Department: Interviews
Kara Maia Spencer: Inside The Hoop
If hooping is healing then Kara Maia Spencer is one who would know. Kara's been sharing the art of Mandala HoopDance and HoopYoga since 2003 through teaching, performance, demonstrations, and hoop crafting. Our Hooper of the Week is also a bodyworker, birth doula, and healing arts educator. She specializes in CranioSacral Therapy for infants, children, pregnancy, and adults and is the co-founder of Birth Arts International, teaching holistic birth doula, postpartum doula, childbirth education, and perinatal bodywork workshops. Find out more about Kara, hooping and healing in this week's interview.
Having grown up in New Hampshire, she went to school in Olympia, Washington, moved to Seattle to study the healing arts, lived on a farm in Vermont, spent a few more years finding herself and the hoop in Seattle, before moving to Oregon in 2005. She explains, "Eugene is lush and green all year round and we have incredible farmer’s markets. We also have a thriving hoop community which meets regularly for hoop jams at the dojo or spiraling in the park." You might find her partner Rob there as well, who has also taught classes and crafted collapsible hoops for Mandala Hoops over the years. Her son Ari, eight, might also be on the scene.
She explained, "For three years I sold hoops through my website. I retired my hoopcrafting work though as I found myself challenged by repetitive strain injuries in my wrists from taping hundreds of hoops – which has thankfully healed since stopping taping hoops every day, and I downsized my practice hoops to 100 PSI. Now, I offer HoopDance & HoopYoga classes and workshops to groups and events and co-facilitate our local hoop jams."
It all began for her five years ago. Kara informed us, "I hula-hooped as a child, but I became hooked on hooping in 2003 thanks to my friend Ariel Meadow Stallings, a Hooping.org co-founder, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, but had come to Seattle to visit. She hosted a gathering in the park with hooping to see friends while in town. I picked up a large handmade hoop and starting spinning it around my waist at the park that summer day. Ariel taught me my first trick, how to get the hoop from your neck to your waist by getting it going around the neck, then watching the empty space, and lifting one arm than the other. The hoop fell to my waist, and I had an 'A-ha!' moment, where I realized that this was really fun and I could do it."
These days Kara hoops every day. "For years now, I have kept the central space of where I live clear of furniture so I can hoop in my house. People often comment when they walk in my house how open it is. It’s because we are always dancing in the living room."
While it's obvious that hooping has changed her life, I asked her how. She responded, "I’ve met incredible people through hooping, and many of my closest friends are people in which I connected with through hoopdancing, or hoopdancing has strengthened our relationship.
It’s also a great ice-breaker! I love being able to bring hoops to almost any gathering and event and have an activity in which young and old can do, and everyone can have fun doing.
Hooping for me is very meditative, centering, and moving. I find that hooping has helped me to express my creativity to a greater degree and feel empowered in being my own unique individual among the greater hoop of community. Hooping is also transformative, and I feel that my practice of dance, yoga, play, and meditation with the hoop has allowed me to feel peace within myself, despite how crazy and wild and fast the world the world seems around me. The vortex allows me to transmute my emotions of worry, fear, or depression into calm, peace, gratitude, and love."
She continued, "I think this is one of the most important elements the hoop has to offer the world in this day and era, as there is more chaos, oppression, and war in the world than ever before. There is also more hope, more information, and more people than at any other time in our history, and if everyone was able to be at peace with themselves, no matter how fast the world around them seems to be spinning, than maybe we could find a way to heal not only ourselves, but our families, our communities, our nation, and our planet."
A challenge or personal obstacle Kara's currently working is slowing down, letting go, and focusing. She explains, "This is something that I’ve been working with in my life for a while, trying to focus my projects and work to create the most impact with the least amount of work. I see that my hooping reflects this, in my personal hoopdance I’ve been focusing less on tricks and routines, and more on sensing the hoop, being in the flow, and breathing with the hoop. I have been paying a lot of attention to the somatics of hooping, bringing awareness to how movements with the hoop can release restrictions in the spine and increase energy and vitality."
Asking about a favorite hooping memory she noted that her favorite "moments with the hoop are when I become lost in the dance, and there is a feeling of timelessness and peace. This is being in the hoop flow, and it is a place I usually go to when hooping alone with my favorite music. These are the most blissful amazing hoop moments that keep me coming back to the circle for more. There have been exciting moments performing at events, such as with the Girl Circus at the Oregon Country Fair in 2006, all all-female circus with women ages 5 to adult accompanied by a live 10-piece orchestra. I choreographed a hoop performance with myself and two 10-year old girls who were regulars in my hoop classes as part of the circus show. That was a fun show to be a part of."
Currently her favorite hoops are "my set of two hoops that are wrapped in pink, red, orange, purple, and yellow gaffers tape. These hoops are awesome. Because they are all-gaffers tape they just stick to your clothing or skin. Working with these hoops has greatly advanced my leg hooping abilities." Her favorite music to hoop to includes "a wide variety of music from breaks to folk. I like electronic artists such as Eastern Sun, Bluetech, Rena Jones, Daft Punk, Randam Rab and more organic singer-songwriters such as Regina Spektor, Sean Hayes, Brett Dennon, Sia, Mirah, and more."
What quality does she most admire in a hooper? Kara said, "I admire creativity and originality in hoopers. The hoop is a circle, and there is an infinite amount of movement, dance, and play that can be created from the hoop arts. I love seeing people pick up the hoop and start moving with it in their own rhythm, flow, and self-expression. I love seeing the different movements and tricks that people come up with on their own." So what does she see as being her most marked hooping characteristic? She responds, "I’ve been told numerous times that I am a graceful hooper. I think that is because I am enamored with two details. I love spinning and spinning allows you to slow down your movements and control the hoop more smoothly. Also, I like to concentrate on keeping my hoop moving on an even plane – and changing planes smoothly. I’m really fascinated by the sacred geometry of the hoop movement arts. For me hooping is my self-care and I create intentions for myself while hooping."
Is there anything else she wanted Hooping.org readers to know? She told Hooping.org, "At my web site I have information on hoop instruction and a few hooping videos. Also check out Maia Healing Arts where there is all information on all my work including bodywork, birth arts, and workshops."
In closing, if she had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, we asked what would it be? "Smile and look up. Smiling relaxes the jaw, which relaxes the pelvis. It is actually harder to hoop if you are holding your jaw tight. Try it and feel the difference. Also look straight ahead, not down at the hoop. Looking ahead keeps your spine, the axis which the hoop rotates around, straight, whereas if you look down you bend your spine down, encouraging the hoop to fall down more easily. Also, practice, practice, practice, have fun, and it’s easier to learn to hoop with less clothing on!
--------------------------------
You can find out more about Kara Maia Spencer at:
Published on April 25, 2008 | LINK | Comments (1)Heather Crosby: Inside The Hoop
Heather Crosby is the owner of HooperPower Hoopdance in Chicago and also a freelance Art Director and Designer. The 33-year-old who grew up on a horsefarm in Gaithersburg, Maryland, married Noah Tabakin this past September and the hoops were in the house at the wedding with a mesmerizing performance by Bella Fuegas and white and silver hoops for family and friends to use. Crosby's life is centered in the hoop and you can find out more about our Hooper of the Week in this week's interview. Just keep reading.
How did it all begin for Heather? She told Hooping.org, "Well, my first experience with hooping at all was at Burning Man. I saw a captivating fire performance and it intrigued me and kicked up an intense wonder that never went away. On a solo roadtrip about 6 months later, I was listening to a mix my brother made me and a Juno Reactor song called "Conga Fury" came on and I played it over and over, imagining myself hooping with fire. I decided right then that it was something that I had to learn how to do. When I returned to Chicago I found someone to get me started. So my first personal hooping experience was in a class with the lovely KC Ruby Hoop almost five years ago. The second I put the hoop on, it was there to stay. It's been an incredible journey ever since."
With almost five years now spent inside the hoop, she hoops about three hours on weekends, in a class setting, and she tries to find at least two-to-four hours a week for her own personal practice. She explained, "I certainly wish it was more but Chicago winters make it tough. 'Brrr' is an understatement. I'm looking forward to warm weather and hooping with the Chicago hoop community in the parks, and with my pals and husband on our roof which overlooks the city skyline. It is invigorating to hoop up on the roof surrounded by the cars zooming by on the expressway, the lights, the gorgeous buildings - energy all around! I am hopelessly in love with my city."
I asked how hooping has changed her life. She responded, "Words seem to simplify how I feel about hooping sometimes, but I have unlocked a calm that I treasure, treasure, treasure. I never really knew how powerful, and most importantly, healing, movement and flow could be for me. Realizations that I have within the hoop now transcend into my day-to-day life and they have helped me navigate health challenges and personal obstacles with confidence and compassion. Hooping has also brought people into my life that I never dreamed I'd be lucky enough to know. Hoopers are the coolest peeps around. The kind of folks that truly live life. Brave, adventurous, kind and creative people. The kind of people that I admire. Hooping is a gift. This is why I am so happy to share it with as many people as I can. I feel strongly that this kind of body, mind and community connection should be accessible to everyone."
Asking her about something that she's struggling with in her life, the answer was balance. Crosby said, "I have been re-educating myself on what it means to have balance in life, specifically with work and downtime. There is so much I want to do with HooperPower but when I reach that point of being overwhelmed and frustrated with the lack of time I have to reach my goals when I want to, I have to stop, step away from the madness and go read by the fireplace, go out for a meal with my crew, hop in the tub, go to kickboxing class, push the couch to the far wall and hoop, whatever will take me to a calmer, peaceful place. It’s a challenge for this workaholic, but I want to enjoy the development of my hoop business, not be blind the whole way. I don’t want to wake up and be at the finishing line in an exhausted haze. I wouldn’t be practicing what I preach if that were the way it unfolded. I won’t rob myself of the journey."
