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Hooping Idol 2: Circus Week

May 1, 2012 in Australia / New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Features, Fire, LED Hoops, Male, Videos

Hooping Idol Circus Week Are you ready for a circus carnival extravaganza? Then welcome to Circus Week for Hooping Idol 2, our award winning contest that is leading all of us on an ever spinning journey in our quest to find the planet’s next big hooper star! For this challenge our finalists needed to create a hooping video inspired by our theme “Circus”. They were reminded to pay attention to our Ten Easy Hooping Video Tips, to have fun and to make it count because when the circus moves on six of our finalists will not be coming with us. Seated at our judges table today are three amazing hoopers with incredible credentials including Anah Reichenbach of Hoop Revolution, Canadian hooping legend Babz Robinson of Wild Girl Hoops, as well as quite possibly the most famous hula hooper on the planet – Marawa The Amazing of MarawaTheAmazing.com in the UK. Rich Porter of Isopop has the week off. Our finalists are once again presenting their videos and our judges will once again be sharing their thoughts and comments. So without any further ado, step right up and grab yourself some cotton candy! We proudly present our 16 remaining finalists, in the order their submissions were turned in, for a Hooping Idol Circus Week extravaganza! Read the rest of this entry →

Nelly Furtado Releases Big Hoops

April 30, 2012 in Canada, Native American, Sounds

Tony Duncan Talks Hoop Dance With Nelly Furtado

Tony Duncan Talks Hoop Dance With Nelly Furtado

Earlier this month we told you about “Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)” – the new single by Nelly Furtado. Nelly was caught on camera on stilts in downtown Los Angeles and World Champion Hoop Dancer Tony Duncan was in the mix so needless to say we were super curious. Well the track has been released digitally now in the U.S. as the lead single from her upcoming fifth studio album “The Spirit Indestructible”. The song certainly has a great groove, but while the lyrics are clear that bigger is better there is little mention of hoops and she appears to be referring to big hoop ear rings. And yet a new behind-the-scenes sneak peak at the making of the music video for the single has Nelly hanging out in Los Angeles with not just Tony Duncan, but his wife Violet Duncan and his brother Kevin Duncan as well. The Yellow Bird Productions hoop dancers talk a little about hoop dance and show off some of their skills as well and we can see they are clearly in the video. So needless to say we’re still intrigued. As for the new album Nelly says, “This album is all about positivity, youth, good energy and the relentlessness of the spirit. I want people to live this music the way we did when we wrote it. I want them to jump, dance, scream, laugh, cry, love and vibe to it, and to turn it up very loud everywhere.” Listen to the new single “Big Hoops (Bigger is Better) with lyrics below and check out the sneak peak at the making of the music video with the Duncans. Read the rest of this entry →

Lisa Odjig Makes Canada’s Got Talent Top 10

April 26, 2012 in Canada, Native American, Television

Lisa Odjig

Lisa Odjig

Lisa Odjig hoop danced with 17 hoops in the Top 10 Finals on Canada’s Got Talent. The two-time world champion hoop dancer who is also the first woman to ever win the renowned title in the male and female combined adult division often gives dance seminars to Aboriginal children all across Canada. “The hoops create symbols and designs of natures, such as plants, trees, animals and birds. It shows our connection with each other, the earth and all living creatures,” she told YorkRegion.com. On the show this week Lisa had 17 hoops on the go, using just about every part of her body, including her mouth. It was more hoops than she had used in her audition, but The Toronto Star felt the focus was diluted by having her surrounded by drummers and dancers this time around. Debra Yeo writes, “Whereas people leapt to their feet for Lisa at her audition, they stayed seated Sunday night.” Judge Martin Short said, “I’m not convinced this will make it to the very end because it was very similar to what I saw before. Moccio agreed the act probably wouldn’t win the competition, although he thanked Lisa for educating him about this aspect of native culture. Brueggergosman called the act “visually stunning” though and said it gave her goosebumps, but in the end Odjig did not move forward.

Hooping Idol 2: Disco Week

April 24, 2012 in Australia / New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Features, LED Hoops, Male, Videos

Hooping Idol Are you ready for a disco hoop dance explosion? Then welcome to Disco Week and the official kick off of Hooping Idol 2. For this challenge our finalists needed to choose a disco song that spoke to them and their hooping, then make a video showing us what they were made of. They were reminded of Hooping.org’s Ten Easy Hooping Video Tips and to have fun and make it count because when it was over five of our Hooping Idol finalists would be going home. Welcome to Hooping Idol, our award winning contest that is leading us all on an ever spinning journey in our quest to find the planet’s next big hooper star!

Seated at our judges table for Season 2 we have four amazing hoopers with incredible credentials. If you haven’t met them already, allow me to introduce you to Anah Reichenbach of Hoop Revolution, Marawa The Amazing of MarawaTheAmazing.com in the UK, Rich Porter of Isopop and Babz Robinson of Wild Girl Hoops in Canada. They’ll be sharing their thoughts this season on what all of our finalists are up to. So without any further ado, break out the polyester! Put on those platform shoes! Make your way to the hoop dance floor for Disco Week. We proudly present our 20 finalists below presently in a randomly drawn out of a hat selected order. Read the rest of this entry →

Hooping Idol 2 Welcomes Babz Robinson

April 23, 2012 in Canada, Features

Babz Robinson

Babz Robinson

Hooping Idol 2 officially got underway last week and we’ve introduced you to Judge #1 and Judge #2. Now it’s time to introduce you to Judge #3 so ladies and gentlemen, please give a great big Hooping Idol welcome to Babz Robinson! Babz comes to us from the great northern lands of Canada where she has been spinning things up since 2003 – our first Canadian connection back in the day. Having always been the one teaching others what she has been able to learn along the way, it wasn’t long before she was creating community and performing, becoming the iconic original hooper on the platforms at Shambhala, Motion Notion and other festivals throughout Western Canada. Soon she was teaching hooping workshops at festivals and on her home turf, training students who would go on to teach their own classes across Canada and beyond. In her travels with her hoop in tow, Babz has made the news while inspiring locals and others en route to start spinning things up in Costa Rica, Thailand and Sumatra. She’s also well-known for her awesomely advanced, professional and incredibly helpful hooping tutorials which she shares with the world for fun and for free. If Babz is making something, it’s gonna be good. In fact she’s received Hoopie Award nominations for her tutorials, as well as for Instructor of the Year, for two years running. She lives in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, where she can be found hooping in the Rocky Mountains, teaching classes and working a day job while performing on weekends and throughout the summer. Babz is psyched to be on board for Hooping Idol 2 and we couldn’t be more excited to have her sitting at the judge’s table. That’s all three judges for Hooping Idol – but wait, there’s four this year! Stay tuned to find out about Judge #4 later today.

Hoop Dance Tutorials with J.J. First Charger

April 17, 2012 in Canada, Tutorials

For those who are interested in Native American, Aboriginal or First Nations hoop dance, J.J. First Charger is back with a series of five lessons for us today. He starts off teaching us how to hoop dance with 5 hoops, then moves on to hooping with 7, and then 9. He also shows us how to make a hoop ball on top before teaching us how to put the hoops on our legs. J.J 1st Charger has competed at the International Hoop Dancing Competition in Phoenix, Arizona, and is dedicated to teaching others the art and the importance of it. He lives in Canada. (Thanks Jennifer). Watch the rest of the series below: Read the rest of this entry →