Climb & Spin BLOG

Diary of a Climb & Spin Apprentice: Practice Unveils Talent

"Let's put it this way: Can everyone dance?" This is what poet Patrick Rosal asked me when I talked to him about how I didn't consider myself a writer. I felt that there were several things I lacked for which I couldn't call myself that. Then he posed that question, which I answered with "If they trained enough for it."

I was so wrong. He pointed out that everyone has a dancer in them, just as much as everyone has a writer in them. Realizing my thoughtlessness, I started to tear up. After all, I not only love to write and would love to someday be called "a writer", I also would love to teach dance and make people feel that they are "a dancer." In fact, this is what I love about pole dance. Someone without a dance background, with an untrained body, can somehow progress into doing very physically challenging things without having to devote a lifetime to it. Once they get over the physical hurdles, they also start incorporating interpretation and emotion into their movement. I’ve seen so many of these cases in class. “Non-dancers” becoming dancers. 

After I talked to Patrick, I walked away thinking about how much there is untapped in everyone. We all write but we just don’t write enough. We all dance but we just don’t dance enough. That’s why people surprise themselves all the time at pole dance class and that’s actually one of the goals taught in the Climb & Spin, Inc. certification - to foster that discovery in students. 

I’ve been going through a bit of a revelation myself as I finish up my Climb & Spin, Inc. teacher training. As part of my certification, I taught four Apprentice Classes in the past few weeks. My goodness, were they challenging! There was so much to keep tabs on. Are students physically capable of things? Are they getting the technique right? Kira is observing! Am I saying the right things?! Did I demonstrate things correctly?!! Do I need to spot this person as she attempts to climb? What corrections do I need to give her? At certain points, I felt like I was having out of body experiences, listening to myself, assessing if I’m really applying what I’ve learned through the manual and the sessions with Kira & Wendy. 

Yet something surprised me... I noticed I was having fun. I felt comfortable and in charge of every situation I had to confront. After all my fretting at the beginning of the teacher training, it turns out that teaching comes second nature to me. 

After the classes, Kira and I sat down to talk about my experience. I was eager to hear her corrections. I wanted to know what I needed to improve because I know that even if I enjoyed teaching the class, even if I didn't freak out from having 10 students at one point, even if I taught better than I thought I did.... I knew there was much to work toward. 

She was actually very pleased with how I did and she gave me lots of constructive criticism. As she detailed things I needed to do, I realized how I made a really great investment in taking the certification. Because of the amount of clarity Kira & Wendy put into the Climb & Spin, Inc. method, they are able to give specific goals for instructors to work toward. (Mine was to focus on structuring my class.) Also, aside from their knowledge of pole dancing, they have extensive experience in physical fitness, so they are also able to teach instructors specifics about the human body and how students learn. One of the things I was worried about at the beginning of the training was that I didn’t know much about physical fitness and therefore was worried that I would somehow injure my students by teaching them the wrong things. Well, as I listened to Kira giving me feedback about specific exercises I did during my warmup, I realized that I didn’t need to worry about that anymore because I could turn to Kira & Wendy for answers! 

So even as my Climb & Spin Training & Certification is coming to an end, I’ve grown more appreciative of the experience. I not only gained a lot of knowledge in order to teach pole dance, I also gained an invaluable mentorship. Now I feel really excited to finally teach!

 

Alice Dugan

C&S Apprentice

Diary of a Climb & Spin Apprentice: From Pole Student to Instructor (OMG!)

There’s a huge sense of relief that my Climb & Spin training sessions have ended, but it is only followed by the anxiety of finally being in front of a class full of ladies that want to learn how to pole dance. Now it has come to the point where I’ll finally apply all that information I’ve absorbed and see if I can really teach.

And my goodness there’s a lot to teach! The Climb & Spin training introduces one to an extensive method filled with technicalities that most people interested in pole dancing would find over-thought. It’s funny that I chose to use the word over-thought because every session I took with Kira and Wendy made me think, “These two ladies sat down and thought about each and every movement in the manual!” With their backgrounds in physical fitness and dance, they created a method to a sport and artform that badly needs it. I have nothing but respect and reverence for this achievement because pole dancing strikes people first and foremost as something fun and sexy and students will walk into class with that mindset alone. Some will walk out of those classes disappointed because they were not able to do anything and think that they won’t be able to learn.