What has been one of her favorite memories on her hooping journey so far? "There’s nothing that compares to your first hoop performance. Especially when it’s in front of 2000 people and you have a history of paralyzing performance anxiety so bad you almost failed Speech Class in Middle School. It was with my old troupe, we worked hard for months on a routine and nailed it, nerve-free. Even did an encore to a roaring crowd. We squealed like giddy schoolgirls when it was over. Then there was performing at Soldier Field for the Opening Ceremony for the Gay Games on a stage in front of 60,000-plus people radiating pride and joy. The high from that one was ginormous, onstage feeling the boom of fireworks all around you and catching a glimpse of yourself on the Jumbotron! Completely surreal. But the memories that are the true foundation of HooperPower are very different. I get to share this evolving and powerful form of movement with amazing men and women every week. Those smiles of success are just as thundering as the fireworks. Those memories are most important ones. The ones I’m most proud of."
Her favorite hoop is called "Thunderdome" and it's been with her since the beginning, simple black and silver 1/2" tubing. She explained, "Whenever I'm struggling with a challenging new hoop of a different size or weight, I can put Thunderdome on like an old pair of broken in jeans, feel right at home and find my zone." What music is her favorite to hoop to? Crosby said, "I feel that different styles of music bring different emotions and movements out of you and practicing to a variety of music is a crucial part of my practice. I’d feel limited in just one genre. I could rock out to Dolly Parton, Diplo, Motley Crue, Morphine, Tommy Guerrero, Rhymefest, Cee-Lo, Sage Francis, Blackalicious and Bassnectar all in the same jam. On a special day, I could even feel the flow of the Bluegrass."
What quality does she most admire in a hooper? She responded, "Flow. And the ability to share. When you share what you know, those around you will ultimately help you further your own practice because you are raising the bar all around you." So what does Heather see as her most marked hooping characteristic? She said, "I would say that I’m playful. I am having the time of my life when I’m hooping and I think it shows. I do love spinning and spinning and spinning. My dear hooping pal mARTa will laugh at me because I will spin myself into a tornado and then have to stop and ground myself so I don’t fall over. Gotta do what my body wants to do, right?"
Is there anything in particular she wants Hooping.org's readers to know? Heather explains, "I think we’ve made it clear that HooperPower Hoopdance loves to share hooping. We are so excited to be a big part of growing the MidWestern hoop community and we want you all to know that we make professional hoops of all sizes, we offer classes, community events and workshops, and we also do performances. We also love to travel to share hooping. I'm a licensed HoopStar Workout instructor and be sure to visit us at HooperPower.com for more info, videos, pics or just to say hello and give us feedback. Our online shop, chock full of all things hooping, will be up soon so keep checking back or you can join our mailing list."
In closing, if Crosby had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, we asked her what would it be. She said, "Believe that you can succeed and accomplish any hooping goals that you want, because you can. And when the hoop falls down, be proud of that, because the hoop wouldn’t fall if you weren’t challenging yourself. And challenging yourself and mastering those challenges leads to amazing places. Be patient, breathe, close your eyes, move with the hoop the way your body wants to, not the way someone else’s body moves with the hoop. Find your own style. Own it!"
----------------------------------
You can find out more about Heather Crosby
HooperPower's Exercise Alternative
Hoop Day Hoops Find Homes in Chicago
Lara Eastburn: Inside The Hoop
Lara Eastburn is a hoop maker with Superhooper.org and philosophical mentor living in Atlanta, Georgia, with a PhD in French Literature, Philosophy and Theory. The 31-year-old originally from Gulfport, Mississippi, who happily lives and loves with her husband Drew and her 19-month-old daughter Navi, has found the hoop to be life changing. In our Hooper of the Week interview she told us, "Hooping turned me into a dancer, hands down. A very patient partner, it taught me about my body’s relationship to the space around it. The hoop gave me the freedom, and somehow the permission, to move. And that changed an awful lot. Getting my hips going seemed to get all parts of my life moving again at a time when things had slowed down and stalled for me." Find out more by reading on.
So how did it all begin? She explained, "August 17, 2002. What a day! The day I first hooped was also the day I met the love of my life. My Atlanta blues band was playing an outdoor music festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was so enjoying the music, the weather, and the people and I wanted to dance so badly. But, as usual, I was too embarrassed. I thought of myself as an incurable klutz and couldn’t bear to subject other people to the wild, erratic flailing of my limbs that was my best attempt at enjoying music. So like I had always done, I held myself back, smiling and tapping my foot while I swayed back and forth with unremarkable grace - and then I saw this giant black hula hoop laying off to the side in the grass. 'That’s how I’m going to get to move to this music without making a fool out of myself,' I thought. I picked up that monstrous beat-to-hell hoop and didn’t put it down for twelve straight hours. Dear God, I was dancing!"
She told us, "After that day in Louisiana, it took two years for me to find Jason Unbound and Hooping.org to figure out how to make a hoop." Once she made a hoop of her own she really started hooping. She explained, "I'd hoop for up to 4 hours a day to my vinyl records. I woke up every morning, put on some soul/funk, and asked myself, 'What else can I do with this thing?' Today, my relationship to hooping has changed a lot. The passion I experienced early on fueled lots of performing and the creation of the LED hoop-making business that I built together with my roommate and longtime hooping partner, Barry Clement. Building our hoops and teaching and performing with Superhooper.org seemed a natural step in sharing with others what hooping had brought to my life. But it also put more emphasis on hooping as a job."
Her having a hoop career interfered with her hoop joy? She responded, "Right now I’d like to rediscover the personal love affair I began with the hoop nearly six years ago. Hooping in front of an audience for so long has distanced me somewhat from the intimate fun of those long, delirious mornings hooping solo. Though I may not pick up a hoop as often as I used to, hooping is still part of my movements every day. It’s in the way I walk and the way I instinctively know to move my body whether I’m learning new tricks from belly and African dance, or silly dancing with my daughter."
One of her favorite hooping moments was on the eve of the birth of her daughter, Navi. "It's my favorite hooping moment. I had found hooping while pregnant difficult and missed it terribly. But the night before my labor began, I picked up a hoop at a social gathering and hooped for hours the way I used to. As this big circle turned around my burgeoning belly, I thought about my body’s long relationship to the hoop and imagined I was dancing for the first time with the precious being on her last night still within me."
What music does Lara love hooping to the most? She explains, "I’m largely an old school music fan. I live for vintage soul, funk, and blues on vinyl. It’s in my blood. But I’m no snob, either. If my hips start moving despite themselves, then it’s too late to get picky – I’m already hooping!" Does she have a favorite hoop? "HA! My favorite hoop has got to be the first one I made. It was ludicrous. I hadn't any idea how big a hoop should be. There was still so little information out there. But I used Jason’s earliest instructions to make a 5 foot 5 inch hoop out of one inch tubing. It was taller than I am, unbelievably heavy and slow as molasses - and I loved it! I kept it around for a long time after and would give it a spin every time I put some slow jazz on, just to remember how far we had come together."
The quality Lara admires most in a hooper is the ability to hoop as though no one is watching. So what does she see as being her most marked hooping characteristic? "I can’t hoop while standing still. Just can’t do it. If I’m hooping, I’m turning or spinning one way or another. I imagine a whirling dervish and channel myself as a ten-year-old spinning until I fell down."
We asked if there was anything else that she wanted Hooping.org's readers to know. She said, "Well, I am so proud of Superhooper.org. When Barry and I started this business, so many years ago, we just wanted to make an LED hoop for ourselves. A hoop without all the bells and whistles - just sturdy, simple, bright and affordable. It took us about a year and a half to figure out how to do it, but when we did, we figured there might be some other folks that would like them too. From those humble beginnings to Barry’s creation of the first LED/Fire combo hoop, I still wake up every day and ask myself (in a very different way!) What else can we do with this thing? I am amazed, proud, and delighted at how the hooping community has supported innovation in the hoop. I feel like an old lady when I step back in awe of what has happened in hooping in just the past 3 years! The Internet and Hooping have shared a truly fascinating and complimentary relationship. Only a few years ago, I struggled to find information and materials for building hoops. Today, people separated by languages, miles, and even oceans are learning from and sharing with one another. Bless YouTube, Bless Tribe, and Thank Hooping.org!"
In closing, if Lara had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, what it would it be? She said, "Nothing helped me more than thinking of my hoop as the perfect dance partner. Marvel at how it follows your every movement, flawlessly executes every turn, and inevitably teaches you about how your body moves in the world around you."
----------------------------------
You can find out more about Lara Eastburn at Superhooper.org and SocratiCoach.com
Published on April 09, 2008 | LINK | Comments (2)Kamala Mathis: Inside The Hoop
What better time than Fire Week to interview Kamala Mathis, winner of the Fire Hooper of the Year award in our 2008 Hoopies. The Los Angeles resident performs and teaches people how to use fire hoops, as well as all kinds of fire tools through Fire Groove Inc.. Her and her sister Hannah also teach one of the largest free yoga classes in the United States. Find out more about Kamala as we interview our Hooper of the Week.
How did she first discover hooping? Kamala explains, "My first hoop experience that I saw and felt my jaw drop to the floor was Christabel Zamor. Hannah and I were teaching at this studio out in Santa Monica and she came in to do a workshop. We took it and Christabel started the class with a little expo. It was so beautiful. I was so excited when I picked up my hoop knowing it would glide around my body with the ease and flow that hers did. Ha!! I felt like the middle of a bell, the clanky thing, so not the sexy goddess I envisioned!"
So how long has she been hooping? She told Hooping.org, "I have been hooping for about 4 years now. I hoop at least 5 times a week. I am really blessed to have a studio attached to the house I live in so we dance and spin nearly everyday." I asked her how hooping has changed her life. Her response: "Hooping has brought me into my body and made me feel more beautiful and sensual, than I ever have felt. The hoop constantly challenges me and I am so inspired by all of the beautiful hoopers I keep meeting."
Her hooping is just one piece of her investment in herself. Kamala explains, "I am constantly working on myself. Ha! Always looking deep inside for strength and growth. Encouraging change and movement in positive directions. Staying sober and strong. Hooping and spinning are a huge part of my rehab and will continue to be." So what is her idea of earthly happiness? She says, "Gee whiz, I'm gonna hippie out here. Earthly Happiness is cleanliness of our earth, In all forms, clean up the planet, recycle, re- use, organic food, pick up your moop, conserve electricity, etc. Love our Earth Mama, you dig!" We dig Kamala, we dig.
