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I’m just an amateur dancer with a desire to discover my full potential. Last year I found myself reaching a point of boredom. I wasn’t motivated. I was bored with my music. I was still viewing pole dancing as fitness and not embracing artistry in my routines. My normal performance is a sporty routine with a rock song playing. Sound familiar? A sample of my normal play list would include something like this:

• “Don’t Follow” by Alice in Chains
• “Dissident” by Pearl Jam
• “My Own Prison” by Creed

My New Years resolution is to do a tour of personal expression through music and experiment with different styles of pole dance (and costume if a performance opportunity arises this year for me). I have an accomplice to keep me on track, Estee Zakar. We have already completed choreography for two of these songs below so my tour of personal expression is going very well so far.

This is the playlist I have committed to (with more songs to add if these routines are completed throughout the year):

• “You Are Not Alone” by Michael Jackson
• “Glycerine” by Bush
• “Extra Marital Affair” by John Lee Hooker Jr.
• “Sin” by Stone Temple Pilots
• “Ghetto Gospel” by 2pac featuring Elton John
• “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Koolio featuring L.V.
• “Submission” by the Sex Pistols

Every song listed above is of my own selection. With Estee’s assistance each song will have a routine with a story inspired by my own personal experiences in life. This year I’m taking a tour of personal expression through my music selection. As a dancer, people tend to forget about the other genres of music and stick with what’s in their comfort zone. My humble opinion is you have to be willing expose yourself to what’s outside your comfort zone if you intend to find your true potential as a dancer. Estee is completely supportive and pushes me outside my comfort zone in every training session.

I’m not giving up my sporty style. I’m showing my love for my other addiction: Parkour. Some routines will be sporty and feature parkour tricks on the pole that will seem foreign to most in the pole community. Some routines will be more focused on artistry. What’s so fabulous about pole dancing is that it’s what you make of it, not what someone tells you to make of it. There are no team sports involved. I don’t have to follow any rules. I make my own rules on the pole.
2012: No games. No Sports. Just me and my tour of personal expression one song at a time.

Article by Mindy Armstrong
Image of Mindy Armstrong by Sam Green Photography 

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