After taking Climb & Spin classes and now the C&S Teacher Training Intensive Workshop, it became clear to me that the main focus of the method is to make satisfied students and to create within them passion and respect for this sensual and athletic art form. Some people point out how it feels too regimented and that it even hinders them from advancing as quickly as they'd like to. I understand their frustration. Aside from the terminology of the method, there is also a specific pedagogy. But the rules are simple - if a student is struggling with a skill, it’s probably because they performed a Climb & Spin fundamental incorrectly (the biomechanics or technique of a key grip, hook, brace, spin set, spin impulse etc.). A Climb & Spin instructor should be able to notice these mistakes and give corrections based on the fundamentals & technique outlined in the Climb & Spin manual. Ultimately, the method was made to help instructors provide students with a safe and clear progression before advancing to more complex and challenging skills. 

Knowing all these technicalities is important in teaching pole dance, but the Climb & Spin method also emphasizes creating “an environment where women learn to defy their greatest fears and insecurities while learning to trust and surprise themselves.” I truly believe that pole dancing is an accessible and effective way to build self-confidence. Surprisingly, this is what I am most nervous about in teaching. I don’t know how I’d handle students who get discouraged right away and if I’d be able to help them trust themselves. I want to be an encouraging instructor. Almost every woman I know who pole dances has admitted how transformative it is, not just because it’s sexy and fun, but because it’s physically challenging. As someone who has done it for about four years, I know that we go to class to see what else we can achieve. I know how great it feels to finally climb without help. To get that first spin. To finally do invert tricks. I like to equate pole dancing to breakdancers battling it out on dance floors. One dancer does a trick, the other tries to top that trick, and so on. I feel like pole dancing is like that. It’s a dance battle for a woman. But her opponent isn’t another person; it is actually herself.

Alice Dugan

C&S Apprentice

 

Diary of a Climb & Spin Apprentice: Learning to Multi-Task

I panicked again. This time almost to the brink of crying. During the last two classes of my teacher training I’ve been doing a lot of mock teaching and, even though Kira said I was doing well, I felt like I wasn’t doing much! I kept searching for words as I taught the warm up and Climb & Spin Intro Routine. It felt like Kira ended up cueing a lot more than me. Clearly, someone wasn’t doing their homework. 

Actually, it really isn’t about homework or memorization. I already knew the vocabulary and teaching progression for the warm-up and the C&S Intro Routine. What I was really struggling with was the Climb & Spin method of teaching. As Kira told me, she basically just "narrates" her movement to provide verbal instruction for her students while also giving them a visual demonstration. I realized that I’ve never been able to do that, even back in college, as a Dance minor. My instructors would be so adept at teaching each step as we did them. Like during allegros they would fire away “glissade, jeté, glissade, assemblé, changement, changement, tombé, pas de bourrée.” Then they’d do the whole phrase to the other side AND reverse. That blew my mind!

Besides my ballet training in the Philippines which started at five, I did cheerleading and Philippine folk dance, where terminology was not important. Folk dance, especially, which doesn’t have names for each step. The teacher would just show us the movement and we would imitate them. That’s how I ended up learning and teaching dance; by demonstration and imitation. Many dance teachers can either step back and watch while giving verbal cues or do the steps with the student without verbal instruction. In this method, they just assume that their students are getting a movement as they are being demonstrated.  

But that’s not the Climb & Spin way. In Climb & Spin, as Kira put it, instructors are multitaskers. Not only do they demonstrate a movement with technical accuracy, they are able to narrate it as they do it. They are also expected to "scan" the room to observe for corrections that are needed, whether they are doing the movement with the students or not. On top of all that, Climb & Spin instructors are also expected to be able to give cues (positive, constructive criticism) to optimize the performance of a movement. 

This is the hardest part of the training! Could I learn this new skill of dancing and narrating? Luckily, there’s a lot of mock teaching during the certification, plus a lot of practicums, such as the apprentice classes, observing classes, and teaching classes before the certification is granted. I’m halfway through my training. Hopefully by the end of my one-on-one sessions with Kira and Wendy, I would have at least gotten used to narrating as I teach. If I can multitask at my desk job, I should be able to learn to do so as a pole dance instructor, right?

Alice Dugan, Climb & Spin Apprentice

 

Diary of a Climb & Spin Apprentice: Do I REALLY Want to Teach?

It's weird that shortly after I started my Climb & Spin Teacher Training Certification, I found myself reluctant to leave my role as a student. As I started reading the Climb & Spin manual, I saw that there's so much minutiae to what a student has to learn in order to execute a movement flawlessly. Then I came to the Teacher Training Workshops and was given even more information! It was overload. So I got easily discouraged when, every time it was my turn to mock teach, I would blank out. I felt incredibly timid. As I would demonstrate a movement, I literally felt how much responsibility goes into being an instructor. But I thought I was psyched to be an instructor???! 