We asked her about a couple of her favorite hooping memories. "Well one of my favorite memories was my first fire hoop experience ever! Raven McBride handed me a hoop on fire right in the middle of his hoop act and I didn’t know if he wanted me to hoop or stand there. I chose hoop and I rocked that hoop around my waist like a champ! So exhilarating and spontaneous! I loved fire hooping from day one. Another very profound memory was when I finally got the hoop hooping around my torso. I was convinced that women with breasts could not hoop around the torso. Wrong! One day I went out to my studio, stripped down to a bikini top and started hooping, determined to get it. I did. It really took me saying I can do this, and then putting it to action. You can do it, I know it’s hard, but if I can you can too."
Kamala's favorite hoop is the one that looks the best with whatever she is wearing. "I change hoops everyday. I love all of them. If I pick a hoop up and it doesn’t seem to be spinning like it should, I just calmly put it down and pick up one that can do the job. I really like other peoples hoops. Watch out!" Her favorite music to hoop to? "I love hooping to tribal music, drum and base, my boyfriend Shawn Barry’s music, anything live. Freq Nasty is my favorite DJ along with Jonny Cota, The Glitch Mob, David Starfire, Anasia. I love music and when I hoop I feel like that is my instrument. I use my tools, poi, staff, fans, hoop to play along with the music."
What quality does she most admire in a hooper? She responds, "I enjoy kindness and the willingness to share everything you know with others. That, right there is the only way to build your knowledge of hooping. You can never hold on to a trick… someone somewhere already knows it and if they don’t, they will soon. We have to share the knowledge of hooping with everyone… Share, share, share and build our fabulous community!" What does Kamala see as being her most marked hooping characteristic? "Mine is definitely my friendliness. I will teach anyone anything I know and I enjoy sharing with others. I am also so humbled by all of this and in awe of all of my teachers and students. I do have a flirty, sexy little dance style as well."
What else does Kamala want Hooping.org's readers to know? She laughs. "Well, we sell some super sexy hoops at FireGroove.com and they are wrapped with love by my beautiful sister Hannah who is my hooping partner in crime and myself. Hannah and I also teach in sunny Santa Monica, California. If you're looking for a hoop class, come on out and check out our Hoop Groove Basics class. We’d love to hoop it up with ya! Also check out the Hoopcamp Retreat coming up in September 2008. Hannah and I will be running the Fire Hoop workshops there! Three days of hooping with teachers like Christabel, Spiral, Baxter and more!"
What advice does Kamala have for someone picking up the hoop for the first time? She explains, "Be patient. Really try to take some time out for you. Show as much skin as possible, the hoop sticks to skin. Put on your favorite beats and really get into the hoop. Close your eyes and see it traveling around your body. I know it is frustrating at first, but give yourself a couple weeks, you’ll get it, I know you will! And if you see me hooping it up, ya better come say Hi!"
-------------------------
Find out more about Kamala: FireGroove.com
Spiral: Inside The Hoop
Vivian ‘Spiral’ Hancock is a professional hoop dance performer, teacher and crafter currently living in Seattle, Washington, where she is studying aerial arts. Originally from Carrboro, North Carolina, our 28-year-old Hooper of the Week actually got her first hoop at a String Cheese Incident show back in June of 2001. "It was pretty random that I was even there, as I wasn’t that big of a fan of their music, but I was at the tail end of my hippie jam-band phase, following Phish around in a van with 5 guys and a dog. I came across a guy selling hoops, whom I would later end up ‘competing’ with for hoop sales at festivals in later years, and I didn’t know anything about it. Just saw a handful of folks spread through the grass blissed-out and waist hooping. It looked fun as I’d always loved to dance, so I decided to buy the biggest, heaviest one he had. It was over 5 feet in diameter, 1” tubing with water inside and it's ironic that I would be drawn to such a large one, as now my style is so shaped by my inspiration a few years ago to go increasingly smaller."
She continued, "So I bought this huge hoop and started spinning away. It was very groovy and easy, and I felt right at home. No one I saw was doing any tricks, and it would be almost 2 years till I saw anything other than waist-hooping. It was through that huge hoop and taking it to many festivals that summer, including starting to take it to the weekly Weaver St. Music and making my first batch of hoops so that the kids flocking to me could use their own. I met the lovely Julia there and we struck up a conversation and have been friends ever since. She was dating Baxter at the time, and that’s how we all became connected."
But that's not the only way hooping began appearing in her life. She told Hooping.org, "It was about six months after I'd discovered hooping that I had the opportunity to go visit and do some needed soul-searching in Austria, my mother’s homeland. That trip, which was initially planned to only be 2-3 months, stretched to 14 hoopless months with my travel partner Om. We lived in India for 6 months, Thailand and China for two months each. He is a very creative soul and he inspired me. I wanted to do something apart from the ordinary 9-5 for a living when I returned home and I remember being on an amazingly beautiful isolated beach in Thailand, all alone in the sun, crying and praying to the Universe to be shown a creative path to embark on, something that would utilize many of my talents and interests and that I could feel passionate about. I got my prayers answered, to be sure. And Om had, interestingly enough, Anah ‘Hoopaliscious’ Christine for a time in California when she was just getting into hooping. He actually went to film her goddess-self for one of her first Cirque party gigs in Montreal right before flying to Austria to meet me. It wasn’t until I got home in May 2003 and was told about hooping.org that I realized who she was in the community, and how incredibly small-world it would be that we would have a connection through the same man."
She returned from her travels and found her hoop path too. "During my travels, I had, symbolically enough, left my big hoop, sewing machine and a mirror with Julia before embarking on my journey. While I was away she made hoops of her own and as her enthusiasm for it grew, it eventually got to Baxter. When I returned, I moved in with her and the house was crackling with hoop love and dreams. While I traveled, someone had shown her how to take the hoop up from the waist; she shared that with me, and it was on!"
So how did the three of them go about creating such a dynamic hoop community in Carrboro? Spiral said, "From 2003 on, Julia and I really worked at spreading the hoop locally and regionally by crafting hoops, inspiring folks through hoop performance, teaching workshops, and diligently bringing hoops out to our local community. During the early years, I often played the role of hoop ambassador, traveling to other communities around the country and practically bankrupting myself to go find out what others were doing with the hoop to bring that back home for us to integrate into our evolving style, way before the advent and relative ease of YouTube. Baxter began teaching a couple years later when I secured us a place to start holding classes and The Hoop Path was born. The community has really grown incredibly over the years from the seed of that first, huge hoop! The passion and determination of Julia and I to get dressed up like sparkly princess hoop ambassadors and bring huge armloads of hoops for folks to use on a regular basis, at Weaver Street in particular, planted a seed that has resulted in a nationally-recognized hoop community of amazing talent across a wide spectrum of ages. The community there and the energy that’s been shared and spread there over the years is truly a stunningly beautiful thing, and my part in the creation of it is the thing I am most proud of being involved with in my life thusfar. I miss my friends there and my many times in *extreme* hoop bliss under that huge oak tree on that lawn something fierce."
So how often does Spiral hoop? She explains, "It varies. Hooping is a huge part of my life and I like to do it every day for at least an hour. When it’s the full-on season and I’m on the road a lot, though, it’s challenging and sometimes not possible to maintain a daily practice. When I have space I do, as it is a necessary element of my mind-body-spirit health. Right now I am in a pre-professional aerial dance training and that is 3 hours a day, 5 days a week of very intense physical activity. So, currently, I’m hooping a bit less, but developing my physical repertoire in other ways."
While it's obvious that hooping has changed her life, I nevertheless asked her how. She laughed, "Is this a trick question? Hooping has changed my life completely. There’s so much I could say here. Deciding to go deeper with the hoop, both as a profession and artistically has been the most powerful, beautiful and difficult choice of my life. On a physical level, interacting with the hoop has felt like the most natural thing in the world. Hoop dance has elevated my body awareness in incredible ways. It has always and continues to give me such strength, wisdom, creative inspiration and release. The travels I’ve taken over the years as a hooper have been incredible. I meet amazing people, see beautiful sights. The hoop is like a magnet for the amazing, truly. Taking it to the level that I have is also, however, the biggest challenge I’ve ever taken on. I work pretty much constantly. Although I go out and perform at festivals and events, I am relatively hermit-like in my day to day. I spend a huge amount of time keeping my business running. Many hours of every day are devoted to the hoop in some way, from the mundane of keeping orders filled to the bliss of chanelling new movement. I’m not much of a ‘hanger-outer’ and if I am out and about, I hope there’s a hooper in my crew because I inevitably want to talk hoops. What can I say, it’s my life."
Asked about a challenge or personal obstacle she's currently working on, Spiral replied, "Well, I'm currently in the throes of a huge transition in my hoop business. It’s become increasingly clear that the hoop crafting/selling portion of my business has taken over way too much of my time and energy. I recently hired an assistant, finally, but that has been rocky as well. In the last 2 years in particular, I’ve felt buried by hoop orders and emails to the degree that it’s become incredibly stressful and even hampered my practice, the essence of why I’m on this path. My passion is creating new movement with the hoop and performing, and that is what I want to pursue most now, is my path as a performer. I am doing my best to shift my focus and energies toward what is most fulfilling for me, as well as opening myself to receive help. I envision myself joining a circus troupe soon, and am employing my energies to manifest this vision. Part of my deciding to come to Seattle to circus school is a declaration to the Universe of a shift in my energy and focus."
Spiral was asked if she had a favorite hooping memory or two. "It’s extremely hard to narrow down to even two, as there have been so many powerful moments in the hoop. One that stands out, though, happened right after Julia and I got back from the grueling drive up to Nova Scotia to work the fabulous Evolve Festival in 2004. We were absolutely exhausted, but we were at Weaver St. with hoops nonetheless as some music was going on and it began to rain. Then it began to rain much harder. Everyone ran for cover under the awnings, everyone but us. There was something so cleansing, powerful and inherently rhythmic about the heavy rainfall on us and our hoops. It fell in solid curtains of water. We hooped and hooped in the heavy rain as people stared out at us from their crowded shelter. It was a vivid image, she and I hooping there in the pouring rain to our own internal songs. It was one of the most powerful and cathartic hoops I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot. A local told me later it was one of the most beautiful works of art he’d ever seen."
