michelle stanek

USPDF PRO 2012- Freestyle

tesia — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:19:43 +0000

Michelle’s travels and workshops 2012

michelle — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:43:37 +0000

Here is a snippet of my upcoming travels and workshops. I hope to see YOU there.....!

January 27: Rome: Vertical Dolls 
9:00-10:30 p.m. "Signature Tricks and choreography" 
http://www.facebook.com/events/328865907133633/
Available for private lessons

January 28-29: Rome: X-Pert training at Vertical Dolls. 
http://www.xpertpolefitness.com

January 31-February 2: Paris: Workshop at Pole & Dance TBA soon!

February 4-5: Sweden: X-Pert training at Dinali Center, Gavle, Sweden. 
http://www.xpertpolefitness.com 
Available for workshops and privates.

Saturday, February 25: Las Vegas: Shine Alternative Fitness 
http://www.aerialpoleart.com/NAPA/Workshops.html 
4:30-6:30 p.m."Flexibility & Floor work"  
7:00-8:30 p.m."Fluidity & Style"

May 9-16: Tokyo: Judging Pole Dance Japan in Tokyo and workshops TBD

June 21-24: LA: Pole Convention and X-Pert training

July 5-8: San Diego: IDEA Fitness Convention

August 6-12: St. Martin: Teaching at Milan Pole Dance's "Summer Pole Camp" 
http://www.milanpoledance.com/polecamp

Pole Dance Universe winner announcement and freestyle

michelle — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:44:28 +0000

My warm-up & choreography playlists

michelle — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:29:49 +0000

Workshops at Pole Dance Vienna, Austria

After I teach workshops, I always get emails asking about the songs I played in class, particularly during the warm-up. So, here they are, including brief annotations of the warm-up moves. Download away!

Warm up:

Put it in a Love Song. Alicia Keys. [big, full body, fun, sassy dance movement to elevate heart rate and get in a sassy mood!]

Relax. Peaches. [Torso, shoulders, hip openers]

The Love Cats. Tricky. [cow, cat postures, back warm ups, push-ups, forearm, wrists]

Heartbeats. The Knife. [rib cage isolations, body waves, oblique dips, sexy legs]

I Like it. Moby. [straddles]

Make U Love Me. Robin Thicke. [abs]

You Put a Spell on Me. Matthew Dear. [lunges, splits, deeper hamstring, hip flexors, quad stretching]

Rhythm. Awol One. [side to side lunges, opening hips, strengthening quads, final shoulder stretch, roll up to stand and get on the pole!]

***************************************************

And the songs I have been using for my choreography are:

Fluidity & Style routine: Room 304. Flip Grater.

Floor work routine: Karmacoma. Massive Attack.

Werk it out! BOOM!

Advice for competition day!

michelle — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:07:36 +0000

Pole Dance Universe 2011 post-win freestyle

To all my ladies and fellas coming up to the big competition day, here is a little list of things I recommend to bring:

* TWO bottles of your preferred grip aid. sometimes you need to give one to the pole cleaner if you want them to put it on the pole before you perform. and then you will want to keep one for yourself. just bring two. or more! and bring options. you never know what the poles will be like. BE PREPARED WITH EXTRA GRIP AIDS.

* A yoga mat. backstage often = concrete floor. do yourself a favor and bring a soft mat.

* Double stick fashion tape or better yet, wig tape. and USE it! even if you did a dress rehearsal in your costume (which you should also do before the actual dress rehearsal!) and it all seemed to fit and stay put, please tape yo’self in! tape your bottoms to your butt so we don’t see crack, tape the front to your belly. we all know what happens when you flip into superman and those shorts disappear down south. and please tape your boobs in!—in all possible slippage areas! no nipple. no “neathage!” better safe than very, very sorry.

* Towels and alcohol. you would be surprised how often towels and alcohol are neglected to be provided. and often the pole cleaners are not there for dress rehearsal anyway. Plus having your own extra towel for sweat isn’t a bad idea either.

* Water and snacks. Redbulls. Coconut water. Fruit. Nuts. Whatever you need to eat. One time “backstage food” that was provided was pizza and soda.

* Ipod and backup music file. If there might be any confusion over your file, double, triple check it with the sound technicians.

