Introductions and such.

So it has been almost exactly one year since I walked into the Poleates studio in Westlake Village, thinking I would take one class, maybe for a few weeks, learn some sexy moves, and nothing more. And then pole dancing took over my life.

It wasn't quite that fast, but close. A few months later I had a pole in the garage (custom-built, thank you darling) and I had bumped up my membership to unlimited classes. I had invited friends to join me. I was hooked.

Now, at my one-year "pole-iversary" I'm preparing to start instructor training so I can help change other women's lives the way pole has changed mine. I've probably lost 15 pounds of fat and put on at least that much in muscle. Now I open the jars in this house, haha! I look at my body entirely differently now. I eat less, but better. I crave the afterburn of a good workout and the camaraderie of the studio.

I've also begun shooting pole photos. Not really seriously yet, but much of that is because we recently upgraded our lighting gear and prior to that it was pretty ghetto. I practice a lot on myself right now. But pole photography was inevitable. I spend most of every day behind a camera or editing photos. Pole is such a visually exciting form of dance, it's a perfect match.

So Alloy Images is finally up and running (the link is at the top of the page, under the title banner). My fiancee and partner Joe comes from the motorsports and product world. His studio experience helps me corral my sometimes wild, unhinged photojournalistic style and makes the dance shots much more polished. We hope to shoot much more pole soon, with the new light kit.

I decided to call the blog Twisted Grip because conquering the twisted grip is a major milestone for most pole dancers. Dance forums are full of posts titled "twisted grip - finally!!" or "twisted grip handspring today!!". Like learning to climb and getting the basic invert down, it's a big step toward the next level. Twisted grip is extremely difficult, dangerous, requires very strong arms and core. It's a badass move. It's very impressive.

Let me say right now that I don't have the twisted grip yet. You can be sure that once I get it down I'll write my own post titled "twisted grip - finally!!" with lots of exclamation points and cheering.

And that is what I hope this blog will be. A bit about my dance experiences, a bit of photo work, cool links and video clips of new tricks. Snapshots of really great "pole kisses" - bruises, rashes and all kinds of abrasions from the pole. New shoes, product reviews, outfit ideas. Personal progress reports.

So this blog is mostly a journal for me, but I hope it can be useful for other dancers as well. In the fly-fishing world (another of my passions) we say "tight lines" as farewell. It's a goodbye and best wishes, from one fisherman to the other for luck out on the water. In the dance world they say "break a leg," but that's so overused. Maybe... rock the pole. Kick some ass!