Championship Dreams Continued: The Australian Pole Championships Journey (Part 2)

In Part 2 of our Australian Pole Championships deep dive, we go beyond the performances to unpack everything that goes into stepping on stage at a national level. From costuming wins (and fails) to the coaching moments that shaped routines, we’re sharing insider tips on balancing training, managing nerves, and setting meaningful goals. Hear the backstage vibes, friendship stories, and the reality of what it takes to start competing — especially if you want to get seriously good at pole. Whether you’re dreaming of APC or already in prep mode, we’ve got cheat sheets, comp day tips, and the truth about what championship day really feels like. This episode is your guide to growing as a performer, competitor, and poler.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Pole Obsession. This is part two of our discussion about the Australian Pole Championships with past competitors. We have Shel Hafner, Nicole Harbour, Robin Russell, Buki and Bec joining us today. Is anything stuck with you that a judge has said to you or another competitor? Um... Yes, one did. And that's probably why I said same trick three times is because I seem to not realize that I was doing an entrance the same time. Like I did an entrance the same time. three times. And I didn't realize that I was, I did that, but I know I was doing different tricks, but with the transition was the same. It really did stick with my mind. I was like, I didn't even pick up on that. Even in my training videos, I'd choreograph my own routines, you know, train with coaches and I didn't even pick up on that. So that was really useful. And now choreographing for my next routine, I'm like, different transitions people pick up on this stuff so yeah that was actually quite helpful and something to really pick up on so um because I think we always think about you know the difficulty and um you know trying all those power moves and things like that and your choreography but yeah I did the same transition to get into a new trick three times so I was like damn it Yeah, a lot of the experienced judges will pick it up really quickly, yeah. Mine is the opposite from I guess maybe from a judging perspective too is that I don't get, can I say it from a judging perspective? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Like costume, I don't get the minimal effort in costume because you don't really have to work that hard to get those points. Yeah. And it's like you can go on stage and have your automatic whatever points just by putting the effort into your presentation and costume. You can't get them deducted. Yeah, yeah. They're automatically there. Like you could slip and not do absolutely anything. And no, you'll get a guaranteed, say five points. Yeah. Like put the effort into that. And even like little things. I think, I think people don't think judges pick up on that, but I'm like, I can tell if you've actually brushed your hair and made an effort to like get rid of these pits versus you just putting your hair in a ponytail. Like if you step on stage. I can see that when I'm judging, but just putting the effort. I happen to agree with that, actually. The costume is just from here to here. The costume is everything, your whole, you know, it's the hair, it's the makeup. What have you got on your feet? What have you got on your body? What have you got on, you know, it's all of it. Are you wearing shoes? What are the shoes? Have you got gauntlets? And does it tie in with your music? Is it making sense? Yeah, I agree with that because that was actually– The only thing that stuck with me because I won the Miss Pole Dance amateur, the mixed pole dance, and all my scores were great. I was super happy. I was like, wow, I've really nailed this. I worked really hard and I got the points that showed that. But my presentation and costume was just like could have been more. And it was pretty low. Like it was like two out of 10. It was like, didn't fit the theme. Um, like could have been more. It was just like, it let me down. I was still lucky enough to have won, but I mean, my scores could have even been better. But, um, the following year I ended up having, I did two comps and I had the most amazing costumes. I was actually so lucky that my, um, family member, uh, started dating this ice skater costume maker and she was just like I know I was so lucky I was like thank you for dating her thank you thank you thank you and she is amazing and her name is Cassandra so please please go to her but her costumes, like straight away, that was the first thing every single competitor said to me backstage, everyone in the audience. I felt amazing. I like the confidence just came so much out of me and everyone was just like, oh my God, your costume. I was like, I know. And I just immediately was like, yeah. So like going onto stage, knowing that if I did the worst thing ever, I was going to get these points and it felt really good.

UNKNOWN: 4:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 4:43

Costume couture, she's writing it down. Yeah, costume couture. Costume couture, Cassandra. Hit her up. And what about you, Robyn? Run everything by your coach. Yes. Point your toes, fix your lines. Yeah. The standard ones, yeah, that in my mind 24-7, it's living in my head rent-free.