* Warm, cozy warm-ups. if you are doing hair and make-up your warm up top should easily come off over your head or unzip. Make sure your sweats aren’t brand new and leave little black fuzzies in your armpits and other places.

* Lighting ideas. if you can discuss lighting cues. this SHOULD be an option in a theater. so even if you have to sneak up to the lighting booth, make sure you get the lighting you want.

********************************************************************

AND a few things to remember while you are on that glorious stage:

* HOLD YOUR FINAL POSE! Do not drop out of your final pose until the lights have FULLY gone to black or the curtain fully closes. DO NOT BREAK CHARACTER! DO NOT BREAK THE ILLUSION OF THE WORLD YOU CREATED FOR YOUR AUDIENCE. no one wants to see you drop off the pole or half-heartedly walk off the stage. hold it until the very very end.

* Practice on the spin pole on stage. every pole is different. so make sure you know how much force you need to give or not give it to fully execute your spin pole flows properly.

* Look at your audience. Smile. even if it’s just for a moment or its a smirk or an evil, angry look. or a sad, pleading look. whatever your character/feeling/theme is. look at us. let us know you are here for us. and we will be there for you.

* ENJOY and LIVE in every. single. moment. Remember, it’s only like 4 minutes of your whole life! But 4 minutes you want to remember.

Go ‘head now and kill it!

Thank you Pole Art! Off to the UK…

michelle — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:40:08 +0000

Wow. Pole Art was an amazing experience! I came in 4th (whaaat?!) in the competition and the AERA “Dance of the Dolls” finale to the show was so much fun. I loved being able to meet my pole idols from all over the world and spend quality time with my AERA family. After Pole Art I also realized how hard I need and WANT to work in the next few months to take my difficulty level up up up. I want to keep training in dance, flexibility and pole but really focus on being better and stronger. I feel like I did not bring my “A game” only because I haven’t really discovered it yet. I brought my style and expression and enjoyed every moment on stage. But I know there is so much more I am capable of. So much hard work lies ahead and I am ready!

Adventures of a pole dancer: Costume. Passport. Dry Hands. check!

michelle — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:54:55 +0000

Welcome to my first blog post on my new website! I once had a blog about my adventures in Stockholm, where I lived for about 4 months last year: http://www.stockholmblogholm.com. Just fyi.

Now I am returning to Scandinavia for a new pole adventure: Pole Art. I happened to be in Stockholm at Pole Art 2010 and was blown away by the talent, skill level, creativity, passion and not to mention wonderful production quality. And this year I am IN IT! This is the most intimidating competition I have ever entered. My pole idols will share the stage with me and I am so honored and a lil freaked out! Not only am I competing (I am thinking of it as performing!) I get to be in the final performance of the whole show with AERA, the aerial dance company created by my girl Kyra Johannessen, Jen James, Kyle McBeth and Ya-Roo Yang. The piece is choreographed by Jen and Kyra and I LOVE IT!

Thank you to my home studio in New York City, Body & Pole for helping me get here.

I am traveling alone. I am at Newark airport now and I cannot wait to get to Helsinki to see my friends and get it started!

After Pole Art I have workshops in:

October 23: Pole Art workshops in Helsinki, Finland

October 29: Stacey Pole Party, UK

October 30: X-Pole Photo Shoot, UK

October 31 – November 1: Pole Dance Bologna, Italy

November 2 – 4 : Funky Goddess Dance Studio, Tel Aviv, Israel

November 5 – 6: Crunch Training, UK

November 8: Stacey Pole, Herts, UK

November 10: Love Spin, Wales, UK

November 13 : Colchester Pink Ladies, UK

November 14: Pole Dance Vienna, Austria

November 16: Back in NYC

November 18-19: Awakenings Pole Dance Studio, Philadelphia

EMAIL: Stacey@verticalleisure.com for any more info on the Europe workshops.

I sometimes still cannot believe this is my life. I hope to enjoy every moment of this journey—on the stage, backstage, in the airports, in the hotel, on the bus, in a new city—and meet more and more wonderful people in this extraordinary pole world. I just need to keep breathing and reminding myself of that when I am actually on the stage at Pole Art…((((breathe))))

Ready to Rock

tesia — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:18:50 +0000

http://michellestanek.com/ is up and running