10/14/2013

Rajashree Choudhury and Emmy Cleaves in Copenhagen

Hi Dragonfly friends!
This time our Dragonfly Team went to an event in Denmark – Copenhagen.  From 4th-6th October there was a seminar, lecture and few classes with Rajashree Choudhury and Emmy Cleaves accompanied by world champions - ChauKei Stefanie Ngai and Jared McCann. This event was hosted by Trine Zafina Søndergaard from Bikram Yoga Copenhagen and her lovely team.
The trip started in our hometown – Budweis, Czech Republic. We left the town at 6pm and drove overnight through Germany. The whole drive took about 12 hours. The girl part of Dragonfly team was sleeping heads hanging out off the seats :-) The man with the van got some sleep at the rest area.

2634 kilometres from Bikram Yoga Ceske Budejovice to Bikram Yoga Copenhagen

We crossed the line early in the morning. First we wanted to take a ferry but the bridge seemed to be more exciting and we didn’t have to wait! The 18 km long fixed link across Storebælt comprises two bridges and a tunnel. The view was exciting! Breathtaking construction across the wild sea was a nice awakening.


We reached Copenhagen around noon and went straight to the guesthouse where we were accommodated. Copenhagen is such a beautiful city! Nice atmosphere, buildings, culture – everybody riding the bike... So clean, green and warm. The guesthouse was a typical Danish one close to the city center situated in a beautiful garden.
After some rest we jumped to the car and went to explore the city centre and Nyhavn. Before 4pm we finally made it to the studio. BIkram Yoga Copenhagen impressed us with its pleasant and friendly atmosphere. Studio team was very helpful and provided us with all the services before the class. We enjoyed the class, stretched the body and the rest of the afternoon spent at the studio. We definitely recommend to visit this Bikram Yoga studio!

Nyhavn
Bikram Yoga Copenhagen

When we finished at the studio we dropped Petra off at the LÊLÊ restaurant for studio owners dinner. The cuisine was Vietnamese and the meals were just amazing! It was nice to meet and see studio owners from all over the Europe and Rajashree, Emmy, ChauKei and Jared at the same time.

Night and sleep were finally too short! On Saturday morning we moved our van with the booth to Kulturhuset Indre By in the city centre of Copenhagen. The event started at 9am. Around one hundred people showed up. Rajashree launched the lecture about her life and relationship to yoga and Bikram and how it all started. The lecture was very illuminating but sometimes funny as well. We loved the joke how Bikram met Rajashree at some yoga competition and told her he could teach her better postures :-)

Rajashree asked Jared to come up to the podium and they started posture clinic with standing series. It is always helpful for everybody – students and teachers to listen to Rajashree herself. Even if we know “how to do it” we always hear something new. Finally Emmy came and was asked to come up on podium too. Her comments concerning the postures are the most inspiring and informative. We all were listening carefully some of us making notes.

Rajashree, Emmy and Jared

After lunch break Emmy started her lecture about healthy eating and lifestyle. She gave us lot of tips about nutrition and health itself. In the meantime Jared and ChauKei were warming up for their demonstrations at the back of the room. When Emmy finished the lecture she asked Rajashree to help her with posture clinic – this time floor series with ChauKei. Emmy was nice this time :-)

Rajashree, Emmy and ChauKei :-)

The whole event ended up with demo of the two world champions which was really an amazing spectacle! Jared followed by ChauKei – both of them with music. Very inspiring!

Demonstration by ChauKei and Jared

We must say that this event was really well organized, we enjoyed the whole day, got some tips, met new people and we especially thank to ChauKei who spent a lot of time with us!

ChauKei with Dragonfly Yoga Wear

There was another teachers’ dinner on Saturday but Dragonfly part had to say bye and set on a journey back home. We visited one last sight - Little Mermaid and then went exactly the opposite way we came to Denmark and again – the girl-part was sleeping and the man with the van was holding the steering wheel tight :-) and was going through the night across Germany. We spent more hours at the rest area this time.

"Little Mermaide" :-)

We made altogether 2634 kilometres and got back home in the afternoon how we planned. Everything ended up above expectations very well! We love Copenhagen and travelling! ;-)

See you on the next event!


- Love, Petra -

10/03/2013

European Pole Sports Chmpionship 2013


Hi guys!
Last weekend Dragonfly Team was in Prague as a European Pole Sport Championship 2013 sponsor. Finally home of Dragonfly – capital city of Czech Republic, Prague! So this time the trip wasn’t so long ;-)
The Championship took place in Sport Area TJ Spoje, Prague 3. When we finally got there the new hall was almost ready for the competitors. We set up our stand with Dragonfly clothes and were happy to see all the people around.
The competition itself started at 11am with a nice Opening Ceremony and Block 1 (Baby, Children, Juniors). It is unbelievable what kids can do on the pole! J All adult competitors must have been jealous! J In the afternoon other categories (Men, Doubles Mixed, Doubles Women, Groups Women) showed us their best. The afternoon was quite long but the spectators were enjoying the atmosphere of the event watching the best pole dancers of Europe! Finally around 5.30pm Solo women category (our most favorite part) started and made the evening up till 10pm.
We saw a lot of famous and familiar faces and we must say everybody is getting better and better! The whole day event was a wonderful spectacle and we were very happy we could be part of it again!

We come up with the results and few pictures for you.

Babies
1st place Valeria Kosheleva (Russia) 101
Babies Doubles
1st place Evgenia Pavlusenko&Stefania Zhdanova (Russia) 124
Children
1st place Aleksandra Karpova (Ukraine) 164
2d place Carolina Arlandez Zoyo (Spain) 111
2d place Ljuba Medini (Italy) 111
3d place Josephine Klemm 110
Juniors
1st place Bernadett Floch (Hungary) 133
2d place Chiara Mantovani (Italy) 123
3d place Thea Romano (Italy) 93
Juniors Doubles
1st place Bernadett Floch&Eszter Szlávy (Hungary) 153
Men Solo
Dmitry Fedotov (Ukraine) 172
Guilherme Wandresen (Spain) 170
Alessio Bucci (Italy) 162
Mixed Doubles
1st place Irina Tcarskaya & Maxim Semenov (Russia) 161
2d place Kira Lassakova&Andrej Neczli (Slovakia) 111
Women Doubles
1st place Ekaterina Gromova & Lyudmila Fursova (Russia) 173
2d place Erika Lombardelli & Manuela Badessi (Italy) 155
3d place Tatyana Mitina & Viktoria Nikolaenko (Russia) 148
Women Groups 3-4
1st place Irina Tcarskaya & Julia Davydova & Regina Shulzhevskaya (Russia) 174
2d place Julia Bobrova & Ekaterina Grechko & Natalia Snigireva & Olesia Syrnikova 143 (Russia)
3d place Anna Del Santo & Jessica Scebba & Sara Quaglieri (Italy) 136
Women Solo
1st place Tatyana Chayukova (Russia) 180
2d place Martina Butcher (Switzerland) 179
2d place Marina Tarakanova (Russia) 179

3d place Doris Arnold (France) 171






With love Petra