurious time rolling down. You can move hand on your body as well to extenuate the curves. When your head is right above the ground, tuck you’re chin into your chest, and lay your spine down one bone at a time. And you’ll reach your legs away, use your arms to support you to come up. Be sure when you’re doing this trick that you move slowly. That shows off the beauty of the movement so much more.

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How to Do a Pole Spin in Pole Dancing https://howcast.com/videos/460936-how-to-do-a-pole-spin-pole-dance/ Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:15:36 +0000 https://howcast.com/videos/460936-how-to-do-a-pole-spin-pole-dance/

Transcript

My name is Mai Yee. I am an instructor at Sheila Kelley’s S Factor studio in Manhattan, New York. I’ve been doing this movement for five years now, and it’s a movement that combines ballet, Pilates, striptease, and pole dancing. We have a website where you can get more information, and that’s www.sfactor.com. And I’m here today to talk to you about pole dancing.

Here’s a trick that’s great for beginners because your feet never leave the ground. It’s a spin that we call the pole spin at S Factor, and it creates this beautiful silhouette of your body against the pole. And it’s kind of dramatic.

Here’s how we do it. Your hand comes above your head onto the pole. I’m going to break it down first. Step with your right foot. Step with your left and face the pole. You’re staying up on the balls of your feet. You’re turning under your right arm as you pivot on the ball of your left foot. Turn under your right arm, swing your right leg out, and push out with your hip.

I’m going to break it down again slowly, like that. Step with your right foot, left, face the pole. Turn under, right arm pivoting, on the ball of your left foot. Swing your right leg out. Push out with your hip so it creates this beautiful S shape with your body.

Let’s take it with a walk now. Step with your right foot, left, face the pole. Turn, hit that hip out to your left. And if you want to add a little extra flourish, you’re going to shift your weight over to your right, slide your left leg underneath you, and recline down onto the ground kind of like a sexy lounge.

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