Having seen the video of her performance with India.Arie, I asked her how that all came about. Spiral explained, "I was at Earthdance 2006 on my own after a very powerful and, ultimately, painful Burning Man experience. The first night, I hooped my head off to Blackalicious, one of my favorite hip hop groups. The whole stage was wide open, as it was pretty much just an MC and turntables and I wanted to be up there throwing down so badly! In that moment, I vowed to manifest a backstage pass and get on that stage. The next day, I was hooping like crazy again and made the acquaintance of a sweet couple. We sat down on the grass talking and I mentioned my experience watching Blackalicious the night before and my desire to get onstage. I hadn’t even noticed, but the girl had a backstage pass on her wrist that just so happened to be pretty loosely fastened. She didn’t even hesitate to take it off and give it to me. With amazed gratitude I slipped it on and made my way and found a sunny patch and started hooping and before long attracted the attention of one of the MCs. He asked me where I was from and how I’d gotten there and I ended up telling him about how I got the VIP pass. He laughed and went straight away to get me my own pass so I could give my sweet friend hers back, which felt great! I hooped a bit onstage that day between bands and later, when I was hanging out backstage, struck up conversation with a gentleman that really liked my outfit. His name is Blue Miller and it turned out he was the guitarist for India.Arie. On impulse I said ‘I hoop to her music a lot, and I would be so honored to dance with her.’ He said he’d see what he could do. Now, he hadn’t seen me hoop at all, he had only liked my costume. It was still a couple hours before India would go on. Night fell and the backstage started to fill up with people eager to get close during her set. At that point, the stage security shut off access to the side of the stage proper, so I couldn’t even really see and was relegated to the ground level off stage. I tried to talk the security guard into letting me up there, telling her I was potentially performing, but she wasn’t having it. I was bummed out, resigned to watching the show on the sidelines, tried one more time and finally she relented, but, casting a skeptical eye at my hoop, she told me I had to leave it behind. I hadn’t gotten the okay to dance anyway, so I left it under the stairs and pushed my way into the thick throng of people clustered on the side of the stage watching this goddess perform, the last act, and one of the biggest headliners of the festival. It had been no more than a handful of minutes before the band suddenly broke into an instrumental jam and, all of a sudden, India.Arie walked toward the side of the stage where we were all clustered and started to motion people aside. I was towards the back and started to walk forward. She saw me, smiled, and motioned me over. ‘You want to do your thing?’ “Yes, absolutely!” ‘Well, go ahead..’ 'Let me get my hoop!'"
She continued, "I scrambled so fast over to those steps to fish it out, with a quick satisfied smile to the security guard that had kept me off the stage almost the entire set, that I didn’t even have time to take off my layers - sleeves that I normally wouldn’t have worn since they get in the way - and walked right out onto that big stage, and into Flow. Totally unexpected, completely cold, and into the spotlight. It was absolutely magical. For the first couple minutes, the lighting guy was adapting to movement on the front of the stage. All of a sudden, and this also happens to be the point in the DVD footage I received of it that was able to be uploaded to youtube, the lights came on and flooded me, my arms open to the sky to receive. It was so powerful, so beautiful. I danced my soul there, pouring out love and appreciation, bowing to her repeatedly in gratitude and awe. I was blown away and brought the mike to me “What’s your name dear?” “Spiral” She threw back her head in a huge smile of appreciation and the crowd went wild. It was amazing, electrifying, a totally cosmic blessing. This is definitely one of my most powerful and beautiful hoop memories, all at a magical festival that was, full of synchronicity, manifestation and the magnetic power of the hoop."
Does she have a favorite hoop? "I’ve got several sets of twins in different colors to match costumes and, call me picky or coordination-conscious, but that’s always been important to me and it blows my mind that more pro hoopers don’t do this, but I guess the hoops with the most juju currently are my red and black pair. Those soaked up the energy of a throbbing crowd at the String Cheese Incident’s last show at Red Rocks this summer, and one of the two has been hooped by the goddess Erykah Badu. Seems I’ve used them a lot this year, as I’ve been rocking lots of red and black in my costumes lately."
What quality does Spiral most admire in a hooper? She said, "Dedication. Dedication to innovation, practice and spreading the healing power of the hoop." And what does she see as being her most amrked hooping characteristic? She replied, "I think it is actually a combination of things that are related. One is my small hoops. I started very large, but was inspired to start taking my hoops down in size, which was a steady and gradual process of experimentation of what worked for me, after one of my first trips to California in 2004. I wanted to facilitate faster movement and easier integration of vertical moves with core hooping with the same hoop. This eventually led, interestingly enough, to Baxter going down in size as well to a hoop that facilitated beginning to reverse directions, allow for samurai style, etc, and leading much of the community around me to drastically take their hoops down in size. Now small hoops are identified with Carrboro, as well as myself, within this community of evolving hoop dance using homemade hoops. Related to the small hoops, at least in my progression with hooping, has been the integration of lots of stalling in my style. Spinning, as it were. Turning in the same direction allows for smoother movement with small hoops. It was resonating with the spinning, spiraling motion of the hoop that caused me to take my name ‘Spiral’. Spinning, turning, entering the portal to trance and meditation through that movement has been huge for me on many levels, and has heavily influenced my dance."
I asked if there was anything else she wanted Hooping.org readers to know about. She told me, "I have spent a lot of time designing and developing my website, www.spiralhoopdance.com, as a reference for information about hooping as a mind-body-spirit practice. At the moment I’m working on expanding it to include an online tutorial section that will allow folks to learn hooping through web-streaming technology that allows you to pick and choose short lessons on moves and techniques associated with different skill levels. The focus is on detailed instruction with an emphasis on transitions. I plan to have this up and running in early 2008 with monthly additions of skills and a forum for suggestions so folks can request help for specific movements. Use of these lessons from a range of skill levels will be for available to subscribers for a small monthly fee. Also, my girl Julia is spearheading the movement to host a Hoop Convergence. This idea- of bringing folks together from all over to share, teach and learn about many different facets of hooping from a diverse range of teachers and styles has been tossed around the hoop community for several years and she's taken on the mantle of making this happen in Carrboro the week of Friday April 11 through Wednesday April 16, 2008, leading up to the spring Shakori Hills festival from the 17-20. There's more info on the Hoop Convergence Tribe."
Then she added, "Oh, and I've just started offering small 'vertical training' hoops on my site. They are very grippy, light and with a spiral of sparkle and more affordable than my top of the line Signature Series. I'm calling them Luminous Hoops and you can find them in the Hoop Store on my site. Special deal when you buy twins!"
In closing, if Spiral had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, what would it be? She said, "Enjoy the journey! Remember that this is a movement form based in self-expression. There is no need to duplicate someone’s moves, but rather, be inspired and appreciate your own style and let the hoop and your favorite music bring out your own dance. In technical terms: Spend a lot of time hooping on the core, in both directions. The core - torso, body - is the foundation of hoop movement and getting very familiar with your hoop’s rhythm on the core is a key to mastery."
--------------------------------------
You can find out more about Spiral at:
Emily Lopizzo: Inside The Hoop
Emily *snappy hoop reference* Lopizzo is 32 years old and is a Point Breeze resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Besides being Project Manager and Administrator for a web design and development company and a part-time barista, Emily is also a pretty dynamic hoop maker and plastic limb collector. While you can see her hoop designs at Philthyhoops.com, you can find out more about Emily by reading on. She's our Hooper of the Week.
Living with her boyfriend and a dog and enjoying sporadic visits from her 17-year-old-daughter and his 13-year-old daughter, the pair live in a place surrounded by bicycles, bike parts, giant hoops and hoop making materials. How did it all begin for Emily? She explains, "I don't remember the first time I ever used a hula hoop, but that's what I started with, a tiny light pink and white toy hula hoop with beads inside. I just actually gave it away to a little girl that lived next store to me. It took me months to be able to keep the hoop up, but for some reason I was obsessed with it. Then I found the water filled kid hoops and toted one around with me everywhere I went. I had everyone at my jobs, in my family and on my block using them, waist hooping and neck hooping and making up the most ridiculous "hoop routines" with my daughter that looked more like bumper hoops then hoop dancing. I was so into it that people would find hoops at garage sales and in trash piles and dumpsters and bring them to me which resulted in quite a collection of kid-sized toy hoops. Then on my birthday two years ago, YIKES, the company I work for, got me a "big girl" hoop from
hoopgirl.com and I had never seen one before. I didn't even know you could do tricks! I thought not dropping it was the only trick there
was!"
After 6 or 7 years of just waist hooping with a kids hoop, she's been playing with the grown up models for almost two years. Emily reiterates, "I never got into learning tricks until about six months ago, but I am not a dancer or performer or an instructor and I do not aspire to be. I only want to learn a few tricks to impress the chicks and get everyone I can to try hooping."
How often does she hoop? She told Hooping.org, "I don't schedule practice time or work out sessions with the hoop. I only ever pick it up for fun. I do hoop every chance I get, but most of the time I am teaching other people how to hoop. Y'know, the basics, where to put your feet and what to do with your hips. I LOVE seeing people hoop for the first time so usually any time I am hooping I will gladly give it up to someone else when I see their eyes light up like giant saucers. Sometimes no one wants to try, which is very rare, and I end up
not being able to put it down myself and I accidentally learn a trick!"
Has hooping changed Emily's life? She said, "I have heard many stories of the people who have lost weight, thwarted illness, overcome crisis and even reinvented themselves with the hoop. I did all those things as well, but way before I ever picked up a hoop. In my life the hoop was not a catalyst for those things, but a reward for them. So I cant say for sure that hooping has changed my life, but it has added to it and probably kept me out of trouble. In between working one full and one part time job I make and sell hoops online and at
flea markets. I also run my website, learning about the web and doing all the design and programming for it myself. So its pretty obvious that I have a boredom problem and if I didn't have ten jobs and one hundred hoops to make I might be out there somewhere calculating capers and coups that would most likely lead to a not so happy place. It also allows me to help my favorite local charities. My favorite thing is to donate wicked cool hoops to silent auction events! Some of the silent auctions I have donated to are the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia Stories, Girls Rock Philly and The Painted Bride Theater and Gallery."
