Ready to unlock another well-loved and flexy pole move? Yes…? Let's gooo!
Welcome to Anatomy of an Allegra! Named and popularised after the iconic Allegra (performed at MPDA 2010 in her winning performance), the Allegra is one of the most graceful yet painful moves that you will ever learn. Yes, move over superman. There’s a new queen in town.
Ironically, in Italian Allegra translates to mean joyful or happy, which is likely the opposite of what you’ll feel the first few times you attempt this move. But once you get the hang of it the Allegra really is a very cool move and one you’ll be dancing for joy about!
There are many ways we can perform our Allegra, starting with our open Allegra vs our closed Allegra. What’s the difference you ask? In a closed Allegra we are reaching our outside arm behind the pole to hold onto our foot. Whilst in an open your outside arm is free to the world! Did you know that a closed Allegra is an inverted Capezio split (extended ballerina)? Well it isn’t 100% the same but it’s very close!
Now, when it comes to teaching (or learning) an Allegra, screening and good instruction is key. Follow along with this mini tutorial with Mischka to conquer your Open Allegra:
Ready to level up your Allegra? Time to work towards this incredible feat of strength and flexibility known as our closed Allegra! Follow along with this mini tutorial with Mischka to unlock your Closed Allegra:
Screening of an Allegra
Now before we get into our Allegra, we want to ensure we’re strong and safe to do so. It’s important to understand that an Allegra is a high intermediate to advanced move meaning we require a fair bit of flexibility and strength from our body to perform this move.
Whilst screening doesn’t directly replicate the demands of the movement, it is a helpful way to determine whether our bodies are up for the challenge. Screening our body for tricks ensures we aren’t putting our body in positions it isn’t ready for yet! And in turn reduces our risk of injury! But also screening shows us areas that we can work towards. So, before we get into our Allegra, let’s ensure we’re strong and safe to do so.
To perform an Allegra the key requirements we can screen for are:
A strong straddle
Confident Inside Leg Hang
A Secure Flatline
Good spinal extension > 45 degrees
Thoracic Rotation > 75 degrees
A comfortable open split
The extra requirements needed for a closed Allegra are increased thoracic rotation range of motion, spinal extension and shoulder extension to reach your foot. To unlock your closed Allegra, we encourage you to work on a range of active thoracic and shoulder drills away from the pole.
When working towards your Allegra (or any move for that matter!), consider the demands of the position you’re working towards! I.e, a closed Allegra naturally requires more flexibility than an open Allegra. So work on nailing these movements and build on your pole smarts before working up to your Allegra.
Which grip is which?
Which grip should you use in your Allegra? There’s several reasons why a poler may choose a cup grip or true grip in an Allegra. When starting out learning an Allegra for the first time, a cup grip can help feel more secure. From personal experience, when first learning an Allegra I often felt like the pressure of my leg into my true grip arm would make my hand just pop right off. However, as we progress in this move towards our Closed Allegra, a true grip is often the preferred and more comfortable grip. This is often because you can mould your arm around the leg better as you’re resting on the soft tissue side of your forearm vs the bony side. So, all being said, how do you like to Allegra?
It’s time to breakdown the anatomy (cue drumroll sound effects….)! Let’s go!
Is it real or fake?
Firstly, it’s helpful to know that in our Allegra we are faking our split big time! I.e it is an open split. Our front hip is flexed, abducted and internally rotated, controlled by our iliopsoas, quadriceps and deep hip external rotators, whilst our back hip is extended, abducted and externally rotated with the gluteals, hamstrings, deep hip rotators and quads working hard to hold this active position.
Additionally, there is an active lateral flexion or side bend of the torso that is controlled by our obliques that assists with our splitty line appearance. True fact - if you want your splits to look splittier, actively engage a side lean of your torso! It helps to enhance your open split!
Hip External Rotation
We’ve already mentioned our hip external rotation is required for our open split, but let’s talk about our set up! When preparing for an inside leg hang to then transition into our Allegra, hip external rotation is a key requirement.
A deep inside leg hook is needed to help us access our spinal flexibility. If we instead find ourselves with a long leg hook, we will struggle to access our spinal rotation and open our chest outwards. So, when it comes to an Allegra, a strong hook is the key and that is controlled by our hip rotators muscles such as our gluteus medius, obturators, piriformus, quadratus femoris and gemilli.
Spinal Extension
Moving on up the body to the spine. Now, if we’re being honest for a second, our Allegra would look pretty ‘meh’ without some key movements at the spine. We do have a whole separate section dedicated specifically to spinal rotation coming up, so let’s talk first about the extension that happens at the spine and shoulders to create that gorgeous curve appearance.
Our spinal extensors and gluteal muscles are responsible for extending the spine so the bottom arm can also extend and wrap behind the pole in our closed Allegra. Without these muscles our Closed Allegra wouldn’t exist, and we still use them a lot in our Open Allegra too! And it is our triceps, lat dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, posterior deltoid and teres major muscles that help to extend the arm whilst the pec, bicep, and anterior deltoid lengthen under load. Great active control is required in both our shoulder extensor and spinal extensor muscles to hold our Allegra position.
Spinal Rotation
As already alluded to, spinal rotation this is a huge requirement for our Allegra! We just need it. And most of it comes from our thoracic spine. Did you know our spinal rotation is controlled by a range of muscles including our obliques, quadratus lumborum, our spinal extensors, rhomboids, trapezius and even our latissimus dorsi?
So, if you want to improve your Allegra aesthetics, focus on a number of thoracic rotation and hip external rotation exercises to build up your range of motion.
Shoulder Extension
And lastly, our shoulders require a good amount of active and passive extension to be able to continue the line of our thoracic extension curve and reach behind the pole to grab our foot. This movement is controlled by latissimus dorsi, teres minor and our tricep muscles (pictured above).
Ugh. It hurts.
Yes, yes it does. An Allegra can feel pretty nasty when first learning due to skin contact. However there are some pains in our Allegra that are just, not okay. Starting with pain around the rib/thoracic region.
Now, an Allegra can really be uncomfortable for some. When performing this move it’s important that we work on moulding our body around the pole by focusing on active rotation and spinal extension. If we keep our spine rounded we present our bones to pole and that can be uncomfortable. So instead focus on actively extending through the spine.
Additionally, ensure you have a strong inside leg hook and good spinal rotation to reduce the pressure on the ribcage. Not sure how to improve this and reduce your pain? Reach out to our online team where we can help you overcome this nemesis move.
Got a question about your Allegra? Lacking spinal rotation? Or just struggling to make an Allegra entry work for you? Then make sure you touch base with our rehab and strengthening team to help you out.
Online telehealth appointments can be booked with the Pole Physio via our ‘Book Online’ page that can be found here. Assessment and tailored rehabilitation are provided in accordance with best practice and evidence-based treatment to help you unleash your 'poletential'.
Until next time, train safe.
The Pole Physio
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An Allegra should ONLY be undertaken if your instructor has deemed you ready to work on this trick. This information is general advice only and we are not liable for any injuries that may occur during training.
This page has been created to provide wonderful knowledge with the pole community and sharing of this page to pole friends and pole related Facebook groups is actively encouraged.
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