You want me to put my hands where!?

Last Wednesday, in typical gloomy and rainy weather, myself and eleven other Imperial girls from ICU Pole Dance trekked over to Hammersmith for the society’s very first Aerial ‘taster’ session.

Aerial is a form of acrobatics, which is becoming increasingly popular as a fitness craze, and not just amongst women! It’s a full body workout, incredible for your core strength and flexibility. It’s also been featured on BBC’s Tumble, shows by Cirque du Soleil and adverts for Sony’s PS3.

We arrived at Aerialand, and were greeted by a bubbly instructor called Diego. He led us through a thorough warm ups and stretches, and then we started with silks – two strips of coloured fabric suspended from the ceiling.

Having a year’s worth of experience of pole (albeit on and off with coursework, exams, and summer), I wasn’t sure what to expect with silks. The first move Diego taught us was called a French climb, a way to get up the silks without doing pull ups.

Of course, as with any instructor, he made it look absolutely effortless. Our attempts to climb up the silks, as you can probably imagine, were not as graceful as Diego’s.

Although I didn’t think I would get a head start with learning Aerials, I was under the impression that the acrobatic sport would utilise the same muscles and technique as pole. I was quite wrong. The first difference with silks is how intensely your hands and feet have to grip the fabric. With pole you have an advantage with your skin, which is great for gripping against the pole even if you do get some (many) friction burns here and there. However, silks is about how well you can tighten your hand and clamp the silk between your feet, and your ability to master a looping action with one of your legs to get the fabric in the right place!

For a first move it was challenging, but after a few practices everyone got the hang of it. Diego was great – he had everyone perform the move in front of him and helped you and gave advice so you could master it.

Our next moves on the silks were the straddle and the pike. They’re both similar moves – you have to stand in front of the silks, wrap your arms around the silks and grab on. You then jump up and throw your legs over your head [see below – sec. ed]. Technically, the jump was a little cheat move that Diego let us get away with, as we were all beginners.

In reality you would have to lift your legs up and move them up over your head with just your core strength – no momentum to help you!

The latter half of the class we had a go with hoops, which I personally believed was easier than silk purely because it was easier to hold the hoop. Diego taught us how to climb onto and sit on the hoop – which again involved pulling ourselves upside down. This time, we had to hold on with our knees, before swinging up and using our momentum to come to sitting. Thankfully, Diego was on hand to give everyone step-by-step instructions. Once on the hoop, Diego had us balance sitting on the hoop without using your hands to grab it – this was a lot more difficult than it sounds, as there’s a fear of falling off the hoop!

After a few practices, he taught us a hoop pose, where you sit on the hoop and turn slightly to the side, straightening one leg while bending the other. It was a very acrobatic pose that, once again, was a lot more difficult than it sounded! The last move was a hoop spin whilst hanging off the hoop, not sat on the hoop. This was a fun manoeuvre to finish off with and after this, we stretched out.

I had a really great time at the class, and genuinely had plenty of fun, especially because Diego was so chatty. The other girls were also all very supportive, helping each other improve. The room was not a large room and I think this significantly improved the atmosphere of the class. It was more cosy and friendly, compared to the industrial, steel rigging, cold and empty room I imagined in my head!

For more information, contact poledance@ic.ac.uk about our classes.