UNKNOWN: 5:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:09

That's it. Well, good, good. Yeah, coaches are so important when you get to a state or national competition. I think, yeah, never underestimate the power of a coach. They're going to see things that you will never see because you'll quite often have tunnel vision when you're doing it. No matter how good you get, like some of you guys are like the best in the world. But it's still good to have feedback from somebody who, who is an outsider looking and that knows what they're doing. So I think it helps. Like every single sport has coaches. Every single one. When Elle told me not to use my foot on an eagle, I was like, run through. I feel this cane. Can you not wrap your foot on that eagle? Thanks, Felix. She goes, are you going to do that on stage? I was like, no. Obviously not. Well, not now. Not now. I didn't send anything to Elle last year and I definitely copped it, so. Yeah, no, I let Robyn do her own thing because I, like... Robert is an Aeroport Academy girl and I let her do her own thing. She didn't want to run it past me and I was like, you do you. Good girl. You do you. The next day she's like, so why is it you didn't want to train with me? Sometimes on your own journey you have to get to the destination your way, you know. Yeah. Last year was a rough year for me in general. So that was the one thing I was like, this is me. I can control this. I'm doing this. Sorry, Elle. Oh, well, she's changed to my history though, people. So we've got, we've got a correction on, this is correction fairy coming in on the name of, um, amazing ice skater costume girl is show girl couture and it's Cassandra. Yes. I'm so sorry. I stuffed that up. Show girl couture. I just want to like say as well, like, um, with costumes and stuff like that because I have like a lot of people that you know like if you're doing lots of competitions in a year it can become expensive I don't imagine that her costumes are cheap costumes that sometimes having good presentation is just going to be make sure that your costume suits the song that you're doing the music that you're doing your theme and stuff like that and it doesn't like Amazing big costumes are great, but it doesn't always have to be that way, but it does have to have a lot of thought in it and it's got to tie things in well. Otherwise, that's what makes the difference when it doesn't look like you've made an effort on stage. I think the great thing about stage is that the stage is very forgiving in that you're not very close to the costume. So even if you've made it yourself, which... I often make my own costumes. I make my own costumes as well. Yeah, I don't want to spend hundreds and hundreds. If it's something I can't do, I don't have the skill level. Of course, I'm going to pay someone else to do it. But yeah, if you're doing a lot of shows or comps, then you will save a lot of money learning how to craft yourself. I taught myself to sew because when I was working with the circus, like doing so many shows every single week, you buy an expensive costume and you're going to run it into the ground. So I taught myself to sew because it wasn't affordable to be buying expensive costumes. And then also you do get creative. You're like, oh, I've got this old bit from this old costume and this old bit from this costume and now it's a new costume. Yay! And I'm like sitting here next to my bag of sparkles that I'm going to stick to everything. It never ends. No. When I'm talking about not just costumes but presentation, and this is something someone mentioned to me, especially when I was looking back through like comp photos and things like that. So when you're walking around backstage and you know how you do your nervous little like pacing before you get on stage and everything, I don't know what happens to me, but I'm going to know this for the next one. When I'm not wearing shoes on stage, my feet go black and I'll have this beautiful photo. Don't take them off your feet the whole time you're backstage. Black feet. Yeah. And my videos and photos, I'm like, God damn. God damn. Yeah. Stages are notoriously dirty. Like backstage area and even on stage, if you start with clean feet, you're going to end with dirty feet. Just stages are just the way that they are. Yeah, I wear socks and I take them off side stage before I step onto the stage. That's how much I don't want black feet. Yeah. I need to, yeah. Just walk on your hands.

