This, our 14th adventure, will be long remembered for many reasons. For starters, it was planned by our newest member, Seabrin, who jumped right in and took the reigns on this one way back in January. She impressed us all on the night of her induction to the club, when she announced that she already had an idea and was wanting to plan an adventure as soon as possible. She wanted to keep it a secret, but after a few too many clues, we all had it figured out... we'll get to that in a few.
This adventure will also be remembered as "The Adventure That Almost Wasn't." With Snowmageddon III approaching the KC metro on the day of our planned activity, the early afternoon hours were filled with frantic phone calls and doppler maps. Despite our uncertainty about the severity of the storm, and varying levels of snow anxiety amongst the Femmes, we decided to proceed. In the end, the snow caused us little concern, but made me realize how lucky we have been to never have encountered inclement weather during any of our outdoor adventures. I think Mother Nature is a FF fan.
So, back to the adventure itself... Seabrin's clues were that our Fearless Femmes shirts would be appropriate attire, pregnancy was not a dis-qualifier, and it would be more fun after a few drinks. We all quickly guessed that it was pole dancing, and it turns out we were right! (I think it's the implied loss of inhibition that drinking provides, that gave it away) :) Oh, and why do we care that you can do this activity while pregnant? Because Meghan's pregnant!!! While we've all known for a few months, I realized I have not yet acknowledged this fact on the blog. Meghan will be welcoming a baby boy, named Landon, into the world in mid-July! We are all so happy for her and impressed that she is still joining us for the adventures she is allowed to participate in.
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| Who said pregnancy isn't sexy? |
After following Seabrin's advice and having those recommended drinks, we found ourselves at Pole Worx in KC's West Bottoms district. We walked into our reserved private studio... a room with graffiti on the walls, nine strategically placed metal poles, pink floors and a plush couch. There was a stereo with a sign that read "Do Not Touch," on top of which Jessi spotted a box of bandaids and a can of Lysol... #poledancingnecessities
Our instructor, a petite, yet solid, red-head came in and began our one hour class. First, stretching....
Next, the fundamentals: 1) Keep your hand high on the pole. 2) Count your steps around the pole. All moves start with either two or three steps around the pole before moving into the trick. 3) Hook your ankles around the pole, not your whole body. 4) Drop your hip and let your body follow. Do not jump. 5) There's NO jumping in pole dancing. 6) It hurts. You will be bruised. It's just part of it.
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| I'd love to know what Alli's thinking right about now |
While our instructor was quite good at spinning around the pole, something was just a little off. She failed to enamor us as some of our past instructors have. It might have been the snow boots she was wearing. Or maybe the fact that she was recovering from "three hernia repairs" #tmi. Looking back, it's possible she could have been popping pain pills... due to said surgery, of course. Or it could have been her unconventional words of encouragement... "You don't suck... bad." Anyway, she taught us about five or six different spins. I can't remember all of the names, but they included "The Fireman" and "Martini."
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| Seabrin swingin' |
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| Destiny dancin' |
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| Meagan and Meghan workin' it |
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| Lisa and Jessi spinnin' |
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Alli sittin' :)
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Although Alli had the hardest time staying in the air, and off the ground, during the first part of our lesson, she excelled at the floor routine....
As did Seabrin....
Our final mission was to hang upside down on the pole. This required us to kick our legs up over our heads and throw ourselves backwards, in hopes of our legs catching the pole and thereby saving us from slamming onto the ground. We already learned at last month's trapeze adventure that kicking our legs over our heads is not our strong suit, and this time there was no cushion below us to break our fall. For these reasons combined, the group as a whole was minimally successful at completing this task. I tried three times, but couldn't shake the mental image of my fragile skull hitting the hard floor, so I conceded. Seabrin tried approximately 47 times and got thissssssss close, but couldn't seal the deal. Meghan knew Landon wasn't interested in hanging upside down, so she sat this one out. Lisa and Alli were also unsuccessful, but two of our Femmes were both fearless and flexible enough to make it rain!!!
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| Jessi schoolin' us all |
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| Meagan makin' it look easy |
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| It's like a flipbook, I love it |
At the completion of our one hour class, we had an additional hour of studio time on our own
for shenanigans and photo ops to master our new talents. Take a look....
....don't worry, none of us plan to quit our day jobs.
So, what did we learn from this adventure?
1) Strippin' ain't easy
2) A triple hernia repair excludes you from being able to climb the pole
3) Pregnancy however, does not
4) If any one of us ever had to "dance" for a living... we would probably starve
5) There is a profound difference between "popping," "clapping," and "twerking" your booty
6) Don't confuse the difference
7) The right music is vital to successful pole dancing
8) Beauty and ideal body weight are not
9) It's good to be able to laugh at yourself
10) Our club is AWESOME!!!! But technically, we already knew that
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| Meghan |
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| Jessi |
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| Meagan |
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| Destiny |
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| Alli |
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| Seabrin |
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| Lisa |
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| Amy was there too, as our cheerleader and photographer |
We'll give her two photos so she doesn't feel left out...
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| Still wearing her splint, we are hoping she will be able to rejoin us soon! |
