Originating in 2020 the Halloween Pole video contest was a way to keep our London Dance Academy community connected as well having a bit of fun when those long lockdown nights drew in. Last year’s contest brought with it some new contenders as training and filming in the studio was a possibility and it was such fun to see the effort and love that went into each routine and costume.
What is the Halloween Video Contest you ask?
The rules are simple – we asked you to submit a short video (between 1 and 2 minutes long, which can’t be edited), Halloween themed with an optional costume. These video’s then got uploaded to our YouTube channel and the the video with the most likes by the witching hour on Halloween was crowned the winner.
Each year comes with its own set of prizes, including memberships, bespoke merch, and opportunitties to perform live!
Here are the incredible 2022 Halloween Pole video winners;
1st Place – Kika
Kika is also known as Pinky Addams, performing as Dr Frank-n-Furter with special guests Brad and Janet.
The inspiration for my video was my love for Rocky Horror Picture Show and my love for Drag. I’ve always wanted to play Dr. Frank-n-Furter, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do so! Winning this competition means the absolute world to me as I can now take all my favorite classes all the time! Training at LDA has changed me as a pole dancer and has helped me through a very long healing process. I love this place, every time I come in I feel at home.
2nd Place – Cinzia Prenza
The 2021 winner Cinzia says:
I started pole dancing in 2018 but I started to take it more seriously in 2019 with two dreams in my mind: participating at a pole competition and getting my first gig as a performer. In 2022 I found myself achieving a 2nd place at my first competition, a 1st place in the second competition and a few gigs performing. All of this couldn’t have been possible without the classes at LDA. Taking the classes and learning at this studio was fundamental for my growth and for reaching this level of performance in such a short period of time. This is the reason why I have joined the Halloween pole dance contest. Another reason is the fact I love dressing up and I have lot of fun with creating special make-ups
3rd Place – Yin Lee
Yin wanted to create a choreography of a lyrical pole flow combined with trick’ography in the style of a film noir routine to the song Your Ghost by Kristin Hersh and Michael Stipe.
I am spine-chillingly happy having a place like London Dance Academy that creates opportunities like this Hallo’ween contest.
It gave me inspiration to create something phantasmic I could put my fangs in throughout the heavens & Hell(a Heels)s of life!
4th Place – Rianna Pole AKA Gravedigger
My passion for hard exotic pole combined with my love of dark music lead me to create the Gravedigger Choreography for the London Dance Academy Halloween pole dance video contest.
For me pole dance is not just tricks and flexibility, is a whole concept behind each idea that comes to my head and want to make it reality.
Costume, musicality, expression, tricks all need to work perfectly together.
Gravedigger idea was just the perfect one for a Halloween contest , expressing the dark atmosphere for the night of the deads.
Special Category winners
Best choreo – Eloise Varin to Rammstein
I am delighted to have won the ‘best choreography prize’ for my little routine. Thank you so much to the judges at London Dance Academy, this is the best award I could ask for, a testimony to my creativity!
Best tricks – Sanjana Sha, dancing to Control by Halsey
This was the first routine that I put together myself and it was inspired by watching how Sophie does class prep and comes up with routines. I had a lot of fun coming up with especially the beginning bit, which is what I’m most proud of because it shows I’ve been working on pointing my toes!
Best costume – Louise Ginsberg
“Whenever I create something intended for a stage (performance or competition) I always think about how to invoke a story. Theatre/film and visual story telling is a heavy aspect of everything I do artistically – I am heavily enamoured with the romantic illusion of nostalgia.
When I paint/sculpt I think about how I can capture a small glimpse of the movement of shapes created by the body and when I dance I think about how those linked shapes can created shared emotions between dancer and watcher.
I love the recent Sandman series because I felt it gave life to the audio book I had first come into contact with many years ago. A whole new macrocosmic history condensed into spoken word, which I devoured viciously. Neil Gaiman has the ability to create a singular sharpness of a whole scene with the inclusion of a singular word. I love that – and felt that the Syml version of an usually sweet and pretty song suited it perfectly.
Hope you all enjoyed our fantastic winners. The 2023 competition is now open to entries, here are the guidelines for entry! We hope to see all you fabulous people taking part this year, we can’t wait! In the meantime, see you at the studio and online!
