A year or so ago I got my first pair of pleasers, hurray! 😀

I used to choreograph one routine every week to teach in class. We only dance bare feet in our studio but while I was practicing at home, I thought I’d get out my pleasers and see how it looked in heels.

I thought it was suddenly going to make me look super cool and sexy, make my legs look longer and make me look a little more bad ass in general!

Now what really happened was that I couldn’t get past the first 30 seconds. The rolling around on the floor bit was fine, but I couldn’t stand up! That particular piece of choreography didn’t work in heels… well, that and the fact that I couldn’t walk in them either!

Heels Are Hard

And that’s when it occurred to me that you can’t just simply wack on a pair of heels for the first time and instantly become this awesome heels dancer. (Okay, I’m sure some of you can, but not me!).

I’ve spent a lot of time in heels – granted not a lot of time has been spent specifically in pleasers, but heels, yes.

I used to always wear heels on a night out, which was pretty much every night of the week for a good few years. I also learnt to pole in heels. I loved how it changed my movement, and how it made me feel.

I only stopped wearing heels while poling when I was trying to invert… and couldn’t. I thought the weight of the shoes were stopping me getting upside down, and then I worried what to do when I got up there. When I finally got upside down, I put the heels back on, but I was still not strong enough to get upside down with them on, so alas, the heels stayed off.

Bring On The Pleasers

Years later, I saw so many amazing polers wearing pleasers or heels in general. Slowly I started to convince myself that I need a pair of heels in my life, and went for it.

I thought how awesome and even sexy I’d look when I put them on. I’m a little biased but I think my shoes are the prettiest I’ve ever seen.

Now even the prettiest shoes in the World won’t make me look good while I’m stumbling around, barely able to walk. I’m all good when the feet are off the ground but walking? Hell no!

When I first learnt to pole everything was in heels… Until I struggled to get upside down! The heels had to come off, but years later I’m putting them on again 👠👠👠👠 It feels very alien to me but I’m looking forward to this challenge 😀💪🏼

A video posted by Holly Munson (@polefreaks) on Jan 19, 2017 at 9:42am PST

Re-Training

And that’s when I realised that I would need to retrain in heels on the pole.

Not all of my moves need to be changed, but there were little things that I didn’t think about – I over balance and topple on the heel slightly. Not enough to fall over, just a little wobble – enough to make me notice though. I also find it oddly difficult to point my feet while I climb. I can do it in bare feet but for some reason I flex in heels.

I think I’m not used to the heels yet. I feel like a small child dressing up in a grown up’s shoe. I think I look a little silly but hey, I want to get used to them and they make me feel great.

So yes, the heels will be coming out more and I just hope to do them justice.

Were or are you a pro in heels, or did you find it difficult like I did? 😀

Photo by Millie Robson