UNKNOWN: 9:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 9:52

Never put your feet on the ground. That's nice. What was the biggest challenge you faced during your prep and how did you overcome it? I've got a really good one for this one. I got back from a six-week Europe trip and I had four weeks out to MX, that comp that I won that I just talked about before, and I hurt my hip. It was terrible. So painful. And I actually hurt my hip because I slipped and it just, it just went. And so the entire duration, and I just explained to you before how, you know, disciplined I am with my comp prep. This was my biggest learning curve for that. So this was how I worked out how I want to prep going forward, because this was so much mental health around this, because I was like, do I pull out? Do I keep going? It's hurting me to do it. What do I do? And I just tried to stay as positive as possible. And I was so lucky that my coach, she just kept me going. And we basically had to choreograph the entire routine around my hip pain. And some things did change along the way. It was the most challenging comp routine I'd ever done. Every single day I was contemplating, do I... Do I pull out? Do I not pull out? But I found along this challenge to work with it, not against it, and that was actually the best thing. So I found that, okay, I can hardly walk today. It's not working. Why train? It's not going to be a good day. And I had a physio, so I was checking in with my physio, and They were still not really sure like kind of what happened. It might have been a partial tear, like minimal. It was enough to cause me excruciating pain. I basically was able to invert, basically able to do anything upside down, but I could not for the life of me. I could bend down in a deep squat, but I could not get back up. So if anyone goes back and watches this routine, you will see that I hold the pole to get up in the whole routine because I actually can't. And that's when I found just don't fight it, just work with it and just listen to your body. And that's how I worked out what works best for me, just listening and just being okay with the challenges and just, yeah, just don't fight it. Just listen to your body. If it means you have to take three days off, just take three days off. and just breathe and take your time. Sometimes you do have to be fluid when you're working with your body. You can't make rules for it because it will inevitably break them. Yeah. I'd love to ask all of you this question. What's your ultimate goal when it comes to competing? Maybe you start with you, Shell. Ultimate goal. Just to... Get better and better every single time, like whatever I perceive as the weaknesses in my how I would like to be, work on my weaknesses. So every time that I perform, I like to feel like I improve and I grow a little bit every single time and to enjoy myself because if I don't enjoy myself, there's no point doing it. Yeah, nice. Is there any specific goal that you would like to get to as in a title? Not really. I mean, I love competing, but I don't do it. for titles. Like that's a little bit like a cherry on top more than anything. Yeah. Nice. And for you, I'm just going to go this way. For you, Bea? Mine started with the titles. Yeah. I definitely think it started there. I think being that pole monkey and watching it all, the comp happen and then watching people who absolutely did amazing then achieve this, you know, memorable achievement trophy to showcase all their hard work. I think that was definitely what I strived for, especially at the start. And now that I've kind of been fortunate enough to actually reach that goal and I do have titles and I do have trophies to show, I know, especially in my very, very last comp, I had, which was APC, I had absolutely no thought in my brain I was going to place. I did not think. I was very lucky, but I did not think that I was going to place. And the only thing I had was just to have fun. If I wasn't having fun, just like Shell said, it wasn't worth it. And I went out there. I had so much fun. I met up with all my friends. It was the best time. And even if I didn't place, I was okay with it. That was it. Have you got an ultimate title that you would want to win? I think, yeah, Australian pole champion would be pretty cool. It would be cool. It's a hard one to get. Oh, extremely hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. But it would be, yeah, absolutely amazing. And for you, Buki? For me, I guess obviously getting a title is important. amazing and would be awesome it's definitely i wouldn't say it's a goal for me um i come from a bit of a different traditional dancing type i guess growing up i've been a hip-hop dancer and i always grew up thinking i never fit in anywhere because i tried to go down the professional route you know becoming a professional dancer and because it's not a very favorable sort of industry i wasn't ballet trained i wasn't jazz trained um I found that now that I am in the pole world, I get to express myself. So all I want to do is I just want to entertain. That is my goal. I go out there, I just want to put on a show and I want to hear the applause and feel like, yeah, that hip hop girl, she's doing some mad stuff now. So that's my goal. I just want to entertain. Are you going to bring hip hop this year? Can we have a sneak?

UNKNOWN: 16:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:30

I've said to Buki, I really, because she's a hip hop, we haven't seen like the big, the proper hip hop. And I said to her, I want to see it. So. Maybe. Maybe. We called it last year, Felix, when we were talking about Buki. We said it's stupid. What do we call it, Buki? It wasn't urban funk, but it gave that vibe. Do you remember you said urban? Was it me? Yeah. It was cool. Whatever you said that I was like, oh, yeah, I'll take that. Yeah. I feel excited. I think she said something like, Elle, I think the right terminology is urban. I don't fucking know anything. What was I saying there? Elle, listen to me. Let me correct you, Elle. Sorry, can we know we messed it up? I like it. Are we doing words? Yeah, words. Words. All right, next, Robin. Ultimate goal would be to have a national title, but... At the same time, I want to be happy when I get a national title. I don't want to push myself to the point where I'm miserable and just doing it for the sake of a title. So taking my time doing what I need. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a really good, good view as well. Like, why would you do something that, you hated doing after a while and you weren't happy and it wasn't fun. Like you've got to– it's also about the journey. Obviously, I compete a lot, guys, so, you know, I don't know how it is. But it is going to be about the journey. You've got to have fun along the way. You'll just hate doing it. And then, you know, once you get to that title, you'll be like, yeah, I've got this title, but the whole thing was horrible for, you know, six months. So, yeah. I mean, do you want to– yeah.

