Sg Pole Challenge 2011

I've got a little treat for you today. PICTURES! Lots and lots of pictures! Of lots of darn hot stuff and darn hot people too!

I first got to know Ming aka Suzie Wong when she asked me to make her a mini-Ming on a pole about 2 years ago. We toyed with so many different ideas at the time, before coming up with this super special Sock 'N' Pole.

Mini-Ming!

With not-so-mini Ming! (Big-Ming would be misleading, plus it's insulting to call any lady 'big' anyway!)

Mini-Ming has spawned other Sock 'N' Poles too! Here's an exclusive piece I made for another Singapore-based poledancer who calls herself Boomloulou. There's a whole 'nuther story behind this one,  so I'd better save it for another post! Here's a piccie or two in the meantime, or you could watch some of her videos now on youtube.

Mini-Boomloulou's cross ankle release gaining admiration from her cat, Marley.

Marley keeping well out of the way of Mini-Boomloulou's iguana

The technique for achieving mighty grip with Sock 'N' Pole has spawned a whole line of custom-made dolls that can hold hands, things, hug, unhug, etc etc. I don't think I'd have come up with all that if not for Ming's request for a pole dancer, so I'm pretty grateful for the inspiration.

Mighty grip. My poledancers have it too!

    Then one day, my inbox popped up with a cheerful 'allo, my studio organising a comp 11 June....instead of getting the judges usual plagues or momentoes, is there anything i can get from you?'

    HELL YEAH! Wait. Did I just sound a wee bit too excited back there? Maybe slightly freaky in a sitting-by-the-phone, waiting to pounce sorta way? *phew* Thank goodness webchat delays allow me to think of a sensible response instead of blurting out the first (read: wildly impractical, OMG-why-did-I-dream-of-suggesting-this) doll design that comes to my head. I mean, I was so excited that I didn't notice she'd asked me to plague her judges with momentoes...sounds like the moment I fell down the stairs the other day and landed my full body weight on my little toe. Ouch. No no, I definitely don't want to plague your judges, but Ming, you're so damn cute sometimes!

    'There're just a couple of tiny details', Ming added, as we chatted along, 'my budget is rather pathetic and I know it's pretty last min...' Actually, there was just over a month to go before the event, but considering that Sg Pole Challenge was to be held in, uh, Singapore, and I was taking notes from Ming in my studio here on another not-so-small island, plus the quirkiness of Royal Mail, meant we just had enough time.

We worked to those constraints, budgeting and keeping the weight down so we didn't feel sick at the cost of the dolls' longhaul flight from the UK to Singapore (Poling is such a physically demanding and expensive sport! hehe), add to that some snooping around on Acro Polates' FB page and, voila! Here are the ideas I had:

I didn't have enough time to make poledancers like Mini-Ming and Boomloulou, but what about poledancing mascots? Y'know like Marley...

Acro Polates Studio even has its own resident meow who wanders in and dozes by the shoes during practices.

Meet Oliver. The luckiest boy in the world.

Or how about the stray pup Ming adopted, whom she calls Ah Boy?

Hm. Maybe make that 2nd luckiest boy in the world!

Also, a dog who sometimes behaves like a cat! Aww...

The hardest part was trying to decide which pet to choose as the mascot, at which point, Ming cunningly handed all artistic license over to me. I'm not too hot at making decisions either, so I made them both!

Ta-daaaaaah! Well, I bet you'd never seen poling-double cats and dogs...

And because I did a very thorough spying on Ming's promotional stuff for Acro Polates, I knew she'd flown Suzie Q over from Sydney last year and was having both her and partner, Toby J, over this time. Suzie is thrice Miss Pole Dance NSW, a Miss Pole Dance Australia finalist, was runner up in the "Women's Freestyle" division of the Asia Pacific Pole Dance Championships 2010 and won the "Open Pairs" division of that competition with Toby...*INHALE*. But accolades aside, I've seen videos of this awesome pair and MAAAAAN, they're totally amazing and really cute together and and aand seem incredibly lovely. 

See? And any couple who can get comfy napping together on a swing deserve respect, I think.

I'd also seen from pictures of Suzie's visit last year that she'd brought a little friend to play with Mini-Ming. 

Suzie Q loves Skunkers

Look, Skunkers! No hands!

It was a pressie from Toby...isn't it sweet when a girl carries a stuffed skunk around to remind her of her boyfriend? I know....aaaawwwwww.....hehe. So anyway, I decided it'd be awesome if they had one each! 

(Disclaimer: All you boys out there, if you decide to carry around a stuffed skunk to remind you of your girlfriend, she may get upset and refuse to return your calls, or smack you, or say you smell, or other horrible names. Don't say I didn't warn you, ok?)

Well, I bet you've never seen pole doubles with a pair of smooching skunkers *beam* 

Check me with my name dropping today! Judging from the pics, it looks like the Sg Pole Challenge mascots received some pretty good reviews.

Judge Ania Przeplasko, founder of the International Pole Dance Association, with Ah Boy, whose cup runneth over (and who's dropped his sash with excitement. No no, he doesn't really have boobies - that would be very confusing, no? Heehee)

'Suzie said it was the best present ever!' - Ming

YAY! And Toby and Suzie even featured Skunkers on Part 1 of their video series, The Adventures of Suzie Q and Toby J. It's so funny and sweet (especially if you've ever had the joy of experiencing the Singaporean obsession with food!)

I don't think it'll work here for copyright reasons, but click on the vid and it'll link you to their channel on Youtube.

Hmm, maybe I should consider a post about Gong gong (watch the video to see what I mean). I have a sock version! Kinda...but I won't go as far as pig's intestines...urk.

Oh hang on. Next post: Boomloulou and Marley! Maybe Gong gong later.

Thanks for holding on tight while I got through all the news and photos for this post! If you wanna see more darn hot stuff, stay tuned for my next post, if you wanna see more darn hot people, subscribe to Acro Polates and Suzie Q's channels. 

If you wanna be darn hot, join their pole studios! xxx

Bless 'er cotton socks, she tries!