I was super excited to book in my first private lesson. It was with the amazing Dakota Fox at the UK Pole Dancing and Fitness Convention.

I had no idea what to expect from a private as it was my first, and had no idea what I wanted to work on. I had been so focused on competition training that I couldn’t think of much else.

I decided to also do a workshop with Dakota a few hours before our private so that I had an idea of how she worked, which made me less nervous.

I knew I had to have a think about what to work on, but found that I drew a bit of a blank!

What Will Benefit You?

I knew I wanted to take it relatively ‘easy’ as I had a competition the next day and didn’t want to be too battered or bruised for it.

I go to masterclasses as often as I can but learn a lot of moves by myself at home. I watch tutorial after tutorial but sometimes you just can’t find the right one to help you out. So I decided that I mostly wanted to work on techniques for moves, rather than nailing move after move – or trying to!

So I went to Dakota with a wish list of moves that I needed to figure out the technique for, so I could work on them at home. I asked to work on my deadlift and Iron X – both of which I can do with help, but need to make them a lot stronger.

We then went over the Janeiro and Fonji. I recently managed to get into my Janeiro with two hands on, which I am super excited about. I then needed to figure out how to take one hand off. It’s amazing to realise how you are doing moves vs how you need to do moves. I thought I’d got my supporting hand into the right position, but found that I needed to get it about 8 inches lower! I wasn’t even sure I could physically get my arm that low and then take off my legs, but somehow it worked!

I’ve worked on the Fonji a couple of times at home, but couldn’t quite get into the right finishing position. I knew I needed someone who knew what they were doing to show me what I’m meant to do. I had no intention of actually trying out my Fonji, but merely working on regressions.

We worked on it from the floor first, which I think is a key step to training a lot of moves. It made me feel more secure and confident going into it. We then decided to try a Fonji or two and to my surprise, it came a lot easier than I thought. Don’t get me wrong – I can’t yet do it by myself or perfectly, but with help I can get into the right position every so often!

Stage Presence

I had a competition the next day and wanted to work on my stage presence. I think that Dakota can capture the attention of the audience without even having to do anything on the pole. And I want to be able to do that! Check out the video below! 🙂

I showed her parts of my routine but I felt weak and was very slippery. I also knew that I didn’t want to change key aspects of the routine so close to the competition.

We worked on parts of the floor work but the biggest part of the feedback was to make everything bigger. Bigger is better. Imagine you’re trying to show the back of the room your moves – if it’s not big, they won’t see it!

I was so surprised to find out how much working on stage presence helped me. I really think it transformed my routine.

All in all, my private was a success. I now feel like I have the building blocks to work on my wish list moves, and I’ve gained some valuable knowledge on stage presence. I will definitely do another private with the lovely Dakota when I get the chance 😀