i agree! the collapsibles just seem a bit unsteady/wobbly, and the joints kind of stretch after a while. they are definitely not as smooth as a standard. but when you're packing for a trip and want to hoop on the beaches of Thailand, they hit the spot!

GREAT job on the page, everyone!

Hello all...Ariel great job this will be such a great resource for the community!
About High Sierra, I was contracted to teach a hooping class each night of the festival on the lawn from 6pm to 7pm. I am really excited about this opportunity to take our New York City classes on the road! Any hoopers that are going to be there I encourage you to come and join the hoop-troupe! One of the many great things about hooping is sharing....sharing tricks...sharing lessons....sharing your joy! So come one come all....teach...be taught and enjoy with the hoop troupe.
If you want to see a video of what our class is all about go to:
www.mysterymoon.com/2003/hoopclass.wmv

Hope to see all your smiling faces there!

wow! this sounds very exciting, and already the ideas are well formed! does anyone have a general idea WHERE this might take place, as that would help people in deciding how much they could contribute or what Pods they'd like to sign up for.....

I think somewhere in there it mentioned LA as the anticipated location? I'll emphasize that text. :)

Hi yes, we (kandice bishop) and I who wrote up this idea were thinking of Los Angeles as the location for the event.

thats so true !

tonight , i was sad so i hooped just a few minutes and i felt better.

and i sure nuff have been video taped hooping at a concert :)

"Get them hooked! Invite them to your next gathering!"

This cracks me up, Vera. It's some where between a delightful cult leader, and a hoop pusher, luring folks in with "the first one's always free!" I love it. The eerie thing is that there's not much work invovled in hooking someone...people who try hooping just light up with, well, FUN! What's not to love about that?

darn westcoasters! - lol
well it sounds fun , maybe it will go "rainbow gathering" on us and there will be wild hoopers in a different national forest ever month. :)

The Mystery video was for their "Hoop It Up" hooping class. It's about 2 minutes long. I got it working by copying the link and loading it directly in Windows Media Player. It looked pretty cool, especially the hoops with glowing bits when they turned the lights out!

Ooh, great tip, Jason!

What a cool video! I especially like the trick at about 0:47...the low hoop horizontal step-through. VERY cool.

And Philo and I tried attaching glow necklaces lenthwise along our hoops at the Moontribe 10 year...it looked neat, but made me sea sick if I looked down at my hoop going around me.

I picked up 300 feet of the tubing and all of the other supplies at Home Depot. It was the first place I checked and I am so glad I did. I convinced my mom that making hoops would be great as a birthday present for me. She was hesitant at first but now she macks three hoops at once and could not be happier!

I bring them to any outdoor party that I go to. Everyone loves them and has such a good time. I even took an order at the last birthday party I went to.

Good call, Vera. Irrigation tubing is very much seasonal, and Christmas time (when I was hunting for it before) may have been a bad time to find it.

i found all my supplies in earily spring but i am in florida so it may just be differance in area also ..
it is awesome to have all the hoops you would like right in your gasp .. just cut to size, connect the ends and tape :)

The tubing I bought at Home Depot was in a 100' pre-cut roll. They also had 300' rolls and could cut custom lengths. No matter how much you bought, the 1" diameter tubing was 19 cents/foot. They also had 3/4" tubing.

That's cool, Vera! Stefan would love the blue and yellow one. Will you make one for me, too?! kisses from Cologne, Bianca

wow those hoops are great. Where did you find that cool purple tape? i can only find boring colours.
jane

I got the tape at Lowe's too.

That's so cool you can put a little video on the net just like that. Her trick was awesome! I'm so glad I got to meet you guys--you're all so good! It rubbed off on me a bit...I feel like I made quite a bit of progress on my own stuff. Oh and thanks for emailing me those pics. I'll get mine going tomorrow :)

Good for you, Philo. Look at that triumphant pose, too! Ain't no mugger gonna keep YOU down.

hooray philo , keep getting well :)
i was wondering where you were .

:fall on floor in awe:

sweet!

I live in SF and have begun hooping.
I have a couple of hoops, and I have some basic skills. Many of my friends spin poi or the staff. But no one hoops!!! I would love to meet others who can teach and inspire me.
Are there any gatherings coming up? How might I find out about them? Are there any classes that you're aware of?Thanks!

I think it is a combination of both of those thoughts. I also think that many adults swing those hips once and let it fall. I have to remind them that they must continue to swing those hips - one time just won't do the trick.

