First off let's address the obvious: I've been MIA. Now that we got that out of the way, tonight's topic is the power and beauty of the rear. Ass. Butt. Bum. Rear end. Tushie....whatever it is that you may want to call it. I like to call it Booty!
Going to my regular Wednesday night class has become therapeutic and almost as necessary as taking a vitamin. Sometimes I am in no mood and all I want to do is go home and put on fluffy pj's eat a box of (organic) chocolate chip cookies, drink (organic) wine and just veg out while I watch Chuck Bass strategically wreak upper east side havoc in his closest friends and enemies lives, all with a raised eyebrow and sexy little smirk (Gossip Girl -duh). Shit I got side tracked again....As I was saying, that hasn't been an option in well over 2 and a half years. That's because Wednesday night is vitamin night at S Factor. I show up and get my weekly dose of girl talk while releasing all of my tensions and frustrations of the day (and week) in my pole and dance time. It's very surreal, and very, very necessary. Like I said, it's an essential vitamin....a flinstones cherry chewable if you will.
Tonight's class was so big that we moved into the larger studio to accommodate the visitors (drop-ins). Our class has become quite the solid foundation of love, trust, unique beauty, and strength. Everyone seems to have mastered one or two things that now define us and set us apart from one another, a trademark we each have within our little circle. I will discuss that in more detail in a later post. So when we have drop-ins it is sometimes hard to tell what type of energy will be given off by each girl, and the dynamic of the room suddenly changes. Nonetheless we had a really great moving meditation as well as a kick ass pole warm up (where I even polished a few things I've been recently struggling with -- woo woo!!).
When it came time to dance, I was first. Stepping out of my comfort zone by manning up and going first rather then waiting around to see how other people's music and energy might influence my own. I felt good, and I was able to let go and let my inner creature out to play.
But getting back to the power of the asset in the title of this post..... One of the drop-ins, let's call her Visitor 1, left a lasting impression on me (as well as the other girls). She's not the only person to have done so, but tonight she just reminded me of why I am so in love with this movement and why I cannot miss a dose of my vitamins!
She began her dance at the wall. She wore clear platform heels and hot pink strappy garters around her thighs. She may have had on a long button down shirt but I was too busy noticing the garter/shoe combo to care. Her song came on, and it was nothing I would have chosen and I was prepared for yet another visitor doing a skanky stripper dance in heels, so I was prepared to let my mind wander. She was about 30 seconds into her dance when my instructor came over and poked at me to go occupy the second lap dance chair (the first one was already occupied) and it was clear this girl needed two people to sit for her. As soon as I took the second chair, the instructor already had a third girl in a third chair, all of which became a small circle around Visitor 1, leaving her not much room to move. I wasn't very interested in her dance as she spun on the pole and slithered her way to the floor....UNTIL, she melted ever so slowly onto the floor between our chairs and fiercely kicked off her heels. Thankfully no one was sitting on the bench because one of the shoes flew across the room bouncing off the bench and landing on the floor near one of the poles. At that moment, Visitor 1's energy did a 360. It was almost as if I felt her creature enter the room, and enter her body. Think of the exorcist and how she was possessed by the devil, only, instead of the devil it's a sexy power crazed creature in booty shorts. Her movement was incredibly slow and drippy and for the next 3 minutes of her song she didn't move very far at all, and the three of us chair-holders couldn't keep our eyes off the prize. That prize being....the booty that was taking up so much space in the middle of the dim red room. Her tiny shorts allowing her cheeks to carefully peek out as she melted her chest down to the floor, and then back up for a drippy hip circle. Now, I want to recite something that a dear friend of mine said last week during a champagne induced girl's night which had me laughing out loud but it was so sincere and genuine and all of us girls were able to completely relate. She was describing a movement from class when she belted out in her sweetest most delicate southern accent: "I am straight, but....... I don't know why!" If you've ever taken a pole class, especially at S Factor, you will know exactly what she meant. Women in all shapes, ages, sizes, colors, and moods enter the doors of this studio. And no matter who you are, the minute you find your space on the floor and the lights dim, you become stripped. Not stripped like a stripper. Just stripped of who you were before you entered those doors. I've never once witnessed a bad looking ass during an S dance. I've been in many classes as a drop-in, and I've seen drop-ins come and go. I can't recall one person that I could honestly say looked bad during their dance. Even when they've danced to songs I've cringed at, or girls who had no connection to their erotic creatures. Everyone looks sexy when they are vulnerable. EVERYONE. Visitor 1's dance left me inspired, speechless, energetic, envious, and although I too am straight, I felt how powerful a woman's body can be when you are just an onlooker. Without knowing and without trying, she commanded our attention. All eyes on "me." And 3 pairs of eyes, plus the instructor who was cat calling with love (so, yes 4 pairs of eyes) left astounded and wanting more.
It left me thinking..... Is that power within me too? Is that what happens when I move in my dim spotlight? I've been told before by classmates, but it's never really something you can truly believe about yourself. Especially knowing the day or week you may have just had, all you can think about is what's in your head. But there have been times that I've felt so out of my own body during a dance. And those are the times that I am sure I had the power to command any eye in the room. We are so unaware of the power we have. Most of use are so afraid to use it. I wanted the power that Visitor 1 had. It was sexy, fierce, fearless, yet so slow, melty and buttery. I don't know her personally, and I would most likely walk past her on the street without a second thought. But in that room, in that moment, I was completely frozen and nothing else mattered to me except the anticipation of her next drippy move.
As women we are taught (by that dreadful word I despise...society) to be appropriate and cover up or suppress any inappropriateness. Especially a butt cheek. And as women who follow society's orders, we are often ashamed to show something that is "supposed" to be covered at all times. And maybe that's the attraction that allows for the power behind the booty. It's forbidden. And now it's on display, and it's barely moving an inch and already it's gained so much more power than it had a few hours earlier when it was covered up in dress pants and running off copies at the xerox machine (or hopefully a more exciting job than that). We were given curves for a reason, and so what if that reason is to let loose in a room full of other woman (for now). It teaches us to own the power that we have living inside of us and each time we leave that studio, a little bit more of it comes home with us. Confidence is power. Power is beauty. Beauty is also power. Tonight's class was the perfect recipe.