UNKNOWN: 18:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:41

Sorry, I was just going to say, I think people who do hang too much of their happiness, importance, self-worth on a title or getting a title, once you get that title, you are no happier. You have no more self-worth. You know, those words on a piece of paper don't change your mental health. So I think that we're in a time and an age now where we do understand the importance of being balanced and, you know, And doing things for the right reasons. So I think it's really important to set realistic goals, do things because you enjoy them, take the great things, see the bad things and go, okay, nice to see you, bye, I'm here with my good things. And yeah, really enjoy the experience and the journey because at the end of the day, like, The six, seven trophies that I have in my garage gathering dust don't make me any happier 20 years later. Do you know what I mean? But it's the experience that I remember. I don't, you know, win or lose. I did these things and I enjoyed the journey. So, yeah, I think it's really important to say that going into a competition to win it doesn't have to necessarily be the only reason you do it. Like if it's a dream and a goal, amazing. But I think the journey is the only reason. the main character. Were there any backstage moments that felt just as special as the performance? I have a funny post-routine backstage story, but not so much a pre-routine. Backstage? It doesn't matter. It's not like a great feeling, but last year I got so sick. Like somewhere in between the tech run and the actual performance, I just got so sick. And I did my routine halfway through it. In my video, you can kind of see me stumble a little bit before I do my static. Come back, do it. I finished my routine. I run off stage and I just laid on the ground, just spread out. And all the backstage crew are freaking out like, you okay? And I'm like, yeah, good. I'm breathing. But I was the last person in my category before the break. And so the judges are walking backstage to go do their debriefs. Elle literally walks over me. He's like, you all right, mate? I'm like, yeah, I'm good. I'm good. That's fine. And I just walk past and I'm like, oh, my God. She was like, like she was roadkill. I was just dead. Like that killed me. To be fair to me, I see that all the time. Like that is not the first time. There's no comp where I haven't seen somebody like this afterwards, side stage, every single comp. So if there was something wrong, you know, the crew would have picked it up. That's generally my recovery position too as well. Yeah. I said that's my recovery position, being like flat out on the side stage when I go off stage. I hold it together with a smile and I'm not dying and I get off stage and I'm like, Yeah. Heaps of people do it. Like it's really common. The only time that we kind of pay attention because it is so common that people do it, they're just exhausted after.

UNKNOWN: 21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:57

It's usually if they're making a noise, right? So if they're making a noise rather than just laying there and hopping and popping, that's a different story. Like if they're holding their leg or something, then we know something's happened, which is rare as well, but it can happen for sure. I think it's a standard recovery position, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I'm done. I did it. I'm finished. My sweat can pour into the floor now. Yeah. I definitely, I definitely had a good moment at APC last year. I was with me and Recy and it definitely, yeah, definitely. This one's like, feels good to the heart. Right before we both went on stage, we were both there for each other. And that's what I love about comps is that you all meet up with your friends, even if they're in a different state and you're lucky enough to go to nationals together. You're like, Oh my God, like I'll be there for you. Like, right next to stage and, you know, I'll be there right when you come off and things like that. But the last time me and Recy would just, we were just crumping for like a good, like two minutes beforehand, just shaking out all the anxiety, all the stress, everything, just having a full dance party. I probably exhausted myself. Didn't, shouldn't have done that, but I ended up having even more fun. And I actually just, that's probably my best backstage memory was just, just dancing before we even went on. Okay. Before you competed, you were dancing. Yeah. Oh, that goes against your rules, Bea. Actually, I don't remember if it was dancing. I think it was dancing after mine, but I think it was before Recy's. Right. Yeah. Because Recy was battle, so I think it was at the end. Yeah. It was a great time. We were just dancing backstage, having so much fun.

UNKNOWN: 23:50

Aww. Yeah, I think...

