I have just realized that I will be missing the Saturday Circus for the first three weeks of August… this is where weekend trips (so I don’t miss work) get in the way of weekend play, and I’m sad!

The Saturday Circus is definitely one of the high points of my week: time to play with my hoops (teaching is great, but playing is sooo important for me!), time to learn new skills on things other than hoops (Double-Dutch skipping is on my list now that my back is better and I can probably skip without causing damage), and a chance to socialize with friends and other skill-toy enthusiasts! I don’t think I’ve ever missed this many weeks… *sigh*

Events that are taking me away include a weekend trip to Saltspring Island - I’ve always wanted to go check out the market, and the BC Day long weekend is when my partner and I celebrate our anniversary, so this will be a lovely sweet little trip. I’m looking forward to getting lots of knitting done during the ferry ride, and the B&B where we are staying has a private hot tub for us, and SHEEP! (If you are surprised to hear about my fibre obsession, visit http://christaknits.com to see the other work that I do!)

My friend Katie is getting married the second weekend, so we’ll be going up to Gibsons for her beach wedding. Katie and I worked together at the UBC Aquatic Centre for six years, keeping the pool running, the staff on track, and each other sane. She gave me incredible support when I had to leave that job due to harrassment, and encouraged me to find work that I loved.. thanks, Katie! (she’s marrying a guy that she met at the pool, who I dubbed ‘Flicky Wrists Dude’ due to the way he swam when he first showed up at the pool to train… he’s now an internationally-competetive triathelete, and his stroke is better than mine has ever been!)

The third weekend will be one more mini-vacation, this time heading to Seattle. My friend Paul (longest friend still standing - we met when I was 16) and his wife have invited us to stay with them as a home base while we explore all of the touristy things in Seattle that Chris has never seen (I’ve seen about half of them, but am happy to do repeats).. any suggestions for must-see locations are welcome!

Anyway… so, good reasons to miss the Circus, but I’ll be overflowing with excitement when I come back!

Other August news: the Earlybird Deadline for cheapest Flow packages is coming up on Aug 14 and 16 - just $11 per class when you register for a Season Flow! Summer classes end Aug 24 and 26, and Fall classes resume Sept 14 and 16.. and yes, we may be packing in another trip during that break, perhaps Tofino this time!

There are still spots in summer classes: Mondays and Wednesdays are both running through August so you have lots of learning options! Oh, and Scratch and Dent listings will be up after Wednesday’s class, so look for those sweet hoop deals to give an old hoop some new love!

That’s all.. stay cool this week, no hooping in the midday sun!

http://thefestival.bc.ca

I love this event… I think I’m on year 10 of volunteering, and am enjoying my gig with the Info Booth crew for the second year!

The Folk Fest has always been high on my list of favourite places to hoop - in 2005, after I started hooping in May, I hauled extra hoops into the fest and started meeting other like-minded people (including Dave, who you can see in the photos on the Classes page - he started playing with hoops at the festival that year, then went away and built his own and worked on figuring it out over the next year, and then he started coming to my classes!) who fell in love with the beauty of dancing with a ring.

This year, I was happy to be asked by the Festival to put together a group of roving performers to play in the Little Folks area and around the other stages. Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, I got top billing in the program as a roving performer myself, and my lovely group of flow artists didn’t get the credit they deserve.


So, these are the people you will be seeing in performer and teacher roles throughout the weekend:

David Yates (poi spinner) and Diane Garceau (hooper) of Night and Day Dance
Ariel (hooper - and a co-performer from waaay back!)
Lars (poi spinner - Saturday Circus regular)
Sia (juggler - Saturday Circus regular)
Yuki (juggler - Saturday Circus regular)
Sarah (poi spinner - Saturday Circus regular)
Tamara (hooper - fabulous ex-student)
Dani (hooper - friend to Tamara, with a ton of kiddie hoops to share)


Along with the personal hoops I’ll have with me at all times, I’ll have 15-20 adult-sized hoops spread throughout the Fest as usual… (if you happen to see one with my business card taped to it, about to wander off-site without me, please snag it!) … and I can’t wait to get playing! Please say hi if you spot me in the fields, or at the Info Booth from 8:30pm onwards

See you there

This past weekend was the incredible Hoop Path workshop led by Jonathan Baxter. Unfortunately, I strained my back on Friday and was unable to hoop very much, but I still got a lot out of the few exercises I could do, and from listening to Bax’s coaching and encouragement and storytelling. I know that when I’m back up to full hooping ability, I’ll have lots to work on! (”Sky sky sky sky…” and “Earth earth earth earth…” will be a main focus, along with continuing to build my shoulder hooping speed so I can turn less and still keep it travelling a smooth path as A’na runs her way across my chest).

Saturday Circus held a new treat this past weekend: Double Dutch skipping! We met Jeremy at the Jazz Fest the previous weekend, and when he came out to the Circus, he brought two skipping ropes and had several of us spinning or jumping through the overlapping paths of the ropes. I held off on jumping until my back heals, but my sweetie Chris tried it for the first time, and progressed to pulling off some spontaneous turns as he was also doing self-spinning AND jumping! I’m guessing that there is some actual Double Dutch vocabulary somewhere that I should be learning, and I will probably spend a good chunk of time looking at online videos in the next couple of weeks! This coming weekend I will be at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival instead of the Saturday Circus, but the following weekend I hope to try it out for myself! Jeremy mentioned that he’d like to get a Double Dutch group started (Saturdays don’t often work out for him), so do let me know if you’d like to get connected and I’ll pass your contact info along!

Lastly, I’ve got something new in the Hoop Shop!

The Hoop Wardrobe is a three- or four-hoop package that will give you all the tools you need for a full hoop practice, with a decent discount! Along with a regular sized hoop, it includes a larger, slower hoop that will help you learn lifts, drops, and shoulder hooping.. and then a smaller hand hoop for off-body moves! The four-hoop package gets you a second regular or small hoop, for twins or poi-style hooping! Wheee!

I’m also planning to find a source for skinnier and lighter tubing to make featherweight hoops - with my back out this weekend, I found that I could still comfortably do some hand hooping with the teeny hoops I brought back from North Carolina, and I watched a number of hoopers there do some incredibly fast moves on their larger-but-still-lightweight hoops that looked like a lot of fun! I’ll let you know when they are available in the Hoop Shop.

Oh, and Monday and Wednesday classes are still open for drop-ins and packages, though spaces are filling fast! The next Sunday workshop on July 26 is also starting to fill, so register soon!