Pole Divas Final

I suppose I should write something about this, considering I wrote a fair bit before it happened about the stress of preparing for it.

I spent a lot of my time pre-performance feeling nauseous and nervous. Despite that, I managed to talk with a load of lovely people who were competing. I really enjoy how people are friendly at Pole Competitions. It's fun to meet new pole dancers and people are really encouraging. I didn't really get to watch the amateurs and the rest of my category and am looking forward to seeing videos. I loved Sasha's routine as it was brilliant, Vicky's made me smile with its energy, Kaila's was so graceful despite injury and Karry, who won our category was as amazing as I expected her to be.

When it came to my performance. I felt that despite the blatant mess-ups (of which there were a few!) I pretty much did as well as I could. I feel that in retrospect now. When I walked off I was mad at myself for missing my death lay (it felt like I lost strength at that point - my friend Elsie reckons I went into it too fast - I think she's right about that as in my practices I took my time and it worked fine). I just looked at some photos of me at the amazing Motion Stop Factory (seriously - I reckon he's one of the best pole photographers out there - I love, love his photos) and it surprises me how happy I look. I did really enjoy the performance.



One of the best things about being in the amateur advanced category is that you can relax after your performance and watch the professionals. I really enjoyed that. I also really enjoyed seeing Annie Norris' performance - she truly deserved her win. There were so many incredible performances and they were all so different.

Elsie loves watching Sally-Ann Giles perform and at the final, when she performed after all the competition performances I could see why (I missed out at the British Isles competition - being so tired). She was in absolute top form on Sunday and just stunning - she does have this amazing stage presence that's compelling.

To my absolute shock I came second in the advanced amateur category. I really had no expectation that would be the outcome at all. I hoped that I could at least scrape within the top 6 or so. Second place was inconceivable. So, two days later I'm still feeling surprised . I'm also feeling strangely proud of myself and happy about my pole dancing. I feel like I've found what is my style and I'm content with it. I'm also so glad that I can now relax and enjoy myself messing around and learning again.