SPEAKER_00: 23:51

The backstage is unlike any other. Like there's so much support and everyone's so great with each other. I think that's like a really big thing that people, no one will ever know unless they compete, you know, who you meet backstage and then you become lifelong friends with them. And it's so nice how you all look after each other and all really care about each other. Like there's just nothing like it. Is there any way? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, is there any good experience that any of you have had that you want to share about that? I think I've actually... developed this sort of outside group. And it's all because of competing. Like I've met all these people at comps and then you slowly became friends. And then we've all become like a little group now that we hang out on weekends. We call the jam fam. We just hang out and everything. So it's really nice that I think that if I could get across to people who haven't competed, like when you're backstage and Get talking. They're not your enemies or anything like that. Like everyone's in the same boat. Everyone's feeling a little bit anxious. And you can just have a conversation with anybody backstage. You'll just be like, oh, they're real people. They've been training for this just like I have. So I think that's really important to know. Yeah, definitely super supportive backstage. Everyone's just best friends by the end of the night and you just– looking out for each other and just making sure everyone's okay. I notice a lot of the time if someone walks past, like if their costume's kind of tucked in or sticking out or something's wrong, like no one is, you know, out to get anyone. Everyone is so like, oh, my God, before you go on stage, like here. Or if someone's like, oh, my God, can I grip, like here, here. Like everyone is so wonderful backstage because we all know that at the end of the day, if something goes wrong, we can really hurt ourselves. Like, it's not a matter of, oh, yeah, I hope they stuff up. It's like, I really hope they don't. Like, at the end of the day, like, it's just, it's a supportive community backstage. Like, sometimes I forget I'm even competing because I'm just having so much fun. Like, everyone is so wonderful. Even from the amateurs to the pros, we all end up merging into rooms, even on our album like that. But we do have so much fun. While the cat's away, the mice will play. So supportive backstage and it's just, I've made the bestest friends out of it, so it's wonderful. Yeah, that's nice. And you're always in the same boat as well, you know, like everybody knows, everyone's been training, everyone's feeling anxious, like you're all doing the same thing. So, yeah. What would you say to any prospective people that wanted to compete but were worried about it and not sure in APC this year or the straight heat? Just do it to have fun. Like at the end of the day, you're your worst critique. If anything, it's not about a title. It's not about going to the next level. It's about challenging yourself. It's about having fun. It's about making friends. Yeah. That's what I'd say, if anything. I think it's a great answer. Yeah, we all like that answer. Correct, yes. Anyone want to add to that? I would say that you don't have to wait until you think you are at a level to start competing because the act of competing and the getting yourself ready for it will make you level up in no other way that you could do. by training. Yeah, absolutely. Like if you wanted to get really good at golf and you competed, you will get really good from putting the hours and hours in and competing, right? There's nothing like a deadline. Yeah. Do you guys have anyone that you want to name and shame, like shout out and be like, you need to do it this year? Tell us the people. Yeah, tell them to do it. And we're going to tag you. I have people I tell on a daily basis. Excellent. Maddie messaged me today saying that she's going to do it. Love you, Maddie. Excited to train with you. We love Maddie. We've done it before. No, this is her first time and she listens to our podcast religiously, yeah. She said to me last weekend, Elle, I've caught up to date with all the podcasts and now I just am looking forward to one every week now. So, yeah, we love you, Maddie. We're going to get you on after the comp and see how you went. Yeah, Maddie, wait, do we have a regular listener? Yes, we do. It's Maddie. People like us. Oh, my gosh, Maddie likes us. We need to send her a t-shirt. We need to send her a Pole Obsession t-shirt. Yes. Right. Anyone who's listening, what do we call them? We have names. We started coming up with names for our Pole Obsession people. Yeah, but then it was on Maddie. The Obsessed. The Obsessed. The Possessed. The Possessed. I think we were trying to be nice and obsessed tonight. We're so bad at this name situation. We didn't even have a podcast name until like three episodes in. I know. I know. It's terrible. I don't know. We definitely know what we're doing. But it never worked. Anyway. We're getting better at it. But yeah, we have a Maddie and I'm very excited that we have that. Can we call our podcast followers the Maddies? To Maddie. Oh, my gosh. She's going to lose it. Maddie's going to say thank you so much for bringing me up, Robyn. I really appreciate that. I told her I was doing this tonight too. I love Maddie. She's my favourite. We do love Maddie. Maddie's my favourite. Yeah, new favourite. Oh, and Jamie, if she hasn't already said she's doing it, we should get Jamie to compete. Yes, she is. I spoke to her today. Jamie better be tweeting now. Jamie doesn't listen to us like Maddie listens to us. I'm not saying her name again. We're going to get her to compete. Yeah, we need some camera people definitely. Cameras combined with New South Wales is young. And Victoria's combined with South Australia again. So they're big. And then Queensland's always got Queensland, which is huge in itself, of Queensland and Northern Territory. So that's pretty big. So they're pretty big states this year. But we definitely have plenty of room still. So registrations close early. on Monday, the 21st. But we've still got a lot of WA as well. We need lots of WA. We want professionals. We want amateurs. I'd love to see some more groups too. We never see enough groups. So you can have between two and five people. And I'd love to see some battlers. Like it's just one minute of tricks. One minute is all it takes. It's so fun. I was, like, thinking the whole time. I love battle. It's so fun. It's my favourite one. Yeah. And it's not hard because, like, anyone who's going to, well, when I say it's not hard, of course it is hard, but it's got to be easier. Shel, you've done both. Yeah. It's got to be easier than pro because it's one minute of tricks, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's easier. Like, it's not as expensive a preparation for it. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say that probably in battle you're not going to bust out anything new. You know, you're going to do the things that you know you can do well. Exactly. Yeah. And your endurance doesn't have to be as hard as, you know, as on point what it would be for a professional. Yeah. Professionals are a little bit of a killer in endurance rides. Yeah. How did you find that when you went from two and a half minutes to three and a half minutes, Bea?

