Hooping.org Magazine

Good Vibe Hoop Tribe in full effect!

Tonight the Venice Beach hoop expanded a bit to include a good eight or so of us. At Kandice's bidding, a five of us stood in a line, arm's distance apart from each other, and then we passed five hoops, vertical-stepthrough style, from one end of the line to the other. SO COOL! The goal was to get it synchronized...not sure if we succeeded, especially when we tried to go left-to-right (which I can't do very well). Oh well. It was fun to try choreographed group hooping.

Naturally, it was the one time I forgot to bring my camera to the beach with me.

Two Hoop Groups Beat As One

The String Cheese Incident has been here in San Francisco doing a number of shows at the Warfield. As a result someone decided to organize a pre-show hooping event in Golden Gate Park and the email she sent out was forwarded on to me. I may or may not be a String Cheese fan (I've actually never heard their music), but I decided to show up and share the joy of hooping. The woman who organized the event never made it, but about a dozen of us were there. It turned out that my new best friends, Missy and Michele, were also promoting their hooping group called BAH - Bay Area Hoopers - and that this was, in essence, their first event. I laughed and told them that I had been a part of starting BAH - also called Bay Area Hoopers, and that we have been hooping every weekend in and around San Francisco for a few months now. The end result: BAH and BAH will merge to form a new hoop group called, you guessed it, BAH. We're very excited about it!

There are a few differences between them and us though. Their hooping history has up until this point been focused on smaller, or more traditional hoops while we're into larger, oversized ones. They also play a real mix of music. I expected to listen to String Cheese, but instead we listened to The Cramps, Chris and Cosey, I think some reggae. The original BAH is driven primarily by trance and breaks. Making an appearance today also was Natalie who found us as a result of this website.

I have little doubt that BAH and BAH will be happy as BAH and that much hooping will come to the Bay as a result. If you're in the Bay Area and you want to join us for some hooping, keep your eye on the calendar page for upcoming events.

Seattle Hooping

Here's a little video of me hooping at Gasworks Park (335 .mpg). Everything was going just fine until that LAST toss. I blame the passing dogwalker.

The Biggest Hoop

This weekend in Seattle, Holly (better known as the Divine Miss H, leader of the variety show madness at Conor Byrne every Tuesday) brought out the biggest hoop I've ever seen. It was probably 8 feet in diameter. Amazing!

Here's a little vid of Tim playing with it (335 .mpg).

My first hooping video

Two fellow hoopers, Aimee and Donovan, had a fabulous party Saturday night. At least twelve hoops were among the party guests, enough to go around. After a few hours of hooping and dancing, Aimee brought out a hoop decorated with photon lights as a special surprise treat. Donovan shot a video of me trying out the photon'ed hoop. Watch Video

USPS sucks

I am deeply disappointed by my local Post Office and other local mail carriers. Next week is my friend Starrie's birthday, and I wanted her to have a hoop. So I made her a beautiful, gigantic fluorescent green and pink hoop. It turned out gorgeous, I think. When you're hooping with it, it feels like a flash of light is chasing around you because it's so bright. After painstakingly but lovingly wrapping it in packing paper and packing tape, I was even able to squeeze it into the trunk of my tiny car.

I went to the post office, the wrapped hoop in tow. When I walked in, one of the postal clerks said "Where do you think you're sending that?" "To Virginia!" I replied. He said that that wasn't going to fly. The other postal clerk on duty was a little more courteous and looked up how much it was going to cost me to ship my "oversize" package. About $120.

So I dragged my hoop and myself out of there and drove to my local mom & pop UPS/FedEx store, Jensen's Mail & Copy. There is a really nice guy that works there who had helped me several times before, and I knew he wasn't going to let me down. But alas, he wasn't working that day. The guy that was working was about as helpful as the first postal clerk. He even went so far as to insult me by saying "It's just a hula hoop, right? I really don't think it will be worth it." He was not willing to accept my shipment at all and didn't even quote me a price.