So what is her idea of earthly happiness? She explained, "My vision of a happy earth would include free shows, naps, four day work weeks, warm chocolate chip cookies in bed and people hooping to work instead of driving. It would also mean an end to criminalizing blacks, alienating people from other countries, refusing gays their legal rights and the entire Prison Industrial Complex."
Asking about favorite hoop memories she explained, "I don't have any friends that are actually into hooping, they only do it because I berate and throw things at them until they try it. They all absolutely fall in love with it when they try it, but no one has run off to perform with the circus yet. A most memorable event involving hoops though happened in August. I always fantasize about a world where people are just standing around, walking, riding bikes or riding the subway with giant hoops over their shoulders as naturally as you might lean up against a bike or walk holding a skateboard by the trucks, and then it happened! I drove an hour and a half to sell hoops at the funky flea market in New Jersey, sponsored by glubdub.com and I had to go by myself and was really nervous about it, but my sister Dawn met me there and we ended up having the time of our lives. Every single person, including old people, kids, girls in heals, hippies, hipsters and a couple bands from Finland tried the hoops, for five hours. I snapped a few pictures of people who had never even hooped before just standing in a group talking, holding hoops completely
naturally!"
Emily's favorite hoop is about one inch taller then her belly button, 3/4 inch 160 poly pipe decorated partly in fabric "for super bad ass friction and style and partly covered in orange sparkle tape so that when the light hits me just right it's a disco dance party extravaganza. This hoop is seriously beat up though. And I bet at least two hundred people have hooped with it!" Her favorite music to hoop to lately includes "Shoyoass" by The Coup, "Radio Freq" by Dead Prez, "Not a Substitute" by Jay Reatard and "Heard It Through The Grapevine" by The Slits.
What quality does Emily most admire in a hooper? "I love watching people who have mastered their hooping, either tricks or dancing or fire or poi. But I mostly admire the people out there that suck at hooping and keep doing it anyway because it makes them laugh and feel great. That's always the best time, when people suck and can laugh at themselves."
She also wanted Hooping.org readers to know, "There is my website, Philthyhoops.com where I end up giving away just as many hoops as I sell. I started making hoops because I wanted something that looked a lot different from what I was seeing around. It was also very important to me to come up with something different not only for myself and the actual hoopers, but also for the other hoop
makers. I would never have started selling my hoops online if there was already a market for the ones I was making. I researched what was out there and available and realized that what I was doing was unique and it would be worth it to offer them for sale. The hoops are for sale at two local retail stores: The Flying Saucer in Fairmount Philadelphia, and right off of South Street at the Curiosity Shoppe. I'm also a huge advocate for ending the massive discrimination and overwhelming oppression of formerly incarcerated people and information on that can be found at Critical Resistance.org.
In closing, if Emily had just one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, I asked her what would it be? Her answer: "If you are new to hooping and your lips turn blue as you try, have your blood pressure medicine checked out." And then she laughed.
---------------------
More info about Emily Lopizzo can be found at:
Published on December 14, 2007 | LINK | Comments (2)Diana Lopez: Inside The Hoop
How did Diana Lopez, the 38-year-old Founder and Co-Owner of BodyHoops LLC, become such a hooping talent? Spending one to three hours a day in the spin probably has something to do with it. Lopez is dedicated and from picking up her first hoop in the summer of 2000, she's become one of the most noteworthy names in Hoopville. It's time we found out more about the Ojai, California, resident and you can hear about her journey of healing as we interview Diana Lopez, our Hooper of the Week.
How did it all begin? Lopez explains, "My first real hooping experience was in the summer of 2000, at a hooping playshop facilitated by Anah aka Hoopaliscious in Santa Barbara. I had seen her in the Santa Barbara Solstice Parade a year or so prior and was so amazed by her dance and hip grooving style with the hoop. I told myself right then and there that I had to learn how to do that. It was not too long before she returned to Santa Barbara and I took my first hooping class. I loved it! This opportunity came at a remarkable time for me because I had just undergone a very serious eye surgery and could not resume my usual exercise routine or practice any workout regime that would put pressure on the eyes, so hooping was wonderful because it not only enabled me to move and workout, but it also uplifted me and I felt happy. I would visualize healing light filling my body as I hooped. Interestingly enough, I recall my opthamologist commenting on how speedily my eye was healing and recovering from the trauma. Anyways, this was a difficult experience for me and so discovering the hoop at this point in my life was like a miracle."
She continues, "At the time, I was also a sixth grade teacher on summer break, and so when the fall came around I had made my first set of hoops and we would hoop every single morning for the first 20 minutes of school. It was a lot of fun, and of course the kids loved starting their day out with play. Little did they know that the experience was helping us to develop coordination, balance, large motor muscle control, right and left brain balancing and heightening our sense of awareness. It brought us together in such a fun, relaxed way and allowed the barrier of teacher and student to diminish. We would smile, laugh and talk while hooping and learning new tricks and then the class would split up into small groups and make up choreographed routines to show off to their families and friends at the winter program. The students were so much more receptive to learning after our morning hoop sessions. Some of these students became really skilled and I was inspired to include them in a small segment of our Hoop Dance Fusion DVD. Over that three year period, as I continued to observe and experience the hooping within myself and my groups of students, I became more and more convinced of how wonderful and healing hooping can be for youth and adults."
With seven years of hooping behind her now, I asked how hooping has changed her life. Diana said, "Hooping has changed my life completely. After my 10th year of teaching elementary school I felt like I needed a career change and I knew it had to be with the hoops. It first started out as Hip Happening Hoops but then changed to BodyHoops which has kept me full time busy for the past three years. Hooping has also helped to heal me in a profound way. The eye surgery was one experience but also on an emotional level, it has helped me with depression and working through difficult issues and transforming those expressions into joy and well-being. Hooping has also enabled me to meet and connect with some amazingly creative people that have enriched my life in many ways."
Hooping.org asked about a favorite hooping memory. She said, "I have many fond memories of hooping in new and exotic places. Its fun to have your hoop with you and take it out somewhere new and experience whirling in foreign lands or unusual places, but my favorite hooping moments occur when I am showing someone how to hoop for the first time and they are saying "i can't do this" and then the expression they get when they can. It's a joy to see people light up and smile when they first realize they can hoop."
It's getting easier to take a hoop with you, and it shows when I asked about her favorite hoop. "Currently, my favorite hoop is my 38" Infinity Travel Hoop. It's in shades of green and folds down when I'm not using it. I love the convenience of carrying a hoop that is portable yet durable. The great thing is that it is light enough to dance and do fun tricks, but at 2 pounds, its going to challenge you to build strength and endurance too."
What music does she love hooping to the most? She explains, "I'm not so much into specific titles and artists. I love to experiment with a variety of genres of music. Everything from electronica, world fusion, hip hop, jam bands, or whatever is current, its constantly changing. This past summer I participated in a music swap with 18 other people and it was so fun to share and then receive a whole new library of super fun hip grooving music. Its a fun way to experience new and different kinds of music if you're not to sure what to get. Hooping to Live music is my favorite though, especially drumming."
What quality does she most admire in a hooper? "Dedication to the practice. I am so inspired by the many hoopers that have created the space and time to hoop every day or on a frequently regular basis. When you have a daily practice it becomes important to you and so you do what you have to do to maintain that practice and in doing so, you become better and stronger." What does Diana see as being her most marked hooping characteristic? She responded, "Making it look smooth and easy, fun and flowy. I don't have a super technical style but I love to dance. People often ask me if I was a belly dancer or studied dance prior to my hoop dreams, and while I did take a lot of African dance and some belly dance, for
me it is more about the passion and feeling it in the music which makes me smile really big!"
I asked if there was anything going on that Hooping.org readers might be interested to know. Her response: "As a company co-owner, Its been very exciting to be a part of the growing hoop movement worldwide, and I couldn't have done it on my own. I feel really blessed to have super wonderful and talented people involved with BodyHoops because they believe in the power of the hoop. This collaboration has enabled us to be where we are now. We have an awesome team at Bodyhoops, all dedicated to sharing the joy of hooping. My focus has now shifted back to teaching and developing the Bodyhoops Fitness Program. It is my goal to have it adopted by the California Department of Education. Our teacher training program has been reviewed by the American Council on Fitness Education and has received the Seal of Approval. If you are looking for something new and wholesome to add to
your curriculum or fitness offerings you will want to attend one of our teacher trainings or email us to organize a training in your area. All of our products are available at wholesale and we also provide drop shipping if you're looking for a fun new product to add to your on-line store, and be sure to check out our holiday specials."
.
In closing, if Diana had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, I asked her what that would be? Diana said, "Be positive with yourself, make picking up your hoop a part of your practice. Don't worry about how you look at first, the gracefullness and style will come over time, just feel it, breathe and move from your center, and most of all, have fun with it!"
------------------------------
More about Diana Lopez:
Hooping DVDs: Which is Right For You?
Published on November 30, 2007 | LINK | Comments (1)Judith Lanigan: Inside The Hoop
Judith Lanigan is a hooper known by many names. "Most people know me as Miss Judy, or the Swan because I have been performing The Dying Swan with hula hoops all over Europe, New Zealand and Australia for the past seven years. Or they call me whatever Swan is in their local language, Hakucho in Japan for example." Whatever you choose to call the 43-year-old Australian who is a self defined "Hula Hoopist" with more than a decade in the spin, she's someone to know and you can can find out more about her in our interview with Judith Lanigan, our Hooper of the Week.