So to put things in perspective, I started to think about the dance instructors I’ve had in my life. The best ones I had could always tell me exactly how I could correct my technique. They could always explain to me how I could do something better or why I couldn’t do something. This ability comes with lots of knowledge and experience, of course. But most importantly, the desire to make improvements in any and all students. I've taken pole dance classes in New York, Cleveland, and in the Philippines, and there have been many times where I've walked out of a class unsatisfied with the instruction. The dissatisfaction mostly came from a class format where an instructor demonstrated a movement and students were given barely any instruction, or even left to figure it out themselves. That's insane! As much as pole dancing is fun and as much as it can be self-taught, it’s a workout with very high risk of injury. I doubt that’s what most people have in mind when they first decide to try pole dancing. (It certainly wasn’t mine.) In those classes where I left unhappy, I had a feeling that the instructors had little concern for safety (other than falling off the pole, I guess). But most appalling was that seeing a student "kind of" get the movement or at least try it was satisfactory enough for them. 

A lot of instructors assume an attitude that whoever "gets it" will continue taking classes and whoever doesn't will be happy enough to at least experience a pole dance class. With that approach, a huge value is lost in a teacher's responsibility, which is to encourage learning and not just give a demonstration to satisfy someone's curiosity. This is why I love the way I’m learning to be an instructor through Climb & Spin: they focus on training teachers who can offer their students a progressive learning process. There's a structure to it, as compared to those classes where I was left unhappy. One component of the Climb & Spin method is the simple terminology used for key grips, hooks, braces and spin "sets". Using these "fundamentals", it's easy for a student to understand instructions. A lot of this information is in the Climb & Spin manual but, what I've found invaluable is that, as Kira teaches, she also makes it a point to give examples of what students will tend to do in a movement. She will show the exact bio-mechanical error that a student will make, how that effects their execution of the movement, and what it could do to a student's body in the long run. For instance, in a climb, if a student doesn’t have a proper "double knee brace", they won’t understand the need to use their legs instead of just their upper body to climb. And if students rely too much on their arms to climb, they put strain on their upper body, which could lead to later injury. From these lessons in basic C&S "fundamentals", you get an extensive understanding of a pole dance skill and how to give constructive criticism in the countless scenarios you'll encounter in class. Plus, you also learn how proper technique builds into other more complex movements. Again, more improvement.

Speaking of improvement: All that discouragement, intimidation, and reluctance I was feeling immediately ended when I received a very encouraging email from Kira about my progress during the training. I was actually making better progress than I thought! We truly are our own worst critics. Kira and Wendy also have this amazing way of making you feel like they really want to help you become a great instructor. With that email and the self-reflection I've been doing, I was reminded that getting better at anything always takes practice. Rest assured, as I continue to get used to the "fundamentals" of Climb & Spin technique, I'll get more confident in my role as an instructor. And that excuse of mine about being reluctant to leave my role as a student? That was silly. I'll always be a student one way or another. After all, a good instructor never stops learning.

Alice Dugan

C&S Apprentice

 

 

 

Diary of a Climb & Spin Apprentice: Humble Beginnings

Call me a geek, but before I even started reading the material for the Climb & Spin Certification, I was already taking mental notes as I took classes at New York pole dancing. I would listen intently to how the instructors would teach a skill and then I'd wonder how I'd teach it if I were a teacher myself. I made up pointers in my head, such as how one's hand should be in a static pose, or how one's leg should move during a spin. 

I was naive enough to think that since I had taken pole dancing classes for the past three years, I already knew what was necessary to teach and that I would find the Climb & Spin training easy. Fast forward to the day I started reading the Climb & Spin Teacher Training Manual. I couldn't believe how much I didn't know! My mental notes from the past were all long-winded descriptions. So when I was reading through the first chapters of the C&S manual, I started to understand the beauty of a basic set of vocabulary to teach and build upon. 

To illustrate my point: During my first session with Kira, I found myself at a loss with words on how to teach simple steps, such as walking around the pole and doing a climb. It was a bit embarrassing! So one of my first lessons really was that I had to internalize the simplicity of the right vocabulary. In pole dancing, there are so many random names to poses and spins. We've also adopted dance and fitness vocabulary in order to learn transitions and positions. Climb & Spin training resets all that old knowledge. The use of a specific language and process in teaching can be overwhelming and even frustrating to some, but after that first session, I immediately understood how efficient and effective it was. So there's a lot for me to unlearn and adjust in the way I mentally approach pole dancing! All it takes a lot of applied practice, which shouldn't be a problem since that sounds like a thing a geek like me would like to do.

 

Alice Dugan

Climb & Spin Apprentice