Yes, but WHY do adults only swing those hips once? Is it because it feels somehow dirty? Is it because they just don't understand how hoops work? Why do kids inherently know to keep swinging, and grown ups dont?

The Bay Area Hoopers meet every week or two, and while it's not a class by any means, it's a great way to go and play and pick some things up. Check out the event calendar for the next BAH group hoop!

It was one of the most exciting moments of my hooping career so far!

BTW, I love the way you grin at the camera in the end, Philo! :)

yay!!

beautiful walk-through. i'm so grateful to you for showing me this trick, philo. even just learning the phrase so i can say it, "walk-through" has enriched my life immeasurably. i'm sure i will find a way to slip it into unrelated casual conversation with non-hoopers everywhere!

i'm grateful to have met you and vera last night at aimee's. you're both such graceful hoopers. you took me to school!

your fan,
seth

Do you think you would be able to post it if it was smaller beacuse when i have to put my hoops in the car i un connect the pipe conector and then curl it up in to loops. if that makes any sense it makes my hoops at least half the size you might have to tape it up to hold it in the loops.
jane

Usually lots of hooping going on at Omars Otter Oasis on the last Sunday night, I will be there probably hooping naked or in a sarang. I would love to see a whole camp of hoopers, I think a lot of people already have their own thing going on, but a hooping camp would get tons of visits!
Make Hoops Not War! -Ian

Jane - that's a great idea. I'll try it next time.

Anah has, in the past, had a special deal with a mom n pop shop in her neighborhood. Also: she doesn't wrap them into a solid flat circle: she only wraps the piping -- does that make sense? It's like it's taped with packing paper. That said, she's been having some serious shipping issues lately, too, as has Christabel.

woo! i made one a few weeks ago about that big - i love it!

There will be a hula camp already: House of the Holy Hoop. We'll be at 5:10 and esplanade; part of Sanctuary. Come on by any time! We'll be the ones with the teepee.

i have a photo of my 1st. hoop from anah before i unwrapped it ..

http://www.paisleyjane.com/gallery/album01

awesome , girl!!

I'm so glad to hear of the house of the holy hoop! Any chance the camp will have extra supplies for making hoops or extra hoops to borrow? (I'd be glad to barter something for it.) I'm coming from the east coast and I'm not sure if I'll be able to travel with a hoop.

oh! i so wish i could have made it, but did not get back from Santa Cruz in time :( i want a glowy hoop!!

anyone: where can i get the long strands of glowing stuff to attach to my hoop???

burning man next year: i'm there!

You can order EL wire online.

The shipping nightmare seems to be amplifying on every side of the nation. I had a "tried and true" post office an hour and a half away, but at least they would send hoops USPS wrapped in bronw paper with no problem. Unfortunately when I last went in a manager intercepted my trasnaction and said no way. There is one post office which is letting me send hoops, but they are slamming each one with what he called a $20 balloon charge (on top of the $8 or so bucks it costs by weight). I called Federal Express and the size limitations are exceeded by my hoops, as in UPS. Both recommended I contact their freight companies, which gave me outlandish quotes as high as $400 per hoop!!! So, it has been a serious wake up call. The only solution I can think of is to either make a smaller hoop or collapsibles. Unfortunately, the connectors I use cannot be easily dis and reinserted -- which I actually like. I like a solid circle. I guess I could locate different connectors. I am not really motivated to make collapsibles, but I see little other alternative. I am sort of coasting through loosing a bit of money on shipping until USPS shuts down my shipping completely. Meanwhile I am investigating other alternatives which I will share if any bear fruit. Postal blessings,
christabel

Anah had a heckuva time sending mine to me in Spokane. We finally ended up sending it via Greyhound--they don't seem to have a problem with the size. You can call them or visit the website for pricing ideas.

Wow! I am just floored by the hooping talent of The Good Vibe Hoop Tribe. It was a day to always remember. Thank you, beautiful hoop Goddesses, for such a wonderful evening on the beach. And the Sunset was the icing on the cake.

I came up with this one during a firedancing practice one wonderful night on the beach. The trick is to practice with a 'chubby' hoop (a two-person hoop) first, then move into the smaller ones. I call it the "duck, tuck, and roll-around".