So for now, the beautiful fluorescent green and pink hoop will have to stay with me until I find an alternate way of getting it to Starrie. I wonder: How does Anah charge shipping and handling of only $10?

Burning Man Hoop Camp

It was suggested at a party last night that we start a Burning Man Hula Hoop Camp. I probably won't be going to Burning Man, and it's probably too late to organize this for this year anyway, but this might be something to think about for next year. Can you imagine? A full camp dedicated to hooping! There will be hoops everywhere. The Playa will be crawling with hoops! We could even have hoop-making hours. People could bring tape, wire, cloth and other pretty materials and decorate away! I think this is definitely an idea worth considering. Thanks for bringing it up, Jill!

Update: check the forums for more information!

Hoop Allure

by Amy Leblanc

One of the most interesting aspects of hooping is the reaction from bystanders and observers. For example, here are a couple of memorable encounters I've had:

While hooping it up at Club 6 with Ariel and Vera, I got thirsty. Waiting at the bar with my hoop for a tall cool glass of ice water (it's important to stay hydrated!), a SF hipster approached me. "So," he said, smirking. "Do you mean to tell me that there's some sort of, like, underground hula hooping movement that I don't know about?" I smiled, and replied simply, "Yes!"

While hooping in Ghirardelli square with Vera, Wendy, and Philo, a middle-aged Asian woman with a small girl approached me. She was very interested in my hoop and wanted to know where to get one. She had bought one for her little girl, she explained, but uses it herself. "200 times every morning!" she proudly announced. "It is very good exercise, and I do it every day!" Since children's hoops are often too small and light for adults, she wanted to know where to get a larger size hoop for herself, such as the ones we had, and so I explained to her where to find the tubing in the area, and gave her a list of online resources as well.

The SF Bay Area Hoopers have been filmed and photographed countless times by curious tourists, and the word is definitely spreading about the multiple benefits and joys of hooping. No matter where you are practicing, even if it's just at your local park on a sunny afternoon, people stop, watch, and often make comments or ask questions. I've gotten several "I haven't seen one of those since the 50's!" comments from smiling senior citizens, and of course, children always LOVE to stand and gawk. Other common questions include:

"Where did you get that?"
"Do you practice a lot?"
"Does that hurt?" (often asked when hooping around the neck)
"Are you in the circus?"
"Are you a street performer?"
"Are you going to Burning Man?"
"Is this a new thing …or … and old thing?"
"Why are you doing that?"
"Where can I get one?"
and, of course "Can I try?"

This last question is always welcome, and it's wonderful to see people's faces light up when you hand over your hoop, and even if they don't quite get it the first few tries, they are always laughing and smiling afterward.

Finally, the allure of hooping has brought several hoopers unexpected invitations to perform at both public and private events. Recently, the Bay Area Hoopers were invited to hoop at a birthday party, and other hoopers have been invited to hoop at clubs and other events in the area. Some hoopers are a little nervous about "performing" (as opposed to practicing) in public places, while others love the attention. Either way, hoopers are out and about at almost any public event these days, and the allure attracts more and more every day!

Break on through

On Sunday I met up with Vera at Potrero del Sol to listen to her friends DJ and to hoop it up. Our first item of business was new tape for our hoops. The tape on mine was pretty shot and by the time we were done we both felt our hoops were fresh and rejuvenated. It's amazing how all those little tears and ridges add up after a while in the discomfort department too - so with fresh new tape it was smooth sailing.


Maybe that's why we finally had a breakthrough on the step through trick we've both been working on. I was telling her how close I was to getting it when it suddenly happened. A few minutes later Vera did it for the first time as well. By the end of the day I was going through back and forth relatively easily. Don't believe us? Click on either of the images to pop-up little animated gifs of each of us breaking on through to the other side.

If you're on dial-up it will take a little while for the animations to load. As for the accomplishment and ownership of a new trick, I think I can speak for both of us when I say it definitely felt like a rite of passage.