UNKNOWN: 32:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 32:14

Oh, my gosh. I mean, I was kind of used to it with Mixed Pole and I think maybe one other competition. So I did have a little bit of practice but not actually at the professional division and knowing I had to level up for that three and a half minutes was next level. It was a challenge but I really, really enjoyed the journey. Yeah, it was a really good challenge. Yeah. And you rose to it as well. You know, like if you hadn't had that challenge, would your level of like pull up as much as it did in that time scale? So go you. I definitely don't think so. Yeah, I think that if I didn't have the pro to it, I do not think I would be at the level that I am. It really made me have to work so much harder. Like I was doing– two-hour privates, like, once a week. It was training for three to four hours every, like, second day. Like, I was just constant, constant, constant, constant because I had to level up. And I had a list of tricks. Like, yep, I need this and this and this and this. But I was really enjoying it. It was really fun because I was like, I can't wait to get to that point where I actually, all I ever wanted to feel was, okay, now I'm in pro. I want to feel like a pro. I want to make sure that I belong in there. I didn't want to feel like I didn't belong. I was happy to be the baby power in the pro division, but I didn't want to feel like I didn't belong. And I know everybody says like, oh, you belong there. You belong there. But it comes from in. It absolutely comes from in. And so working really hard to get to that point. And I was really enjoying the journey because by the time I stepped onto that VPC stage, stage in the division I felt like I'm with my people I'm ready to be here it was good and I don't think I would have been there that early if that didn't happen so quickly so I'm really happy with how it happened but oh it was scary I'll tell you that it was terrifying well you did it and you did it very well so yeah thank you thank you thank you yeah I think we might be ready to wrap up shortly. I just had one maybe sort of fun question. Do any of you have any rituals or little superstitions that you do before going on stage? Boogie's nodding her head. Give it to me. I listen to the same song while the person before me is on stage. With my headphones. The same song, whatever company it is, it's the same song. And it's Rage Against the Machine, Killin' in the Name of. I don't know what that song does to me, but I'm just like. How interesting. Does that not mess with your comp song? No, because it's nothing like anything I do, I think. And it's not my style of music either. Like I'm quite hip-hoppy and commercial and things like that. It's good. It's completely opposite. But, yeah, Rage Against the Machine, I'm telling you. How did you find that? I don't even know. It even started when I was a professional dancer. I would listen to it before going into an audition. I love it. You know, it builds a little fire inside you. And when he swears, oh. Oh, I love it. We're going to add Skipping Row and Rage Against. And Socks on Stage. And Socks. We should do a little cheat sheet afterwards, Elle, you know, something else for you to do while you're editing. And you just make this little cheat sheet of the things we need to do before comp, during comp and after comp. Can you imagine? I can't. I'll pass that on to Robyn. Robyn's now, she's taken over from Gail. We've lost Gail. Gail. Robyn's the new Gail. Robyn. Welcome. Cheat sheet, Robyn. Cheat sheet, Robyn. Robyn, I'll take a cheat sheet. Easter break. Yes. It's a public holiday, right? Nobody's got a real job. I'd love to know where people can follow your poll journey. what studios you're out. So if you want to give a shout out and your coaches, coaches, studios, and where they can follow your whole journey. And your costume makers and anyone else you want to give a shout out to, we'll take them all. The person to me on the left in my little grid is Robin. So I'm going to start with Robin. Oh, cool. Well, I'm not consistent with my posting. So I do it across two different accounts on my Instagram. So it's either Robin, spelt with three N dot R. That's my first one. And then my actual Paul account is Robin Paul and Ariel's. I've already forgotten the second part of what you said in your question. Your studio, your coaches, your costume makers. My studio is Ariel Paul Academy. My coach is Elizabeth Domizet. The best coach.

