When you’re a beginner, moves tend to come and go. There will be some moves that you absolutely love and want to practice over and over again, some moves that you don’t mind doing either way and then there are those that you just hate.

You may not remember these off the top of your head but when someone shows you them, all of that former anger comes bounding back to you!

Whether you like them or hate them, there are a few key moves that I think every beginner should master in order to get the most out of their pole dancing.

The Chair

This is key! For me it is the first arms only spin that we learn.

This one is super important as it is the first move where we can really appreciate the push / pull that our arms need to do. When you pull with the top hand and push with the bottom hand you start to really use your arms properly.

You want to engage your shoulders and core to make sure you have a really strong base for this move. The legs are very simple for this move and do not take up a lot of brain power, so once you have mastered your chair, it is a lot easier to master other similar moves.

It is really important to have a strong chair. I use it as a base move for a lot of other tricks. First is a Chair to a Back Hook which is a nice combination and you can add floor work into this aswell.

My favourites have to be the Reverse Grab and Pixie Spin. I always go into these using a Chair – I think it is more controlled and safer when you are first learning it.

There are so many combinations to come out of a Reverse Grab – you can go into another chair, back hook, chair to back hook, pixie spin and dare I wish it, Phoenix.

Outside Step

This is the first move I teach. This is a great go to move and I quite often use it as my first move to warm up on the pole. It leads into pretty much any move you can think of one way or another.

If you’re ever unsure of what to do on the pole, an outside step gives you time to think about it.

It’s an easy move to work on and really looks lovely when you extend your outside leg and point your toes 🙂

Back Hook

I love a good Back Hook. It’s looks lovely and can lead to so many moves and variations. It’s a lovely feeling learning this one as it is the first move (depending on the class plan) where we really need to trust ourselves to ‘fall’ back into this move.

Even just using these three, we have a combination of Outside Step to Back Hook to Chair.

Of course there are many more important spins to learn, but for me these are really good building blocks to pole fitness.

What are your key pole foundation moves? 😀