As I child I would lose myself in play with my hula hoop. I would do tricks with it, run with it, all kinds of just fun, free things. I would lose track of all space and time in the freeing space created within the hoop.
Years later, I joined Dance company in high school. I finally got brave enough to do a solo for our Spring performance shortly before graduation. I felt compelled to revisit my childhood passion, and I did a modern dance using my hoop, wrapped in threads as a prop. Though fear overcame me, and I abandoned many of the tricks I planned for my routine, I just allowed the hoop to propel me forward in my movements and I used improv for most of the number.
Then I didn't even think about hooping again until last year, when searching on youtube.com for a music video of Ani D' Franco's 32 Flavors, I stumbled across this video of two beautiful women, Amber and Ammre hooping to the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_X8QASylsw I was motivated and I knew I would be rekindling my passion for the hoop within the near future. As a child, and even my single attempt in high school, couldn't compare to the elegance and grace these two women conveyed through their amazing movements. I just knew that as much as I loved to hoop for that short period of time in my childhood, that this could be something so much more than a way to pass time or to lose myself. I didn't know how much so until picking up a hoop again for the first time in 15 years!
Life being what it is, it took me some time from when I first saw Amber and Amre hooping to figure out how to make a hoop , as I knew my days of using the old flimsy plastic ones were over. I found a great video that teaches you how http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1jXb6SC_4w but without time money or materials more time passed without me being able to hoop again.
Finally, September 2008 I gave up on trying to make one of my own and tried looking up a friend I met at Pride 2007 who just so happens to make collapsible hoops, and regular hoops for hoop dancing! Find him here: https://ww.mrhoopers.biz So I got back in touch with him, had him make me my first collapsible hoop and 2 regular hoops. We met up at Liberty Park here in Salt Lake City and he custom measured and made my two regular hoops right there on the spot! I picked up a hoop for the first time in 15 years and it was amazing, it really is like riding a bike. It came back to me, all the old things I used to do, and new moves started to come right away. I loved the weight and sturdiness of the new hoops. The backs of my legs and knees however did not, and I was black and blue and swollen for a couple of weeks.
Until my legs healed I limited my hooping to upper body but had a really busy work schedule. So it wasn't really until two weeks ago that I really got back into hooping. I started and just didn't stop, and now I will hoop at times for 2 hours a day. On busy days I will do it for at least 20 minutes at lunch time and I try to get in at least an hour at night. It is my work-out and has taken place of going to the gym. Though I do want to go back to the gym as well for weight-lifting, swimming and racquetball. I love hoop dancing so much. It makes me so happy, and has literally changed my life for the better in so many ways!
I don't just lose myself in the hoop. I find myself. It is one place where I am free to move, and flow in any way I want to. In the hoop, everything makes sense to me in ways that life just doesn't any other way. Inspiration and new ideas flow into my mind while I'm spinning in my hoop. I love learning how my body can move, to embrace my femininity, my sexiness in these movements. Time stops for me. What feels like moments, is really hours and I am shocked and excited when I look at a clock and realize I have literally lost time while in my hoop and hours have flown by!
My body is getting more and more toned, I am working muscles I didn't even know I had! My waist is slimming more and more and I can just feel the inner strength in my core developing. My confidence is building, and overall I am happier and more peaceful, especially just after hooping. I find myself fantasizing about the moves I'm trying to learn, and imaging how to move my body in those ways. I am amazed at hoopers like Ammre, Natasha, Hoopadelic and Hoop Girl and the many other wonderful and talented hoopers I am learning from on youtube. I have truly found a passion, that I don't ever want to let go of again. This passion is transforming me, into me!!!! The woman I always knew I was, hiding under all these fears and insecurities.
Check out some of the amazing people that have inspired me on youtube:
Hoopadelic http://www.youtube.com/user/Hoopadelic
It is the best feeling! And my sex life. My sex life was already wonderful, but now I am taking a more active role, and feeling more confident in my actions both in and out of the hoop and in and out of the bedroom!! I am owning that I am a beautiful, sensual, SEXY woman in ways I never have before! I am letting go of fears imprinting in me from a strict religious up-bringing and fully embracing my sexy, spiritual self, as who I am, and what I believe and what I feel! I am less depressed, even at this difficult time of year for me (fall/winter). Through hooping I have found peace in myself, balance and passion that I have been longing for.
Then just last night, I stumbled across this video on my never-ending quest for more talented hoopers to learn from on youtube. And I realized this passion I am tapping into, is more than that. It is a revolution, and not just my own. Hooping and hoop-dancing is a world-wide movement, revolution and phenomena. I am so proud to be a part of this revolution! I am a part of something so much bigger than what happens inside my circle, my hoop connects me the bigger circle, the circle of life. All the hoopers out there in the world, all the people in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBaWPTCzhM4For me inside my hoop I find freedom, joy, bliss, peace, and a healthy outlet for my energy, a way to move my body. I have a desk jobt during the day so the longing to get inside my hoop and move is a healthy drive that is helping me in ways I could only dream possible, but it is possible! I want to
My new dream is to perform at parties and clubs~and maybe become an instructor myself someday!! So my goal is to practice, practice and practice!!!! I am going to post my beginning videos soon!!! So prepare to laugh with me, but maybe you will also be surprised that I am better than you might think after just 2 weeks in the hoop! I know I am surprised! And hopefully my progress will inspire others too!
