Putting Together a Pole Dance Routine

Putting together a pole dance routine is not difficult! It takes a little learning, a little creativity and choreography!

Now that you have learned some basic spins, some pretty transitions, how to climb the pole and do a few tricks and poses , you can link them all together to music!

You want to practice your routine until it looks controlled, effortless, fluid and polished; you do not want to have bouts of wiping sweat away (too much anyway!), resting as if too tired, hunching over to catch you breath like you are running a marathon (even though it might feel like it!) or letting your body droop in any way. Practice until you have the strength and stamina to allow it to look graceful!

How to put together a simple pole dance routine

1. Learn some floorwork moves, a couple of transitions, a couple of spins and one trick.
2. Find a song that you would like to dance to. I talk about pole dancing with emotion here and music selection can make or break your routine, depending on what you express through your dance to it.
3. Listen for the 'accents' in the song, something like a break in the music or a strong beat that happens in the song. 
4. Break the song apart into sections. Songs have repeating segments that you can hear. Listen for the parts that are longer that you can do the floorwork and spins to and then the shorter parts where you can perform your trick to.
5. Write all of the parts down and try to perform it in your head first.
6. Perform it on your pole and video record your dance so that you can see where you need to make corrections.
7. More than anything else, FEEL the movement, the music, the dance. DON'T try to make it perfect! Just keep moving and keep your movements sensual and flowing. 

Showing emotion and using music

Your pole dance routine can be slow, sad, fast, sexy, angry or a whole myriad of other emotions. You can tell a story with a routine as well.

Use your powerful, fast and sharp moves such as quick spins, head tosses, sharp pirouettes and long leg splays in a quicker or stronger beat song. 

Slow down your moves for a throbbing beat, a slow, melancholy or sensual song. Fold your body over slowly or slide to the floor with your head hanging down to show sadness. 

Read more about pole dancing with emotion here. 

Examples of Pole Dance Routines

Learning all of the names and how to perform tricks and poses will give you a variety of moves to use. Check out these guides to learning pole dance moves.

These are some YouTube videos but they are great examples of routines.

Here is an example of a simple routine of spins and turns that you can use at the beginning of a more complex routine or all by itself. Practice this over and over until you move with control and grace:

Here is a beginner routine that incorporates spins, transitions, floorwork, a fan kick and a pole sit:

Here is an intermediate routine that can be learned after you can perform a handstand against the pole, your invert is strong, and can do a cross ankle release:

Here is an example of an advanced dance that you can learn after you have mastered many of the advanced pole tricks :

Pole Dance Routine > Pole Dance with Emotion