L'ecole de Pole

"Aaaand, hang-back", my teacher pronounces with a relish, her perfectly sized torso draped elegantly vertical, her legs poised perfectly at a 45 degree angle. The eyes of several women around me bulge in disbelief at how effortlessly she executes this move, as I had done the first time round.

By now however I am resigned to the fact that this is what the move should look like, despite the difficulty of keeping your lower half rigid/strong and your top half fluid/elegant being akin to that of...well I don't know really, there aren't many everyday scenarios I can think of that involve being upside down.

Saying that I am getting better, and at least feel like I can do it now unaided, fairly certain I am not going to fall and cause myself an unpleasant spinal injury. Grace on the other hand, well, that's another matter.

Someone who does possess grace on the pole: