(Credit: By Melissa Hom)
In New York, you’ll find two types of women in a pole-dancing class: The first is the gal who’s not necessarily slim or stacked in the right places but can bend backward, climb the chrome in six-inchers and turn herself upside down. The other kind of woman wants to do all these things, but can’t.
Unfortunately, I tend toward the latter: a bit klutzy in the art of seduction, with bird arms that can barely do a push-up, let alone pull my knees to my torso so I can drop, and then slide, down the pole with any finesse.
Lucky for me, Lucey and another Crunch instructor, Taj, are patient. I rock the R-rated warm-up—a five-song, stretch-and-dance routine that involves touching my body (everywhere but the most private of parts) while shaking my butt and performing multiple body undulations.
But I freeze up when it’s my turn walk around the pole "slowly, with long strides” or “with quick short steps" before I "drop it like it's hot" (swinging to the left, then dropping my right hip and swinging to the right like a bell toll). It takes a few classes to get this down.
The next challenge: using my arms and tightened stomach muscles to lift and pull my knees to my chest for "pole pull-ups.” Taj corrects my posture several times, pushing my shoulders down and telling me to do heel raises until my legs are ready to lift.
To get the most out of the class, it’s best to come wearing tight booty shorts, as knees and thighs must be bare to cling to the pole; spandex and cotton leggings are too slippery. More advanced moves, like the "cannonball" (pushing the pole with one arm and pulling with the other while spinning around the pole and raising the knees to the chest), are a bitch to master.
My climbing skills, though, improved within three sessions, and I successfully mastered using my knees and feet to inch my way to the top, where I easily squeezed the pole with my thighs and tossed my hair back—aaaoowww!
At Crunch, most everyone is barefoot (it’s easier to climb this way), and only a few don the notorious stilettos. At New York Pole Dancing, however, heels are highly recommended: “Women are scared to death to move their hips,” says Wendy, “and [wearing heels] loosens them up a lot and works their calves.” Classes are also smaller here: Most women get their own pole, as well as more individualized attention.
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