UK Professional Pole Championships Review

UK Professional Pole Championships

Last year's UK Professional Pole Championships was a sell out show, and this review of my experience will reveal why you need to be first in line to grab tickets for this year's event, before they sell out again!

(This page contains affiliate links – my full disclosure statement is available {here})

I had a firm plan with my blog launch taking place just two days before UKPPC to take lots of photographs and get as much information as possible and write a review on the blog.

In the end though, I had so much fun enjoying myself at my first pole event that it didn't quite go to plan!

It was a very busy time for me fitting the launch of the blog, UKPPC and my little sister's 18th birthday all into one weekend.

In fact, the run up to it included staying up till 3am most nights that week, updating my Black Friday deals post in between the birthday shenanigans.

The day before we also squeezed in a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour where naturally I had to do some urban pole on the Knight Bus!

Knight-bus-pole

Needless to say after such a tiring few days trying to fit in my blog launch around celebrations and travels I was ready to blow off some steam at UKPPC.

And blow off some steam I did, all while forgetting to take proper pictures, woops!

That said, I've still got lots of insights into what you can expect if you decide to attend this year's event and trust me, you won't be disappointed if you do!

Arrival Of The Team

Myself and a friend from my pole studio back home were the first of our group to arrive, she was a sponsor at the event and in charge of looking after the X-Pole Play Room.

X-Pole-Playground

People started to arrive in dribs and drabs and since I've been away in Costa Rica for so long the first thing I did was have a good old catch up with the girls!

We took a turn around the sponsors marketplace in the main entrance hall which included vendors such as Everything Pole Dancing, Sarah Scott & Pole Junkie.

Here I signed up for Sarah Scott's competition to win a one to one session with her, but sadly didn't win. My friend did win a pair of leggings in the competition though which is awesome!

There was also a pole set up here demonstrating pole silks, and then upstairs we found stalls for Pole Dance Community & Pole-trition.

Up there I also found Once Upon A Sparkle's stall and had the privilege of meeting Emma, the maker of my custom Ellie pole shoes!

That was a story for another review, but unfortunately Emma has shut up shop.

Play Time!

After a quick scout around the stalls we entered the X-Pole Playground, happily signed our lives away on the health and safety disclaimer forms and got ourselves warmed up!

Words can't describe how much fun I had in there trying out all of the different X-Stages, and I also had an affair with the Aerial Hoop!

Aerial-Hoop-Play

Not sorry at all, I loved it and took to it really well from all of my strength and flexibility training in pole dancing.

I was a little disappointed at the absence of Aerial Silks as I knew they'd had some the year before and was eager to try them out, but still we had an amazing time.

Now, this playground was largely the culprit behind why I didn't get around to doing a lot of things at UKPPC.

I forgot to;

  • Take proper photographs of the playground (I was too busy playing)
  • Take any photographs of anything else at all
  • Buy the pole wear that had caught my eye on the way around
  • Eat - I was ravenous by the end of the day. Our PoleMummy brought lots of food and snacks but I really should have eaten more in 12 hours, silly me!

The Playground was still open during every interval in the show so rather than remembering to buy what I needed early on, I found myself surprised at how fast time flew in there.

Then, at the end of the show when I finally had time to buy the pole wear I had my eye on, poof! Everything was packed away 🙁

Never mind, maybe next time!

If you like the X-Stages and Hoop in the pictures you can find them to order here.

The Stars Of The Show

The whole night was jam packed with back to back amazing performances, bar none.

In order of category though, here are the winners and the awards they recieved. If you see an artist's name in purple here you can click on it to view the video of their performance!

Instructor Category

Professional category

Elite category

Special Awards

Guest Appearances

The judging panel this year consisted of Jo Dandridge, Kristina Walker, Bendy Kate, Sam Remmer, Robyn Rooke, Sarah Scott, Stacey Snedden, Julanne Barry and Donna Gant. You can find out more about their individual stories here.

Our compère for the evening was the glamorous Glory Pearl who never failed to keep us entertained in between every performance!

We also enjoyed some amazing guest performances from ten year old Mimi, Vane Lunatica and Bendy Kate.

Moves That Made My Jaw Drop

I'll be honest I spent most of the night with my mouth open, I loved each performance and was in awe of absolutely everyone.

The quality of performance in every category was phenomenal from instructor through to elite.

It would be great to give you a run through of every single feat of strength one by one but that would keep us here all week.

So while I forgot to take a lot of pictures and notes, I will share with you my favourite gravity defying moves of the night!

Again, if you see any names in purple here you can click through to see the performance.

Artist My Favourite Tricks
Claire Cotterill Death Lay
Catherine Meadley Inverted Bird of Paradise & Iron X
Lorna Walker Star Fish
Kassia Portas Iron X & Contorted Scorpio
Daniel Rosen Janeiro
Charlotte Robertson Drop from Straddle to Shoulder Mount, to Twisted Grip Ayesha & a Fonji, topped off with a leap to the floor!
Rosa Lisa Holly Drop & Fish Flop
Chelsy Vaney Extreme Archer & Holly Drop
Cheryl Teagann Triple Twisted Grip Deadlift into Tulip
Laura Boyden Aerial Twisted Grip Deadlifts & Iron X
Alana White Titanic
Katherine White Sneaky V Split
Chloe Anderson Dragon's Tail Fang Variation, Iron X & Elbow Grip Air Walk
Annalisa Muresu Triple Twisted Grip Muscle Up
Jess Leanne Norris One handed Air Walk, Human Flag & Eagle
Heather Walker No handed Pixie Spin & Jallegra Split
Sam King Spatchcock & final leap into an Underarm Hold Runner Pose
Anna Louise Pencil Climb
Ayesha Agogo Aerial Phoenix
Hannah Rose Inverted Split
Marcin Miller One Handed Archer & Star Fish Spin
Vania Noble Machine Gun
Amy Williams Dragon's Tail & Backwards Suicide Spin/Q Spin
Jakub Kolasa DeVille Split to Cocoon
Rebecca Plume Q/Dangerous bird & Janeiro

It truly is a jaw dropping event and tickets for UKPPC 2017 will be on sale from 18th September!

Are You More Than Just A Spectator?

To finish, I wanted to give all of you aspiring performers a heads up 🙂

If you're interested in entering this year's UK Professional Pole Championships this is where you will find competitor information for the 2021 competition - it's time to get those video entries in!

Video submissions end on the 10th of August, so don't forget and don't miss your chance!

Did you go to UKPPC last year? What did you enjoy most? Let me know in the comments!

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 0 comments