Miss Judy lives in Melbourne, Australia. She explains, "It's a city at the very botttom of Australia. Next stop Tasmania and then the South Pole. Asking her about her occupational title she explained, "I tend to define people who hoop in two ways. Hula hoopists are specialists who have control of the hoop separations and have an act which they perform. Hula hoopers love to hoop, hoop at dance parties, hoop with their friends. Hooping.org seems to connect a lot of very enthusiastic hula hoopers, which is great." With news of her circus arts training I asked if she lived under the Big Top. "No, I live in a big warehouse and my bedroom is a caravan in the corner with a office space and writing desk just outside it. Then you walk through some big drops and step into a carpeted theater style rehearsal space with seating and lights and backdrop. Next to that is our prop storage and next to that is the acrobatic training area. I live with two handstanders who are unbelievably good. There seems to always be someone balancing on one hand on something."
How and when did The Dying Swan come about for her? "I celebrate the birthday of the swan sometimes, its 7 years old now. Being single and not having kids the act has been a bit like having a child. It is born, sometimes painfully, and then goes through teething pains, grows up, has to be done even when you might not want to or are tired. I created the piece as a busking show in the Brisbane Mall because I was broke. I wasnt allowed to use amplified music so I got the audience to sing the music for me. That didnt work that well, so I started singing the music myself. Its a simple melody written for the cello."
When did Judith first encounter the hoop? She told me, "In 1994 or 1995 the only place that we, the small modern circus company I worked with in Perth, could get professional circus training was once a year at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, a school in a country town called Albury. They have Russian and Chinese resident trainers. Once a year they would run a two-week national training project and we would go study. I was warming up in the morning, training aerials and this stunning girl, Kareena Oates, stepped out on the floor, threw down her hoops and did the most jaw dropping routine of tricks. The company she worked with, the Rock n Roll Circus in Brisbane, had just spent three months training in China and I knew I had to try it. She very generously taught me the basics and then I went back to the other side of the country and worked and worked on it. I then went and studied at the Moscow State Circus School for a few weeks a couple of years later. Some of my tricks like hula hooping in a handstand and hula hooping on my bottom are things I taught myself."
For the past ten years she's been hooping professionally full-time. "I offer my shows to festivals and usually spend a few months in different countries. I have never performed in America and I dont know any of the festivals or events there. I'd love to be able to come over and meet you all, maybe have a book launch party somewhere and check out what is going on there to put in the next edition of the hula hoop book."
I asked her tell us more about the book and her writing. Judith explained, "I have just had a story I wrote optioned for a feature film by a UK based film produce. It is based on a true story set in the 16th century about a company of clowns kidnapped on their way to do a gig for the king of France. I've nearly finished the novel version of that story and I used bits of it in the book you're talking is about the life and times of a hula hoopist with stories from different circuses I've worked for, international tours, etc. That book, which is confusingly titled "The True History of The Hula Hoop" recently won the Australian Society of Authors unpublished author award which means I get to work on it now with a famous editor as my mentor. And I have just published a comprehensive study of the hula hoop as well. I tried to find out as much about the history development and influences of the hoop as possible. I spoke to all sorts of people, the ex-president of the brotherhood of magicians, sacred hoop dancers of the American Indians, rhythmic gymnasts, etcetera, and I looked at fitness and health and bodyfat and the hula hoop. I am still collecting more pictures and information for the next edition of it and I definately intend to include Hooping.org in the next edition because this is such an interesting and praiseworthy phenomenom."
Obviously hooping has changed her life, but I wanted to hear her insights on how. She explained, "Well, I have managed to pay my rent off of it for the past ten years, and I'm old for a circus performer, but I'll be hula hooping for a long while yet. I also had a painful back injury after working as an aerialist for a few years and hula hooping plus acupuncture, no coffee and loads of magnesium, fixed it so that I am pain free. It is good maintenance for the body generally, stimulates the lymphatic system which keeps the body clean. Especially if you can manage to keep the hoop in that tricky place just at the top of the thigh just under your bottom, where cellulite accummulates. Anyway, hula hooping seems to keep me in pretty good condition and I seem to have to eat a lot to keep any weight on, which seems to be the opposite most peoples problem. When I am on tour I drink lots of hot chocolates with cream and schedule in eating between shows, otherwise I shrink down to skin and bone from all the excercise."
It sounds like a lot, so how often does Miss Judy hoop? She said, "I hoop most days, unless I'm resting. I like to hoop, but I also like to lay around and read." As for a challenge she's currently working on, Judith said, "I've just created a show which is the dramatic performance highlights of the history of the hula hoop. I had to master a 7 hoop separation to illustrate what happened when the hoop, after having been disapproved of by the communist countries, went undergound in circus. Actually the hardest thing was learning to do a four hoop separation while wearing an evening dress with a fringed charleston dress on underneath."
I asked her to share a couple of her favorite hooping memories. She responded, "The first time that I went into a handstand hula hooping, in The Dying Swan, and stayed up in the balance for ages, i remember resting there in a handstand with the hoop going around my foot and thinking, while onstage, I'm still up, and then I'm still still! And then after a while i thought I'd better come down because i thought the audience might be getting bored. Another favorite memory is performing The Dying Swan in London and the act was embraced by the burlesque scene there. At the time i was surprised, partly because I was already in my 40's and didnt strip and I thought burlesque was stripping. But apparently it is the irreverent treatment of a classical theme, and that describes my Dying Swan exactly, so I had a wonderful time working with great burlesque artists like Christa Hughes, Imogen Kelly and Immodesty Blaize. Once I did a festival in Germany for three weeks in the baroque gardens of a mansion, and every night I would go to my stage which was built over a 16th century well, with stairs curving around both sides of the stage up to sculpted gardens with rows of statues, and then I would hula hoop my way through the Dying Swan at twilight."
What is Miss Judy's favorite hoop like? She explained, "My favorite is plastic, about hip heighth, like 80 to 90 centimeters in diameter, and firm. I dont really have a favorite hoop though. I have sets of hoops because they're identical in weight and size to make separations easier. My current favorite set, my show set, are matched, wrapped in silver tape, and are slightly smaller so that I can perform some of the weird box shape separations."
What music might you find Miss Judy hooping to the most? She told Hooping.org, "I tend to practice and warm up in places where there are shows on, or other people rehearsing, so I put on headphones and tuck my minidisc player in my bra and my current minidisc has the 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing,' Basement Jaxx 'Is Life Just a Playground,' Gorillaz 'Feel Good,' and a 'Planet Claire' instrumental by The Cramps. Oh and an epic disco number by David Shire called 'Night on Disco Mountain' too."
What quality does she most admire in a hooper? "Grace, and an originality of thought in approaching an act, tenacity to get that trick solid, and thinking about what your hands and feet are doing." What does she as being her most marked hooping characteristic? She said, "I can hula hoop a whole show talking the entire time, in 6 languages if necessary. Also my clown training that allows me to deal with a misbehaving hoop."
I asked her how people can go about getting her book if they're interested. Judy explained, "It's available all over the world. There is a link on my website where you can order it, and the book gets printed in America and posted to you and a little royalty goes into my bank account. I worked on the book for a couple of years, collecting pictures, researching what was happening with the book before the world wide craze and after. So if anyone wants to send me anything they think would be a good addition to a comprehensive study of the hoop, any historical pictures, any new tricks illustrated in picture, that would be great. I've written the how to hula hoop section, so it should make it much easier to learn separations, etcetera, and I am really interested to get feedback about how that is working for people, how effective the information is."
In closing, I asked if she had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up the hoop for the very first time, what would it be. Her response: "The hula hoop wants to go where the most movement is, and for most people that is in the hips and legs so the hoop wants to go down. I learned a chest isolation in a contortion class in Barcelona, Spain, which I found very useful for teaching how to make the hoop go up. My Spanish contortion teacher explained that the breasts, "Las Tetas," should always look up. Theres more about that in the book."
------------
To learn more about Judith "Miss Judy" Lanigan visit the links below:
Miss Judy Brings Hoopla to Edmonton
Published on November 22, 2007 | LINK | Comments (0)Jasmine Patten: Inside The Hoop
Jasmine Patten is a thirty-five-year-old clothing designer, boutique owner and professional hoop dancer with the whirlyGirlz hoop troop. Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and currently making Portland, Oregon, her home, Jasmine recently brought her love for fashion and hooping together with the launch of Hoop Clothes.com. "I was finding it hard to find great clothes for hooping, and I wanted to make it easy for hoopers to find great stuff in one place," she explained. With all she is spinning we knew it was time to find out more about her. Jasmine Patten steps inside the hoop with our Hooper of The Week interview.
How did it all begin? Jasmine told us, "I first saw hooping at Burning Man many years ago. I happened to be at Center Camp one day and out of the dust emerged a group of absolutely adorable women hooping in the middle. I was transfixed by their grace and flow and by how feminine their expression was. I thought nothing of it until the next year when I joined Tribe.net and stumbled upon a small community of hoopers. In a flash I realized that I wanted to learn how to hoop immediately! I ordered a hoop and planned to pick it up at Burning Man 2004."
Knowing that the festival can make meeting up with anyone a challenge, I asked her if she ever got that hoop. She revealed, "Once I got there I kept riding my bike over trying to find my hoop. After many failed attempts, my hoop maker was finally home and I got to ride off into the dark with my new pink and orange darling. Everyone at camp was either asleep or gone and for that I am forever thankful. I proceeded to spend the next two hours alone in the dark learning to keep that darn thing up. It was a challenge, but I was so determined to make it work that I just kept picking it up and trying again. See, I don't like to fail at things, and my ego was facing itself each time the hoop dropped, but I got over that by just staying with it. Once I got it going, I didn't stop. All week I hooped every chance I got, waiting for the food to cook, talking with friends, even walking to a party nearby. It was exhilirating and addictive!"
You could easily say that hooping has changed her life. She told Hooping.org, "Hooping has brought more joy to my life and it has given me another way to move and express myself. It has joined me to a really wonderful community of people too. So many of my best friends are people I met through hooping. It brings me a great sense of peace, groundedness, and connection and it has helped me be more in touch with my body through dancing, sweating, and relating to the hoop."
With a little over 3 years now in the spin, Jasmine hoops almost every day for up to an hour at present, working on creating more of a regular personal practice. She said, "I find that a conscious practice unveils so many layers of learning, and it is exciting to discover what is there when I commit to practicing consistently. I have found so much more connection and creativity since I have started this, and I look forward to finding even more."