The Good Vibe Hoop Tribe will be at Burning Man with bells on. Unfortunately, it is too late for us to register as a camp, but we will be all over the playa. And if everything works out, we'll even have a mobile hooping stage as part of an 'art car'. You can also find some major fire hoop action at The Gate's Village, two streets back from center camp.

Just as with any type of learning- children are more able to learn things quickly just by watching and imitating what they see over and over again (this is called Conditioning). You know the saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks', well that is true to a certain extent. Adults can't learn a language as quickly as a 5 or 6 year old can. Children instictually imitate, adults are stuck in thier ways. An adult might look at the hoop and say "this is kids stuff, I can't do that", while a child will pick it up and say "wow, this is so cool, I can do it". And from the mouths of babes we all learn about the power of positive speech. Besides, if a larger and heavier hoop is easier for an adult to move, imagine how much easier it is for a child to move it.

glad you made it there Philo! i had ever intention.... but was home sick that morning :(

i can't wait for the next newly expanded BAH gathering!!

ditto joy's question--i've been having problems finding 1" poly-tubing and would love it if any camp or group was bringing materials for a hoop creation station.

I would love to contribute some fire hoop pictures to the gallery, let me know if that is possible. Also, anyone can look up thedesertdragons.com for some photos and you can see LOTS OF THEM (of Kandice and Christeen) on fireplay.org.

The gallery is open for ANYONE to post -- so feel free to upload photos! Just follow the instructions here.

I've been have difficulty finding the right materials in Texas for hoops. Is 3/4" or 1" polyethylene tubing preferred? As TX is the home of the sprinkler systen, you'd think it would be easy to find!

The collapsable hoop I purchased from Anah looks to be 3/4". That's all I can find at the home supply stores. Although, I haven't looked for polypropylene as of yet. Any suggestions?

thanks!

Hi Julia,

Everybody really needs to decide for themselves if they prefer 3/4" or 1" tubing. I, for instance, prefer 3/4" while Philo is very smitten with his 1" hoop. A 1" hoop is heavier and thus probably easier to handle for beginners, but it also gives you bigger bruises. :) And people who are used to the 1" will find the 3/4" hoop too flimsy... It's really up to you. But in more general terms, both 3/4" and 1" work very well.

As for where to get polypropylene, I would think that it's available at the same stores that sell the polyethylene tubing since my friend with the "flabby" hoop went out to look for polyethylene but polypropylene was all she could find... Home improvement and gardening stores are the way to go, either way, I would suggest. Good luck!

Beautiful to read this comment. I really think that there are many of us hoop birds of different feathers ... some of us shine when we perform, others shine when we teach, others shine when we silently and quietly craft.... I often feel awkward "performing" hooping for others. If I am off in a zone hooping and someone catches a glimpse it is cool, but gawkers who refuse to try always make me say, "hooping is not a spectator sport". Share the joy!

YaY!
I just ran across this...
I am so excited for the birth of BAH...
Sunday was just incredible with the merger and we couldnt have had better folks or weather. Life is good.

oh! that just gave me a bunch of ideas for statues to put my hoop in here in berkeley! :) yay!

i don't understand how you can spin 95 hoops at once?!?

i think i can beat that 10 hour record from 1976.

Wow. That wins as, like, hooping shot of the week or something!

ok, so i've been jumping on my bed and hooping. does someone have a trampoline i can try? my real goal (within a year) is inverted hooping, has anyone done it?

I have recently uncovered this art while in a higher state at the North Country Fair. I decided to take it up and while most practice long hours, i picked it up in mere hours.

This is a beautiful, rounded way to express your sexual creativity and rythmic composure.

Do you think buying one or making one is the best way to start.....?

I made mine out of 1" PVC piping

excellent post, and yay! to all the new hoopers!

BAH is going to take over the wooooorld! :)

so when is the next BAH gathering in the city?

Not this Sunday, but probably the Sunday after that. This Sunday we'll be in Berkeley again.

People's park! come join us, and the rest of the berkeley community hanging out on Telegraph.... :)

I'm at Burning Man for the next two Sundays so happy hooping y'all. Gerard, if you (or anyone) wants to be updated on where BAH is meeting each week, join the email list. A link to it is located under Events in the sidebar.

what is the longest time of hola hooping for a Kid under the age of 15

Nipple height. That's good.

Excellent demonstration of how hoop size needs to be relative to body size!

