About Hooping

Hoops have been found in ancient Greece, documented on pieces of pottery and other preserved images, and have been a familiar toy shape throughout the ages.  The modern hoop emerged In 1958, when Wham-O introduced Hula Hoops to the North American market.  The toy was based on bamboo hoops seen in Australian gym classes and named for the Hawaiian dance that it was thought to resemble.  Modern hoopers drop the "Hula" from the name, both to show respect for Hula dancing and to claim Hooping as its own style.

Small hoops are used in North American Native hoop dancing, traditionally by shamen and medicine men to provide healing visions, but increasingly by native dancers who use the hoops to tell stories through movement while entertaining the audience.  Large hoops are a newer modification, handmade from poly tubing and decorated with colourful tape or fabric.  The String Cheese Incident, a jam-band that often plays at outdoor venues with huge amounts of space for dancing, started tossing hoops out into the crowds at their concerts, and they are often given credit for initiating the modern interpretation of hoop dancing.  From jam-bands to the rave scene and fire-spinning culture, hooping  is slowly spreading through the world both as a dance style and a fitness trend.

Fitness hooping comes in many flavours:  Lumpy hoops that promise to decrease cellulite while you lose inches, heavy hoops that are used more as props and weights for leaning and lifting than they are for spinning around your waist, and multiple kid-size hoops used circus-style with a hoop spinning on every limb.  Fitness instructors who have actually experienced hoop dance have created classes that incorporate the best of both worlds:  the moves and tricks culled from hoop dancing combined with knowledge of actual muscle use, conditioning techniques, and cues for good body mechanics.  Class participants experience elevated heart rates from the workout, but it is the FUN of hooping that they remember!

Hoop Dance also lends itself to both solo and troupe performance.  In Vancouver, fire hoops are becoming a common sight at Public Dreams events, usually performed by one or two dancers.  Internationally, the Barbarellas are reigning in Australia, while GrooveHoops are a well-known collective of hoopers in New York, and Anah and Christabel of California's Spin Babes travel the world performing and teaching hoop dance.  Looking for hoopers in your neighbourhood?  Visit hooping.org for updated information about regional hoop groups!

About Christa

My name is Christa Giles, and I am a Hooper.
 
I discovered hooping online, while checking out some links about the Burning Man festival.  I came across a video clip made by a woman named Ariel, who was hooping in her livingroom.  30 seconds later, I was hooked!  I watched the clip at least a dozen times over the next two days, and followed her link to find hooping.org to learn how to make my own hoops.  100 feet of tubing later, I had three hoops to try.. and it was HARD!  Ariel made it look so easy, and I could barely keep the thing spinning at my waist.
 
Ten minutes turned to thirty, a half-hour became one or two hours... I was hooping before work, on my lunch break, and after work, outside on the pool deck at the UBC Aquatic Centre or downtown at the underground rink at Robson Square with the breakdancers.  I learned to hoop above my head, on my neck, and then get it back down to my waist.  I then figured out how to do overhead and behind-the-back passing.  After much struggle, I could get the hoop to spin down to my knees and NOT fall to the ground.. about three weeks later, I got the knack of bringing the hoop back UP from my knees, and whooped out loud with happiness!

Hooping.org and its collection of video links have been my main method of learning new hoop moves.  The Hula Hooping Tribe on Tribe.net has been the other online haven, where a post titled "Getting it Up?" spawned an answer eight hours later that included a link to a video that Ariel made just to show me a few variations on lifting the hoop overhead from my waist.  That sort of willingness to share is the epitome of hooping.  There is no elitism, anyone can hoop... and people who hoop are happier.
 
I continue to push hoops out into the world.  I took 4 hoops to the 2005 Car Free Festival on Commercial Drive, not sure if there would be a place to play, but people were lined up to take turns as we danced behind the DJs from Beats without Borders.  At the 2005 Vancouver Jazz Festival, and 2005 Vancouver Folk Music Festival, I hauled 15 hoops to the fields at the open stages and set them free... as soon as people realized the hoops were there to be shared, they were in use non-stop!  Robson Square hosts BC Dance Sport ballroom dancing on Friday nights during the summer, and there were always kids and adults waiting for me and my hoops so we could play on the sidelines while the dancers swirled around the rink.
 
Hoop Play workshops and classes are becoming my focus now, and I am trying to get regularly scheduled events set up so more participants can discover the joy of hooping!  Canadian media have started to pick up on the hoop trend, and I have been interviewed by the Globe and Mail newspaper, Flare magazine, The Tyee online, and Shared Vision magazine.  Next step?  Hooping on the News at 6!  And the morning shows!  And in schools!  And, and, and...  the possibilities are endless.  World Hoop Domination, coming soon!  (actually, July 7, 2007 has been declared World Hoop Day!  Visit that site here.)