A favorite hooping memory took place in her life this Fall. Jasmine explained, "There was an outdoor DJ party at a beautiful park in Portland. There was a huge grassy field, a giant bridge overhead, a beautiful sun and amazing music. I must have hooped for at least 5 hours. I was jumping and dancing and playing like a child. I got to tandem hoop with my friends, share moves with others, and really settle into the music. I felt as if I could hoop forever, exploring the many dimensions that exist within the magical circle of plastic."
I asked her about her favorite hoop and was saddened to learn it had gone missing. "It just disappeared at Decompression in San Francisco, so I am now initiating my new favorite hoop. It is sparkly and fuchsia, my favorite color." You are likely to find her listening to deep house music while she's breaking it in too. "I love the speed of the beats. I like some breakbeats and funk as well. I also love to hoop to really slow music at times. One of my favorite hooping songs is Ice Forming on Glass by Bluetech.
The quality she most admires in a hooper is flow and expressive joy. What does she see as being her most marked hooping characteristic? She considered her answer. "Fluid flowing movements. and really connecting with the music and expressing it through my dance," she explained.
As for her new hoop clothing venture, I had to wonder if she was the designer as well. Jasmine said, "I design some of the clothes, and carry lines from other small designers too. I will be expanding the site over time to include more things including costumes for performance. I would love to hear from people about what else they would like to see on the site! And I am offering a discount for hooping.org readers, 10% through November! Just use code #HOD644."
In closing, if Jasmine had one piece of advice to share with someone picking up a hoop for the very first time, I asked her what it would be. She smiled. "If it drops, just pick it up and give it a whirl again. As long as you are smiling and having fun, that's all you need!
-------------------------
You can find out more about Jasmine Patten at:
Published on November 15, 2007 | LINK | Comments (1)Revolva: Our Hooper of the Week
Revolva picked up her first hoop five years ago in her hometown - Detroit, Michigan. Now she teaches hoop dance and dazzles audiences performing, all the while working on her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Oregon. Her studies certainly didn't keep her from helping Detroit rock World Hoop Day either. What makes this 31-year-old who loves being in her thirties tick? It's time to find out as we interview our Hooper of the Week!
How did it all begin for Kari "Revolva" Jones? She told hooping.org, "In 2002, I moved into a new house. My roommate at the time was Detroit actor Chris Korte, and our social circle was full of actors, musicians and people who would stay up till sunrise drinking tequila out of a glass head. We used to throw some wild parties! Anyway, when I was shopping for our housewarming party, and I saw a rack of those water-filled 'Wave Hoops' at the grocery store, I thought, 'Wow! Everyone will love these.' The night of the party, we were blasting music in the basement, and I pulled out the hoops. I started dancing with one of them, and it was like someone had handed me a missing limb. It felt so natural and so blissful. That was it. A spotlight shone down from heaven and a voice said, 'You are now Revolva. Go forth and hoop, girl!' Well, okay, it might not have been that epic, but it was definitely a life-changing moment. I fell in love! Instantly."
She continued, "I searched for professional hoops online, but I couldn’t find anything. I mean hooping.org didn’t even exist yet. So I just broke open the wave hoops and added more water to make them heavier. I actually was able to do moves like shimmying it up to my neck or taking it down to the knees while dancing. But I didn’t know there was a 'hooping underground' at that time yet either. My body just did what it did. It was a really great time, exploring and feeling totally free."
How did the performing start? She explains, "My first official hoop performances were with my ex-boyfriend’s project The Pangea Experience. None of us had heard of The Mutaytor. But Rollo, my ex, was orchestrating blowout performances that were probably similar. The Pangea Experience featured a live band with everything from horns to strings and drums, rappers, a tap dancer, live painting on a 10x20’ canvas, lighting design by Gavin of the 1313 Effect, female magician Misty Lee and Revolva. It was a short-lived project, but there were a ton of talented people involved. That’s when I really started getting on stage with hoops."
These days she's one of the hoopers who has racked up an international performance roster. "I’ve performed in Detroit of course, as well as in Portland and Eugene in Oregon, San Francisco, at Burning Man, as well as in Germany and Seoul. It’s hard sometimes to go full force with all this; I get exhausted. I missed class last October to perform in Munich and in April because I got flown back to do the Detroit Fringe Festival. But I started dancing when I was five – even before I started hooping. So I can’t stop moving. I feel creative in several different ways, and all these opportunities fell on my head at once. What could I do?"
How often does she hoop? Kari explains, "I rehearse at a dojo as often as I can, for 1-3 hours at a time. That’s when I really push myself to experiment because there are high ceilings and plenty of space. But I also hoop almost every day at home, whenever the mood strikes me." So how has hooping changed her life? "Hooping is the best thing that ever happened to me, so it’s hard to know how to sum it up. Physically, I lost 25 lbs. I had been focusing more on writing for a while, and hooping rocketed me back into my dancer’s body. Emotionally, it worked to heal pain about some things that happened to me in the past. It toned me up, centered me and just filled in all my cracks. When I make a hoop for someone, I get excited because I think, 'Here, this tool will improve your life in more ways than you could ever imagine.'"
Starting out hooping alone she was excited when she found that there were others, but that gift also came with her own personal struggle with self confidence. She told hooping.org, "When I discovered the hooping underground I had already been doing shows as Revolva. So I remember telling my roommate, 'I found my family!' But I also remember feeling intimidated. I had never taken a class. Tripping over this world had the result, at first, of making me feel like what I was doing wasn’t as legitimate as things that were happening in other cities. It took a long time for me to realize that I can honor my own path in life and with the hoop right now. With no one’s permission. When I figured that out, I stopped feeling intimidated and started feeling proud of what I accomplished in Detroit. Most of what I know I learned practicing by myself and performing in a converted printing factory theater, at dive bars, at biker shows, at the Detroit Roller Derby. In retrospect, what’s more legitimate than that?"
I asked if she thought Detroit played a role in the birth of Revolva. She responded, "When I was in Detroit recently, I was taking dance classes with one of my idols, punk-rock-ballet-genius-choreographer Christopher Leadbitter. He’s danced all over the world. But he’s back in Motown putting on shows that are so far off the hook, the last one I saw blew my mind. It made me cry. And sometimes Detroit produces great artists like that. There’s struggle in that city, but there’s also an edge and intensity to push you creatively. I’m not going to gloss over the parts that hurt. But I’m glad that’s where I developed into Revolva."
With that in mind, I asked her what is her idea of earthly happiness? Kari said, "Being blessed with a tight circle, or hoop if you will, of friends and family makes me happy. I have that in my own life and I’ve also come to appreciate the hooping community so much. Hoopers can be the nicest, most supportive people. The more hoopers that I get to know, online or in person, the more I think, 'Wow, this really is a gift.'”
What music does she really like to hoop to? She responded, "In general, I’m drawn to hip-hop, funk, R&B and old school soul. When I’m in the mood to rock, I love to hoop to The Hard Lessons or Electric Six." Being a writer, I asked her about a favorite recent book as well. She explained, "Here’s my circus and writing lives blurring, but I look at great authors like great jugglers. They throw a bunch of characters and plot lines in the air, and then they never drop a single one. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is one of my favorite books, for that reason."
What quality does she most admire in a hooper? "I admire a hooper who can go deep into the spaces between moves and make the dance her or his own. Like Spiral. She’s always moving in a way that’s unmistakably her. I also admire hoopers who appreciate the healing aspects of hooping and spend time giving back to the community." So what does she see as being her most marked hooping characteristic? "If I had to pin down a Revolva style I’d say it would be flexibility. I used to take dance and gymnastics. Stretching and extending are just natural movements for my body. In terms of overall performance, I think a Revolva characteristic though would also be to get really character-driven. I do Moby’s remix of the James Bond theme and use the hoop to mimic the gun barrel at the beginning of those movies. I saunter out like Bond and fire a fake gun through the hoop. I had gunshots added to the track and have an acting assassin creep out at the end and shoot me. Theater is exciting to me. I know some hoopers feel so spiritually attached to their hoops that getting all glitzed up on stage with them might seem profane. But I think entertainment and fantasy are holy. I always get this hushed feeling when I find myself lost in a musical or play. It’s like being able to dream while you’re still awake. So I love flow and freestyle in an organic setting. My hoop is a spiritual tool, too. But in more of a theater setting, I really, really love to create a story."
If she was put in charge of fostering a world wide hooping community, what would she do? She thoughtfully responded, "More hoop donations and community service projects would be great. When I was passing out flyers for World Hoop Day Detroit, some people couldn’t go home and look at the website because they didn’t own a computer. So if hooping just spreads through expensive workshops in nice studios, it will only spread to people who can afford that. World Hoop Day was a nice way to get people started on hoop-related projects in their particular area. When I see Annie, I’m going to give her a big hug for dreaming that up! Detroit’s event happened at Cityfest, an annual five-day music festival in the Motor City. It’s free, and there are 500,000 people over the course of five days so it was the perfect place to get people hooping. I had already booked the festival for Revolva workshops and performances. Then, The New Center Council, the non-profit behind Cityfest, was cool enough to agree to host World Hoop Day Detroit. They even purchased 250 toy hoops to give away to kids in the crowd. Some other Detroit hoopers and I built 50 handcrafted hoops for the summer prevention program at Detroit’s Alternatives for Girls. Fifteen girls and two staff members from AFG were able to come down and hoop with us. It was one of the best days ever! I was really proud of everyone who helped out."
Recently she opened for Weird Al Yankovic. I asked her about it. She laughed, "There were tons of people there waiting for Weird Al to start, so I had a good crowd. It was a total riot! I made a hoop for him, purple glitter, electric orange, green and several other shocking colors. He was very nice, polite and not at all weird in person. I’ve exchanged some email with one of his musicians since that show, and I’ve been told Weird Al has indeed used his hoop. On the tour bus while it was driving down the road. I’m just saying what I heard. But if that’s true, right on! 'Dare to be Stupid' was a favorite album around the house when my brother and I were growing up. Beneath all these sequins and glitter, I’m actually just a big dork."