Wait - how'd he DO that?!

aww

I need to find myself an adult version of that outfit. =D

that is SO CUTE!!!

guess it doesnt do much in the weighloss department.
I tried to start hooping thinking it would be like bellydancing a whittle away a waistline, but to no avail.

Looking at others pictures, I see the same is true for the females.

but it's so cute when you scream girl :P

I've been a member there for nearly two years, I think. Sorry I never blogged about it over here...and thank you for bringing it up, Vera!

That was right outside the Bluehouse dome! I spent a lot of time hooping there, although that is not me. :)

that is just wonderful! makes me long for hanging out with good folks :)

Hey, glad you're back, Ariel!! I'm sure you'll have lots of hooping news and pictures. :)

I can't see the pictures! Am I doing something wrong?

Hi Ariel! Welcome back! You can't see the thumbs or the pop-ups? Both are working for me.... Did you come to the main page or through a permalink?

jason rules!!!! :)

i love my new hoop.

That loks like so much fun!! I wish there were more hoopers in the midwest!

And those are massive rolls of tape...where'd you find them? I've only been able to find the small rolls...

I can't see the thumbnails or the photos in either Mozilla or IE, from either the main page OR the permalink. Mysterious!

Wow. Woo-fucking-hoo!

Valerie: Most of the tape we used was from identi-tape.com.

Ariel: That's really strange. I can see them fine too.

Oh. My. Goodness!

hi,
where do you get the black pvc pipe? i've been to four hardware stores in SF including Home Depot stores in Colma. all i can find are the water filled ones from toys r us. please help.

thanks

A-ha, Gerard, welcome to the plight that almost every hoop-maker-to-be has been through. The piping is, um, sort of hard to get. The closest you can get it right now is Lowe's in Livermore.

Hi.. The site says no image to display!! Is it me or are they not up??

Have you registered as a gallery user? As I said in the post, the Burning Man gallery is not visible to non-registered gallery viewers. Register here. Then you should be able to view the photos. If not, then let me know.

working now!!!!!! NOw I've gotta check 'em out!

Great shots. It looks like fun! I love the first shot with the bike. She's got it going on!

I want to hear more about this hoop wedding. What was that all about?

POLY BUTALINE POLY BUTALINE POLY BUTALINE!!!

Polybutaline comes in rolls so it is already round, relativly soft but firm enough to hold GREAT shape! I have a source that ships CHEAP!
CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFO!

That first shot w/ the hoop in tow isn't a she...that's a He. That is a picture of Stevie Turner with his Porta Party

The hooper wedding was a ceremony where a group of us got "handfasted" to our hoops and the hoop community. Stefan will have some video of it at some point. :)

HE'S got it going on then! It's hard to see with the umbrella!

Thanks for always bringing extras, Jason, and having turned me into a Saturn!

Watching this transformation is the best part of hooping!

these photos are so awesome; i can't WAIT to get out on the playa with my hoops next year!!!

Thanks for bringing those hoops to Power to the Peaceful, Jason - I'm a hooping convert & ready to convert others!

i'd like to check out the photos

Cube hooping! Awesome!

we missed you, vera!

I'm sure the baby was loving the hoop!

I just turned 15 yesterday and the day before that, when i was 14, i hula hooped for 12min 11 seconds and then had to go in for dinner, not sure if that is anywhere near the record for under 15 but thats my personal best (the 2nd time i've ever timed myself)

my 5 yr old sis hoops with my hoop that goes up to her chin and i dont know where i can find a hoop that is nipple hight for me when that one comes up about 2 in above my belly button.

Andy, the quickest way to find a hoop of ANY size is to make one.
http://www.jasonunbound.com/hoops.html

That said, if a hoop that comes up to your belly button works for you -- GO WITH IT! :)

I'd be curious to hear if anyone has any experiences with hooping and pregnancy.

I'm a little embarassed to say so, but I'm thinking of buying this just because I've been lusting after collapsible hoops for awhile and that'd be a steal! Anyone seen one of these and know their actual size and whether they'd be practical for hooping?

i've seen those on ebay :)

Ok, I admit it. I ordered one, alright? Yes, I'm a total fag - and I actually am - so I can say that. I'll let you know when it arrives.

What fun that handfasting was. :) Great first post, Stefan! (Ladies and gents, Stefan is our newest hooping.org contributor!)

If anyone has any trouble opening the video files, trying opening Windows Media Player, selected "Run URL" from the file menu, and then entering the URL of the video. Works for me!