Kids vs. Grown Ups

Last night I brought my hoop to a concert down at the Santa Monica pier, and ended up hanging out with a little girl named Zoyla, who was an instant magician with the hoop tricks. This lead me to muse on what it is about children that they can pick up a hoop and instantly start working the magic, where-as adults are constantly deferring, "Oh no, I can't do it. I can't." The strange thing is that often, these adults are initially right! Where-as I've NEVER seen a child pick up a hoop and not be able to rock it on the first try, I have seen more than a few adults totally unable to keep the hoop up…at least until they get the hang of it.

I realize that this is an obvious question, but I'd love to hear some obvious answers: why is it so hard for grown-ups to hoop? This little girl was picking up tricks the first time I showed them to her — tricks that took me an hour or two to figure out.

Is it that we, as adults, find it just so improper to swing our hips? Is it that we're so convinced that was CAN'T do it that we don't?

Hooping again

Two weeks ago I took a very unplanned break from hooping. I was mugged and ended up with a head injury and a hairline skull fracture. Simply walking around was bad enough at first, but I've been healing so quickly I decided to meet up with Bay Area Hoopers at Potrero del Sol on Sunday. We chose the location hoping it would bring the sun that was most definitely missing. It was great to be hooping again, even if I did end up quitting early and heading home dizzy and nauseous.

"The Matrix"

Tonight down at the Monday Night Circus Hoop on Venice Beach, Kandice showed off a new trick she's been working on (330KB .mpg). I'd never seen anything like it! We called it "The Matix," since it's almost like bullet-time hooping! (Apologies for the crappy video quality. That's the best my camera can do. Oh well.)

High Sierra Reports?

I'd love to hear from anyone who attended High Sierra. Anah said that it was a total hooper's heaven, and it kills me to have missed it. If you were in attendance and feel like sharing your experience, please hop onto the forums and tell us how it went! Did anyone attend the Mystery Moon hoop workshops? Anyone have any photos? Those of us who weren't able to make it would love to see and hear how it went.

The Potrero Hill Hoop Factory

San Francisco has a new hoop maker - me! I had to drive all the way to Livermore to buy two coils (200 feet total) of 3/4 inch Polyethylene plumbing tubing at Lowe's, but it was well worth it. I followed Jason's hoop making instructions and made my first two hoops within an hour and a half.

Click the link to read more about how two two-toned hoops sprang to life...

The infamous, hard-to-get tubing. While hoopers are using this tubing for hoop-making, other people are apparently using it for plumbing purposes...

First you cut the tubing to your desired hoop size. Per Jason's recommendation, I used a ratcheting PVC cutter - the most expensive part of my hoop-making shooping spree.

Here is the cut piece of tube. I'm not sure exactly how long this piece is, but it's on the smaller side.

Here is a 3/4 inch connector, which will be used to hold the tube together in a circle. This is also known as a coupling.

Again, ever compliant with Jason's instructions, I used a blow-dryer to soften the ends of the tube so that they would yield to the connector coming in. In this picture, the connector is waiting patiently on the bathroom rug while I blow-dry.

I have completed the circle! Once the two ends have hardened again, they fit the connector very snugly.

Now the hoop is ready to be decorated. The picture shows the beginning of the solid layer of bright blue electrical tape.

The finished first layer. It took quite a while to tape up the entire hoop.

I chose complementary colors for maximum contrast. The hoop is finished!

Then I made another one for my roommate! White and violet.

This photo series wouldn't be complete without an action shot! Here are my roommate and I giving our new hoops a spin in front of our house.

Side note: As you can see in one of the pictures, the raw tubing had labeling all over one side of it, so I covered each hoop in its entirety with one color first before applying a second color. I rather like the result: a solid layer of one color and candy cane stripes of another color.

This was fun. I cannot wait to open the hoop factory again tomorrow!

Hoop and light performance

Tonight I saw a hoop performance at the Red Eye Lounge in San Francisco. It was part of a group performance, which included glowstick dancing by Angelica, poi by Jill and Shaina, and hooping by Aimee. It was fantastic. Each of these girls did an incredible job at mesmerizing the audience with their glowing animated gear.

