Location: The Birdcage, Manchester. It's opposite the Printworks. A unique cabaret and nightclub experience. Each night showcases comedy drag and showgirl shows live on stage every 40 minutes with non-stop disco until the early hours. We went for my Hen Party. I was dressed as a Fairy!

Music: Dance floor classics, 80's, 90's and noughties! (Read: Disco Cheeeeeeese!)

Clientèle: Hen parties.... Hen parties.... oh, and more hen parties! There were a few blokes, but they were totally outnumbered!

The Pole: There are 2 poles, one each side of the main stage, they are behind a rail similar to the reflex poles, but LOADS more room. The wall behind the pole is mirrored in strips, it looks cool, but you can't see your reflection properly. The floor was quite clean and dry too.
The Poles themselves are polished (not sure if they are stainless steel or chrome), so nice to grip, although they got slippier as the night went on. They are also both SPINNING poles. So remember not to push off too hard or you might get giddy!
The bases of the poles are about 8 inches across, and about 1.5 inches high, so can get in the way occasionally. A safety dismount from invert causes your back to catch the base - I have a bruise that Picasso would be proud of!
I first hit the pole with my friend Ginjachik and we tag-teamed for a few songs, swapping over after a few tricks/spins each. Ginja was wearing jeans so was somewhat limited, but proved that you CAN do a Butterfly in trousers!
After Ginja had left to go home, I spent a good 1/2 hour showing off my best tricks to my other friends who had not seen me dance before. I ended up taking off my Fairy tutu to get a better grip, but by this point, my hands were quite slippy, and I had a few hard landings.

Overall: These are GREAT poles. Loads of room all around. Good pole surface, but they could do with cleaning throughout the evening. Personally I prefer a static pole, but spinny looks so much better if you do it right!
Lovely stuff! More like this please!

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