When you take your first few beginner pole classes, it’s a bit like entering a magical secret universe. You’re in awe of the amazing pole tricks, spins and strength that your pole instructor demonstrates, and you instantly fall in love with the vibe, the atmosphere, and the sheer FUN of it all. Not to mention how strong and inspired you feel after every pole class!
That love and passion grows even further once you level up and begin your journey into intermediate pole dancing. Seeing your pole teacher demonstrate a killer intermediate spin combo and knowing YOU’RE about to learn it is almost like being a little kid seeing their first Harry Potter movie – wonderment, amazement, and that feeling of WHAT’S NEXT?! GIVE ME MORE!
Intermediate pole is a beautiful level to be in and to return to time and again to when pole starts to become challenging. It’s a place where you start creating aerial pole combos and dreaming up ways to combine new moves, and it’s also a great level to explore to work on your finesse, your dance technique, and your Marlo Fisken style ease (goals!). Tricks such as inside leg hangs, outside leg hangs, straddle inverts, jamillas, corkscrew spins and so much more all come out of intermediate pole!
If you’re already an advanced pole dancing babe, sometimes drifting back to intermediate pole tricks is a wonderful thing. It shows you how far you’ve grown, it gives you space to just move around the pole without any pressure (and without worrying if you have enough Dry Hands on to nail a move), and if you put the fonjis back in the drawer for a moment, it shows you that tricks don’t necessarily need to be crazy to be awesome. It can also reveal weaknesses in your pole dance foundations that you might need to put some work into!
So if our little ode to intermediate pole dancing here has inspired you and you feel like it’s time to luxuriate for a while in the world of inside leg hangs, hood ornaments and laybacks, we highly recommend starting with some of the tutorials below. These are all online pole dance lessons that you can do anytime on PoleSphere, and they’ll leave you feeling inspired and full of love for all things intermediate pole!
INTERMEDIATE SPIN COMBO ‘THE WINNIE’ with Suzie Q
This fun pole combo is a great one to try if you have a spin pole at home! It includes tricks such as a momentum turn, stag, ice skater, a gorgeous layout and some cool basework to finish. This combo would be perfect to add to pole dancing routines to not only show how strong you are, but it will help you work on controlling the spin and your movement around the spin pole. Suzie Q is an excellent teacher and helps you to transition through the combo. This quick 8-minute tutorial is full of knowledge and can be paused while you give the tricks a whirl!
CHERRY TOP (SPIN POLE) with Megan B
This high-intermediate pole trick tutorial teaches you the beautiful shape that is the Cherry Top! It’s a spin pole trick that looks bendy, but definitely doesn’t require outrageous Marion Crampe or Amy Hazel style flexibility to try it (bonus!). The prerequisites are an invert, outside leg hang and basic understanding of tabletop grip. The Cherry Top is a perfect trick to pop at the beginning or end of a combo, as you can exit through an inverted crucifix, or pull up out of the trick and mount the pole to keep going. Fun!
B-GIRL with Carlie Hunter
In this PoleSphere tutorial, Carlie teaches you how to whip out an impressive B-Girl, a handstand trick at the base of the pole. This trick is great for anyone who is confident doing a handstand with the pole, and will help you to get stronger at pushing through your shoulders and engaging your core. Carlie is amazing at breaking down the trick and helping you understand the mechanics of the move. The B-Girl is a super cool pole basework element to add in when you have dismounted but want to do something other than just stand up! Tricks like this are great to add to your basket of pole dancing goodies!
HIP HOLD with Lisa D
The Hip Hold is an Intermediate Pole Must Have! It helps you progress later into other cool tricks and splits, but it also is very much, “Look Ma, NO HANDS!”. Audiences love it, and it feels incredibly cool (if you can stand a little thigh burn) to do. To be able to learn a hip hold, you’ll need to have a confident inside leg hang and outside leg hang. Also keep working on your straddle invert as it helps you to enter and exit. Lisa D is excellent at talking through this trick and helping you understand your grip points. The Hip Hold is definitely one to try and to whip out on the regular during your pole dance practice sessions!
MARTINI SIT AND DIRTY MARTINI with Miss Filly
The Martini Sit is a classic pole dancing trick that can be performed on both spin and static pole. It gets its name from the shape looking like a martini glass – cute! You’ll need to have a good outside leg hang to be able to try this trick aerially, or you can enter from a standing position and perform it lower to the ground (perfect for low pole dancing poles at home!). Miss Filly takes you through how to do the trick, and if you’ve nailed the basic martini sit, she also teaches a variation in this tutorial called the Dirty Martini!
Physical Challenge!
If this list has piqued your interest, why not challenge yourself and see if you can join any of the above tricks together? Not only is it great physical training, it’s also killer brain training to get creative and practice building fun pole dance combos on the regular. For example, a Hip Hold can pair very well with a Martini Sit, or you can try to work a B-Girl gracefully onto the exit of any of the tutorials above! Give it a shot and post your videos in the PoleSphere Members Lounge so we can see how creative you get!
To sum up – we think intermediate pole tricks are really magical. They feel amazing to work on, they’re useful and refreshing to revisit if you’re in a higher level, and they’re a great go-to for any pole dancer looking for fresh motivation. Try some today!
