The dilemma with this kind of practice is that the spins and poses that one learns in a course can become quite easy quickly. Half the fun of doing Pole is that it pushes you in terms of physicality and psychology. When you’re hanging upside down a metre above the floor by only the skin between your legs, there is a little bit of fear to overcome there!

So to keep my interest up, I subscribed the the Vertical Dance online lessons. These were great- clear instruction in small bite-sized pieces to keep me going. Now the only trouble was my poor hubby having to respond to the loud “Darling come have a look at this Quick!” or the occasionally squeal followed by an expletive when something shouldn’t have happened.

With about three months of time to kill, this was where I got to with the aid of the classes, my Pole Buddy (Girlfriend), and my hubby to spot me on the odd occasion.

It was on the Vertical Dance site I came across the forum associated with this particular company. This has been an invaluable resource for me. Prior to finding this website, I could not get upside down at all! It is now not a fulfilling practice session without doing it at least once. The people on this forum are incredibly helpful answering questions about shoes, clothes, moves, excercise and fitness along with being a place to showcase your videos. A supportive network I was also impressed to see a significant Aussie presence, active on the forum. For anyone getting their own pole, I highly recommend these guys.

Now all I had to do was wait for intermediate to start and begin showing off my new found skills….

The solution was provided by my classmates in beginners. “What sort of Pole should I get?” asked one of the students one day. I blinked in happy disbelief in the idea. A pole? For home? I set about examining the merits of the poles available through the school.

When purchasing a pole there are a few things to take into consideration. Ask yourself ” Do I want the option for the pole to spin?” or “Would I like to whip it out at parties?” and of course there is ” Will the landlord let me put things into his ceiling?”. Of course things like texture and size of your pole impact on what you can do too.

For me the decision was relatively easy. I had been using Pussycat Poles in the class I went to, but I didn’t like having a screw thread exposed at the bottom of the pole. We also live in a rental property and I didn’t want to explain to the real estate agent that I hadn’t taken up a career of dubious repute, so it had to be fully removable. If it was portable, I would be able to inflict the pole experience on other unsuspecting souls.

The Xpole website spent many an hour gracing my desktop as I surveyed their wares. I dreamt of my Xpole and what I could do with it. What sort of finish I would get. I built iTunes playlists for dancing to if it ever could become a reality. With a sigh the window would often close after the cursory glance through our tight budget. Dreaming, I nagged my hubby…

Week by week, as the addiction continued unabated and unfed. I would wander childrens’ playgrounds under the pretense of being a good mother so I could scope out any pole replacements. The street signs in our block were all tried out during the morning run. Nothing of the right diameter and orientation was safe from my clandestine spins.

My birthday was fast approaching and with a heavy heart I ceased pestering darling husband about that steel joy. I still chased my fix in local playgrounds but with little joy. Alas the city council doesn’t cater to the over 18 child. On the day of my birthday, a burlesque class was on, so myself and my girlfriend waited in anticipation. I guess life wasn’t all bad with a fix on the horizon.

A cursory glance into the savings account changed all that. The balance was wrong. Less the same amount required for a very wished for birthday present. From that moment on, the waiting commenced, listening every morning for the delivery van that would satiate my pole lust.

Finally a note in the letterbox. A phone number. A call to the delivery guys and the directions to the depot. Within 30 minutes, two children under five, my girlfriend and I pile into the car to retrieve the package, a big heavy cardboard box.

Needless to say, we ripped into it as soon as we got it home. Watched the instruction DVD intently and put the pole up. So Shiny, So new. The mirror ball came out and we had an impromptu Pole Warming Party to christen it. I was on the way to a new lifestyle.

The pages were a catalyst, triggering a return to some of the coquettish fun that I had enjoyed in my teenage years; the costumes, the attitude. So it naturally followed as I trawled the internet for more inspiration that I came across the Polestars experience. With great trepidation, I went about organising my first “Taster Class”

A Taster Class is a fantastic idea when it comes to almost any sport and in this particluar pastime, I believe that it is a great thing to try. It gives one the opportunity to assess if the class is what you’re looking for. There are different ways of handling a pole dance lesson, ranging from solely tricks based, to learning a routine over several weeks. Some schools have a longer class time but will have more than one student per pole. I have yet to try the full gamut as yet and I am basing my opinions on my limited experience in the workshops and classes I have done to date.

Upon arriving at my usual haunt – albeit at a time I was unaccustomed, the nerves gave that general mirth of someone trying to diffuse excited tension. Students were welcomed by an incredibly fit woman with a gregarious nature. After forms were filled out and we’d introduced ourselves to the class, we got to the pole.

We learnt three different moves in the class, some were easier to get than others, and it became an addiction for me at this point. Sharing a pole with two other girls in this instance was a good thing as I had no upper body strength to speak of, as well as having someone to help work out where all your limbs were supposed to go. Music in the background was a real range of styles so that everyone had their taste catered to at some point in the evening, although 99% of the tunes had a lascivious nature to them at some point in time. Falling, getting tangled up in your own limbs, unelegant descents to the floor followed with peels of laughter ensued. A great night out..

Pole dancing is not your normal excercise regime, it creates a space in your imagination and concentration where you are not excercising, more trying to perfect a particular move. The Excercise is just a marvelous side benefit. I highly recomend it to anyone who is like me and suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder as soon as someone mentions “Jogging” “Weight-training” or “Aerobics”. Not to mention the whole world of dress-ups and shoes one can play with, but that is a story for another time…