Almost every student has wondered at some point in time if he can participate in a competition. Some of them want to start to act on a stage as soon as possible, but others have thousands of excuses and reasons for why they are still not ready to perform on a stage. And that is not surprising: we are very demanding of ourselves. The most prevalent pretences are: “I cannot even make a Russian Split, a flag (element), and it is too early for me to participate in a competition” or a pretence like “There will be only strong participants in that competition.”

And that’s all tosh. There are no strict levels of training or obligatory tricks for each category in pole art championships. And other participants will always look stronger, even if they also have their weak sides.

Thus, how may a student figure out that it is time for him to participate in a championship?

There is no unambiguous answer for this question because every case is unique. But there are some conditions that are important for participation in a championship/competition. We are going to talk about them now.

The most important thing for a participant is a so-called “trick base.”

There is a clear list of obligatory tricks in the rules when you participate in pole sport competitions. And this question is not evident when we talk about pole art. It is rather difficult to evaluate your skills by yourself, so it is better to ask your coach, who will give you an objective estimation of your level of training. But if you train without a coach or you just want to estimate your skills by yourself there are some hallmarks that may help you to estimate your level of training.

The number of tricks/elements

First of all, it is better to make a list of tricks that you are able to make. You may divide them into categories: strength tricks, flexibility tricks, spins, jumping offs, drops and others. Thus you can notice your strong and weak sides.

The number of transitions

Now in the list that you made write up all entrees, transitions, and exits from each trick. When you make a trick it is very important to “link” the tricks between each other in order to avoid repetition.

The more transitions you have, the easier it will be to make interesting links.

The execution of tricks on both sides

Put a tick on tricks that you can do on both sides. The ability to make tricks on the left and right side will allow you develop your skills harmoniously and will clear you off the entanglements that you have when you make trick links.

There are many interesting transitions that can be made on both sides. That’s why when you make a trick just from your “comfortable” side you restrict yourself in your creation.

The confidence in making tricks

If you have a rather long list of skills, it may happen that it is not that easy to execute some of them. Take another sheet of paper and divide it into
4 parts. Honestly fill in each row with the tricks that resemble descriptions.

1. I make this trick confidently (I can make it all the time).
2. I can make this trick tentatively (I can make it not every time, only under certain conditions).
3. The trick is in the process of training, and I plan to learn it (make a list of tricks that you are making at the moment and tricks that you are planning to learn in the nearest future).
4. Tricks that I don’t want to use (here there can be tricks that you can make, but they scare you, and also tricks that you cannot make and you are not ready to learn them).

This table will allow you to understand what work you need to do in order to make the links between tricks.

Analyse all these points. Thus, if your lists are too short and monotonous, maybe you need more time to work on your trick base.

However, do not be very strict with yourself: very often you may learn transitions during the staging of the pole act. But at the same time the percentage of those minuses should not be very high, otherwise the training will be very long and hard. And maybe it would be better to use this time for perfection of your trick base.

If you would like to stand out on the stage, and still are not very confident in execution of some tricks, try to start dancing at parties and at the dance school. Consider trying different styles of pole dance classes, for example contemporary or exotic. Or even try to invent your own. You can make an easier trick for this performance and nobody will judge you. You will get support from your colleagues and will feel your readiness for staging of your pole act.

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