Pole Competition Audiences... The Stuff You Need to Know

Pole comp audiences are a different breed of audience all together. They are kind of a cross between circus crowds who gasp and whoop, and boxing crowds who cheer and scream bloody murder.

I love pole comp audiences, I think they're the best audiences of any type of performance or competition audience out there. Of course I do, and hell yes I'm biased, but I'm also experienced.

Let me impart my wisdom.

The main differences between a pole competition audience and a regular performance audience are predominantly enthusiasm, timing, sympathy, and lack of restraint.

When you go to a performance, like a show at a State or National Performing Arts Centre, or a concert featuring a well known talent, or even a local performance like your kid's dance troupe; the audiences are well behaved, and dare I say it, often polite to the point of restraint. Of course there are the odd bods who buck the norm, but they are few and far between.

A regular audience will wait until a designated lull in the performance to applaud, sometimes there is cheering, occasionally whooping, sometimes the odd whistler. There are smiles of appreciation, and there are seldom any interruptions during the performance itself.

Pole competition audiences are notorious for causing quite a ruckus, for being loud, shouting, interrupting, applauding, screaming, and whistling. And this is DURING the performance. There is no waiting until the end or for a lull. If a trick, or spin, or combo, is thought to be deserving there will be screams of appreciation, gasping at the bravery of a move, and clapping, shouting, and whistling in the lead up to the end. 

For the performer this gives instant feedback. You know exactly how you're doing, you get pepped up as you perform, and the crowd lifts you throughout your show. It is a delight to witness that audience/performer interaction. 

So why am I explaining pole competition audiences?

I have some lovely people I know about to enter their first ever competition. An inaugural amateur pole competition, and it's a big deal. This is one of the first serious amateur comps in my state, not some pub/club comp, we're talking a serious quality comp with rules, professional judging, professional venue and equipment.

As these competitors are amateurs, first timers, nerves are making themselves felt, seriously felt in the 24 hour lead up to the comp.

Here is my advice.

Those nerves... enjoy them. Sit somewhere quiet and actually feel them, don't ignore them, don't try to bury them, just quietly sit, focus on them, and feel them.

Those nerves are your energy. Those nerves are your power. They are your strength. And in your moment of need they will lift you, spin you, make you fly, and dance you to where you tell your body to go. So embrace your nerves, they are a gift and an incredibly powerful tool.

Now, if your nervousness is connected to your audience and what you perceive their reactions may be to a stumble, falter, or fall,  You need to understand why the audience is your biggest ally, support, and will lift you should things go a bit unplanned.

Pole competition audiences are predominantly made up of people with varying degrees of experience in poling, but that experience connects and bind the audience with the performer, very intimately so.

A noticeable cock up, slip, trip, fall, or fail will not be felt exclusively by you the performer, the audience feels it with you as well.

Pole comp audiences are there watching you do what we cannot, or what we wish we could do, or what we're aiming for, or what we have already done ourselves. So, we know when a fault happens, we can spot it, and the feeling we have for you in that moment is very real. We want you to execute the moves perfectly, we want you to dance amazingly, we want you to dazzle with your tricks. 

When a fail happens we want you to get up, lift up, smile, keep going, and show us you can do it. So what if you fell, or you slipped, just show us - your audience, your fellow polers, that someone like you who is brave enough to get on that stage in the first place, is also brave enough to keep going. That's when you will hear the loudest roar from the crowd, that's when the cheering and whistling becomes wild, that's when the goosebumps start and pole pride steps in.

Pole comp audiences are wild, generous, caring, and incredibly loud. We 'get' the performer and we understand the experience. As a performer never, ever be afraid or nervous of a pole comp audience, use them, feed off them, and show them what you can do. And as an audience keep embracing the performer, be loud, scream when you love a combo, whoop when a move looks awesome, and applaud till your hands hurt at the end because there is nothing so mesmerising and enthralling to a pole audience as a gorgeous pole routine executed to it's conclusion by a talented pole performer.

Good luck to anyone who enters a pole comp, you inspire so many without realising it. You make me love being a part of the audience, you give me goosebumps, make me laugh, make me cry, take me on a journey, and definitely make my hands hurt and my voice disappear for hours, and sometimes days, afterwards.