In closing I asked if she had one piece of advice for someone picking up a hoop for the first time, what would it be. She said, "Believe you can do it. And make sure you get bruises and drop it a lot and laugh a lot. That’s what I did."
For more info and Revolva gear you check out her her under construction website, or better yet her Revolver Hoops MySpace page including designs by rock goddess QueenBee.
Published on August 16, 2007 | LINK | Comments (4)The Innerspin of Sharna Rose
Sharna Rose is a woman whose life has certainly been impacted by hooping. The 34-year-old who currently lives in the South East of England and always has, has become a hoopmaker, hoopdance instructor certified with two different programs, as well as the occasional hoopdance performer. Her husband of 11 years, Phil, whom she refers to as her "hoop widower," and her two children, Jay (age 9) and Lilu (age 5), all know one thing about her. She loves hooping. You're invited to find out more about Sharna Rose, our Hooper of the Week.
Sharna tells us, "My first experience with hooping happened eight years ago when I hooped for 20 minutes a day as a type of exercise. However Jay, who was 2 at the time, wrecked my flimsy hoop and I forgot all about it. Then I rediscovered the hoop a year and a half ago when I was given some money for doing some charity work and told to buy myself something. I bought an Acu Hoop and before long I found myself dancing about with it. I was immediately addicted and in my quest for more I found Hooping.org. It was there I leanred how to make my own dance friendly hoops and the rest is history."
History indeed. It isn't hard to see how hooping has changed her life. Sharna agrees, "It's opened up many opportunities - both personal and professional. Before I became a hooper I was at odds with what I was going to do with my life when Lilu started school. My options were fairly grim. I could be a checkout girl, a cleaner. I was feeling fairly negative. Teaching the hooping skills that I had learned on the internet and selling hoops allowed me to earn a living that I had control over. It was nothing short of a miracle really. Opportunies continue to present themselves to me and I feel very much grateful for them.
How often does she hoop? She says, "I try to hoop for at least an hour a day. If I miss the practice it transposes onto my life. I become irritated and I lose clarity. So it is with great relish that I'm enjoying the summer festival season as I get the chance to hoop a lot more often."
What does Sharna do when she isn't hooping? "The hoop takes up a lot of my life but when I'm not in the circle, watching others in circles or making circles I like to be creative. I used to make lanterns and light sculptures out of willow, handmade paper and metal. Although I dont mediatate much these days I to take Kundalini Yoga lessons and I love to dance whenever I get the chance. Time is a very precious commodity when you have children and run your own business. I also like to read and watch films. My favorite film is "The Fifth Element" because what other message is more important than love is the answer to save us all from the darkness? I chose my daughter's name from this film actually. Can you tell that I am the child of hippies?"
Something she's currently dealing with is a health condition. She told Hooping.org, "I have a thyroid problem which was diagnosed at the doctor when I went for an appointment about the small lumps that I discovered on my hips. They were internal bruises as a result of using my Acu Hoop. This was very early on in my hooping practice. I avoided taking my medicine until recently though because I found it hard to accept that I was ill, plus when I was hooping I could not relate to illness being present in my body. However, I feel somewhat strangely guided by the hoop to confront it and for the first time in my adult life I am feeling level and well."
Her favorite hoop is "a 36 inch hoop in 3/4 OD tubing in pink, sparkly pink, silver, black, flourescent pink and purple. I like the lightness that these hoops provide. When I am dancing with them I feel like an air sprite! Like most people I started with heavy large hoops and have scaled down, but I still love to use my 1 inch OD hoops though because of the reassuring weight."
So what quality does she most admire in a hooper? Sharna says, "I love to see people freely feeling their unique hoopdance, to witness the different expressions of self that are made manifest through movement." What does she believe to be her most marked hooping characteristic? She thoughtfully responds, "I yearn for symmetry and balance in life and I believe that this is expressed in my hooping."
If she could give a hoop to one person it would be her late sister. She explains, "I would give the hoop to my beautiful and angelic sister who died 10 years ago. She would have understood the potential and power inherent in the circle." She's been responsible for getting hoops into the hands of many others. She says, "Over the Christmas period of 2006 I made a lot of red and prismatic red hoops, 800 of them, for Heart FM, and I did this from my own home. It was one of the most difficult and stressful times of my life and it really tested my family life and made me aware of how strong my little family is." The photo here is of her daughter's bedroom full of hoops on Christmas Eve. Lilu actually had to spend the night at the home of Sharna's mother-in-law."
If Sharna had one piece of advice for anyone picking up a hoop for the first time, what would it be? She responds, "I would love to say 'If you learn to hoop both ways amazing blockages in your energetic being will be released and addressed,' but I would very likely say, 'It is good for overall body balance to hoop both ways.'"
Catch Sharna hooping for the Circularity Thinking Conference, in her backyard, hooping blindfolded and enjoying her Glory Days. You can find out more about Sharna Rose at www.sharnarose.co.uk.
Published on August 03, 2007 | LINK | Comments (2)Noelle Powers Has Hooping Powers
Noelle Powers is a 30-year-old professional movement artist, hoopdancer, hoopeducator and hoopcrafter in the Washington D.C. area who has been concentrating her efforts on spreading hoop love throughout the mid-Atlantic region. She told Hooping.org, "I grew up dancing and that, for me, has always included a decent dose of hip-shaking. I even love to hoopdance with an invisible hoola hoop which garners many laughs and can also be a great teaching technique." With all the hooping in her life, we knew it was time to find out more about Noelle Powers' hooping powers, and you can too in this truly thought provoking interview with our Hooper of the Week.
So how did it all begin for Noelle? She said, "I hooped a bit as a child with the cheapo-whamo hoops of yore, and rediscovered the hoop-movement whilst living in Seattle a few years ago. I heard about a weekly hoop night organized by Ariel Meadow Stallings and Kara Spencer, freaked out at the fantasy-come-true sound of it, went to the very next hoop night and instantly fell deeply in love. With the movement, joy-inducement and community it so easily grew too."
While it's obvious that the hoop has made quite an impact on her, we asked her how hooping has changed her life. She responded, "Hooping has changed my life immeasurably! It's allowed me to integrate so many aspects of myself into one greater whole: child-like playfulness, confidence, independence, non-linear ways of thinking and moving, blues-management, core strength, endurance, meditativeness, sexiness, boundary-friendliness, and it's simultaneously very social and community-fostering. Hooping is now my professional work- and because of it I've had the gift of sharing this unique form of revolution with countless others thus far."
When she isn't hooping Noelle loves to dance. She also loves to play with her nephew and niece, learn about the brain and laugh, read and reflect. If you're wondering about her interest in the brain, it's a multi-layered issue in her life. She explains, "Over the last 3 years I have been dealing with my dear Mother, Mimi Powers, having Level 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme brain cancer. She passed away on November 7, 2006 from the deadly disease. I vividly recall the day she picked up the hoop I'd made for her (barely being able to walk
without assistance) and hooped for a good 20 or 30 seconds. She had the most inspiringly positive attitude and outlook on life - and I feel that hooping captures her powers of spreading joy and love like nothing else. This year I organized the first annual Hoop for Hope event to coincide with the 5K Brain Tumor Race/Walk that happens every year in Washington, DC. With the help of numerous friends volunteering, we raised hundreds of dollars to donate on behalf of Team Mimi, and outfitted many survivors and their families with shiny new hoola hoops. Besides being a stellar form of brain exercise with it's bilateral hemisphere stimulation, hooping is a such a good-mood-maker too. Dealing with losing my mom has by far been the most challenging journey of my life, but having hooping as an outlet has
been a source of coping and healing. I always tell folks, 'You can't really have a bad time when you're hoola hooping.' While it certainly doesn't take away my grief, hooping allows me to find moments of bliss throughout the difficult mourning process."
What is Noelle's idea of earthly happiness? She tells us, Everyone being fully present in their bodies. I believe that if we were all super present and embodied, we would be much more aware of our feelings and able to be honest and kind towards one another. There is so much sensual joy that people miss out on in life because they're not present and therefore do not allow their feelings to emerge. Hooping is one type of meditation that helps us get back into ourselves and find the grounding that is so essential to living well."
Does she have a favorite hoop? "My favorite hoop was recently reborn as it was pretty beat up. I think it started off being pink, orange, and red. I made it when I first began teaching and have always gravitated towards it. I like it because it seems best suited for over-all use with a dancing-focus. I tend to most enjoy a medium sized hoop, about to my belly button, usually 100 PSI, with just a bit of water weight to it, but I'll make do with whatever's around. I'm usually carting around dozens of hoops from classes to clubs with all sizes and styles well-represented."
What's her favorite music to hoop to? Noelle explains, "I love a whole lot of music, but most often find myself hooping to soulful funk. It's got an amazing beat and is dynamic enough to encourage different styles of movement within it. Earth, Wind and Fire is always a solid pick. I also love and encourage my students to explore how our hooping changes based on genres and speeds of music changing- so it's fun to switch it up a lot!" A favorite recent book is Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." She says, "It's hard to describe why it's so wonderful. Read it and see for yourself!" Some of her favorite films include The Princess Bride, Mad Hot Ballroom, Rize, and But I'm a Cheerleader.
What are some of her favorite hooping characteristics in others? Noelle reveals, "My favorite fellow hoopers are ones who are friendly, energetic, willing to share moves, community-minded, and humbly confident." Given that, we asked her what her most marked hooping characteristic is. "Probably my wild & funky dancing style, or styles, that I am able to seamlessly fuse with hooping, and with that also comes my knack for expressing very different moods and emotions through hoopdance."
If she could give a hoop to one person in the world, who would it be? She thoughtfully responds, "It'd be someone who is looking to overcome a trauma or great feeling of depression, be it surviving abuse, a car accident, or a hurricane. I've only known hooping to have an intensely uplifting and transformative effect, and therefore it would be particularly well-suited to folks who are having a hard time walking through the world."
If she were to tell someone picking up the hoop for the first time one hooping tip or something learned about hooping or as a result of hooping, what would it