Angelica dances with glowsticks. Her contentment was contagious.

No, these aren't hoops! They are poi. On the left: Shaina. On the right: Jill.

Aimee hoops. What you can't see very well here is that the hoop was decorated with EL wire, which made for a very cool effect.

And this is what the EL-wired hoop looked like without the flash!

The Tubing

As many of you probably know, Jason has some fabulous instructions on how to make your own hoops. You may also know that it can be impossible to find the necessary tubing. I know that both Amy and Ariel have looked all over Northern and Southern California within the last six months and simply couldn't find it anywhere. But recently some people have been more successful. Paisley the other day reported on the hooping.org forums that she found the tubing at Lowe's. Then, just yesterday, Kate mentioned in her blog that she found all the supplies at Home Depot and has crafted her first hoop! This makes me wonder if right now might not be the perfect season for the particular irrigation tubing that Jason recommends for hoop making. Perhaps a visit to my neighborhood Home Depot is in order.

Seven great reasons to take your hoop everywhere you go

1. Smiles. Hooping makes people smile. Not only does it put a smile on your face, but it also makes passers-by smile, no matter where you are. It might be the childhood memories, or it might be just seeing how much fun you're having with your hoop. Either way, the hoop is a great way to spread positivity!

2. Recruit new hoopers. Many people who see you with your hoop will want to try it out. After dropping it for the first time, they usually pick it right back up and try again. Get them hooked! Invite them to your next gathering!

3. Conversation piece. Your hoop is a great conversation starter. People love to come up and say "I remember those!" or ask "How do you do that?" Your hoop is sure to make you some new friends, and who knows, you might even get a date or two out of it.

4. Mood booster. If you have ever had the hoop going around your body, you know that it instantly lifts your spirits. If you always had your hoop close by, you could hoop it up every time you're feeling down or tired. If you're at work, for example, and that 3 o'clock latte is beckoning, a five minute hooping session would be just as effective as a latte at getting you back up to speed.

5. Exercise and stretch. Don't have the time or motivation to exercise before or after work? Feel like you get stiff and tense sitting in that chair all day? Get out your hoop whenever you feel like you could use a break. It beats walking to the copy machine and back.

6. Easy access. Sometimes, when I'm in my car or some place else that's nowhere near my hoop, I remember a certain trick I have seen on a website or at a gathering somewhere that I have been wanting to try. If you take your hoop everywhere you go, you will be able to try it instantly. No more missed chances or forgotten tricks!

7. Be famous. If you like to have your picture taken by strangers, hoop in public! People who aren't familiar with hooping will think you're a performer, an acrobat. And they just have to bring home a picture of those crazy people with the hoops they saw at the subway station today.

Video Roundup

Seeing what other hoopers are doing is a great way to learn and expand your hooping knowledge base. Here are a few videos from around the web that let you take a peek into the lives of your fellow revolutionaries:

• The Halloween Hooper (Windows Media Player)
Funny horror spoof produced for String Cheese's "Hulaween" show last year. Not many tricks, but funny.

• Centrifugal Force Demo Reel (Windows Media Player)
A quick peek at what the NYC hoopers are up to! Amazing tricks.

• Mystery Moon Hoop Class (Windows Media Player)
AWESOME TRICKS! Makes me really want to take a class with these cats.

• Gathering of the Tribes hoop workshop (340 KB .mpg)
A 15 second clip of some of us hooping at the hoop workshop at GoTT. For photos, check the photo gallery.

• There are also some of my personal hooping videos online...this one (615KB .exe file) from last August, this one (1.3MB .avi file) from last November, this good one from June (40MB .mov file), and then this not so good one from June (40MB .mov file). Nothing better than making an ass of yourself for all the web to see!

If you know of hooping videos online, post a comment! In addition, if you have a webcam and want to make a hooping video but need somewhere to host it, let me know. I have room for it.

Hooping @ Burning Man

Forum discussions have already started in preparation for Burning Man next month! Get registered on the hooping.org forums and let us know if you plan to be heading out to the Playa this year.