Also, don't forget that there are lots of Burning Man photos in the gallery, including shots of the Center Camp performance!

Scott, like I said in the post, all you need to do is register for a gallery account and login.

Thanks so much for posting all those videos! It's a small consolation for not having been there.

Ah, Brother Stefan - That was so sweet. It's great to have you here! (And we need to get some video of you up here, too!)

wooo! philo!
confession is good for you :)
ain't nuttin' wrong with ordering that..

thank you sweet boy!
not only was the hooping beautiful
but seeing the folks i have only hear of /seen photos of made them so much more real to me!
thank God for hula hoops! :)

i am NOT a hippie! :P but i am a geek and a blogger, so....

if there's a category i think i'm in, and one you missed, it's the yogi hoopers! those of us who do it for the meditative / physical benefits more than anything else, and could care less if there's music or other people involved. hooping can be a seriously meditative experience, and i urge EVERYONE to try it alone, in a quiet, empty space, and just let the mind and body go....

i was hoping someone from BAH would order one so we could all check it out! cool.

Those are great videos! Now I can try to work on more tricks. :) Though I don't think I'll ever get that "pick up the leg" thing...damn! Thanks for posting the videos!

Actually, I'd say I'm mutt-tastic. While my hippie non-profit energy working life grooves on a rave dance community ethic, I'm back from the Burn and hooping it up yogi style again. While my hooping may have been born in Geekville, though I bought the domain here and said let's start it, it's really the rest of me that connects with hooping far more than my flimsy self taught coding skills. ARF!

Sure if we have to be assigned to a group, hippy Hooper is fine with me...after all "Whats so funny about peace, love and understanding?"

fun stuff!
i don't mind being called a hippie .
im a mosiac hippie hooper :)
made up of random mix-match loves and likes ..some "hippie" , some not but it's all good . LOL

Hi Stefan, Thank you for the post! I wish I could have been part of all those magical moments! My heart was w/y'all though. And I did get some hooping in that weekend, on a slender dock (!) sticking out into the ocean at a pre-wedding Luau-themed party. I converted at least one new hooper! ;o) I miss all you Bay Area Hoopers even though I've only met y'all once. I'll be back as soon as my weekends free up the end of October. This break is probably good for me anyhow as I've been really laying off the hooping due to a hip joint injury. Anyhow, happy hooping to y'all! Love, Antonia

WOW. I am so curious! Haven't even checked the price but might just have to go in on one for the sheer novelty and "documented" fitness gauges. Beautifully ridiculous. Can't wait to show it off to the folks who ask, "probably good exercise, huh?"

We've got the same thing in our garage. It was intended to hold the soft-top for my mom's Jeep, in the winter...but this summer its been perfect for my hoops! I'm thinking I might do some kind of wall display in my bathroom/bedroom this winter since the rack will have the jeep-top on it again.

There was a conversation in the hooping.org forums about storing hoops, too: read it over here.

I am nine years old and last night I hula hooped for 45 minutes . I could of went longer but I had to go to the bathroom. When I was eight I had a record of 30 minutes.

As Anah pointed out to me at HSMF, knee hooping takes on a whole new level once you're able to use both legs to control the hoop. Initially, when hooping around my knees, I would only use my right leg to keep the hoop going while keeping the left leg still.

When you start using both legs you can dance around while keeping the hoop around your knees.

Once you've got knee hooping down, start working on ankle hooping! I haven't found a lot of tricks you can do once you have ankle hooping down but let me know if you do!

I am a total failure at knee hooping. I can do thigh hooping, but that's about it for this point.

And as for the foot carry? I got that trick from Jen at Hoop Revolution, originally, so it's almost like a game of telephone...travelling along from her, to me, to Seth, to Jason...and ONWARD!

i now have yogi hooping photos!

http://www.amyleblanc.com/index.php?id=P455

:)

Yes, it's true, spread the word across the land. I can not only knee hoop now, I can bring it up from a dead stop on the ground all the way up with zero hand action boys and girls. I know the secret of the knees - and I'd like to thank Tom specifically, hooping.org and hoopers everywhere for this award. Namaste

Inspired by Philo's success, tonight I spent almost two hours doing knee-work down on the beach with the Monday night group. Anah gave me some tips that really helped (keep your knees not too close together, and drive with the front of one knee AND THE BACK OF THE OTHER!), and after many bruises and fits and starts — I thi