UNKNOWN: 37:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 37:48

My costume maker from the last two years was Tiffany Abbott. She does costumes in Canberra. Shell, do you want to go next? You can follow me at Shell Hafner. It's Shell Hafner on Facebook or Instagram. C-H-E-L-L-E, not Shell like a seashell. I don't post very consistently online. Sorry. I make my own group, Thirsty Skin for dry skin. I make my own costumes and I am my own coach as well. So all here. And what about studio? Studio, Hangar 66. I knew there was something I was missing. Hangar 66 in West Denver, Brisbane. Amazing. And Bee, do you want to take us away? So my Instagram is bb underscore pole underscore artist and I try to post fairly often when work's not too hectic but definitely all my training videos are up there. I don't have a studio so I'm an independent and But I do train in my garage where I've kind of set up something that's a little bit fun and I teach a couple of privates and whatnot there. But it's not a studio as such. It's just my little garage. And I am also a Maya therapist. So... I work for myself from my little home boutique studio or clinic, as you would say, and I help a lot of pole dancers with their injuries, so musculoskeletal. So it's really wonderful that sometimes I will coach girls and teach a private and immediately after their private, they've booked a myo session for me. So they just get coaching for an hour and then immediately get a massage and then laughy laugh. So that's what I do basically all the time.

UNKNOWN: 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 39:55

and um yeah it's a great life i have some some on the regular they just love it something like oh you know what i can't be bothered polling today i just want my massage so um that is myocare underscore therapy so if you want to follow and support me on that that would be absolutely amazing and so my goal pretty much is just to help help all pole dancers just be injury free and just be able to continue pole dancing um Is it just me? So I have a dance studio called Buki's Dance and Fitness Studio out in Sunbury. I do have an Instagram tag. It's Buki spelled B-U-K-I, not Bucky, underscore dance studio. Yeah. I would like to do a shout out to my coaches, which are Miss Philly and Natty Stephens. Sorry, I haven't trained in a little while with you. I promise I'm coming back to your babies real soon. And I have this amazing coach. Costume lady. She's independent. She does a lot of costuming for a lot of people at the studio and surrounds. Her name is Kyra Porteus and she is an absolute gem. You literally give her a sheen costume and she'll make it into our own thing for you. So she is fantastic. So if anyone ever needs any costuming, Kyra is amazing. And where can they find her? What's her Instagram? Yep. It's yep. at Kyra underscore Portia. Amazing. You're welcome, Kyra. You'll find it in post. And while you're looking for that, we'll also, we will get Nicole's later. She, her phone ran out of battery. So we will get that later and we'll tag it on to the end of this episode's notes, which I definitely know how to do. We'll tag it on to the end of the show notes like we always do. Always. Oh, my gosh. Amazing. Did you have her handle or you can find it? For me? Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, it was Kyra, K-Y-R-A dot Porteus, P-O-R-T-E-O-U-S. Nice. And she's based in? She's based in Melbourne. Well, ladies, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing all those beautiful stories, moments, memories, and also your training tips I think were super useful and things that we can apply very easily. So thank you so much for that. And good luck with all your comps moving forward and anything you decide to do. I know you're going to do an amazing job. I've seen you all dance, so I know. So thank you very much. Thanks, guys. We appreciate you coming on. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Thanks, everybody.