"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!
C&S Apprentice
