Rather than making all of you do math, I thought I’d lay out the Flow package prices for Winter here!

To receive earlybird discounts, registration and full payment must be completed by Dec 16th.

If space remain available, regular pricing will be in effect from Dec 17th onwards and class spots will only be reserved once full payment has been received.

You can customize your Flow package by adding additional consecutive weeks at the same per-class price (ie, buy 4-7 weeks for $15 per class, buy 8-16 weeks for $14 per class, buy a Season flow for one weeknight and add weeks on the other weeknight for $13 per class). Earlybird pricing will apply to customized packages if purchased by Dec 16th.

Classes WILL be running during the Olympics! Please plan for this - refunds or credits are not offered for missed sessions in Flow packages. Buses, Skytrain and bicycling are all options that will get you to class easily, and I’m happy to bring extra hoops for you! I expect that finding parking will be impossible. If you will be missing a number of classes during the season, check out the pricing for the Flex packages - you can reserve a space for all of the dates you are able to attend, and any unused Flex classes can be added onto future Flex packages purchased in the following year. Visit the ClassFees page for more information on the terms of the Flex packages.

Please read all the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the page here before you register.



Season Flow package:
17 weeks: Jan 4 - Apr 26 for Mondays, Jan 6 - Apr 28 for Wednesdays.

Earlybird: $204 ($12 per class)
After Dec 16th: $221 ($13 per class).


8-week Flow package:
Any consecutive 8 weeks between Jan 4 - Apr 28

Earlybird: $104 ($13 per class)
After Dec 16: $112 ($14 per class)

4-week Flow package:
Any consecutive 4 weeks between Jan 4 - Apr 28

Earlybird: $56 ($14 per class)
After Dec 16: $60 ($15 per class)

Flex packages:

12+ classes Flex package
$15 per class – $180 for 12 classes within a four-month season

8-11 classes Flex package
$16.25 per class – $130 for 8 classes within a four-month season

4-7 classes Flex package
$17.50 per class – $70 for 4 classes within a four-month season

Our sheltered playspace has been under construction for a couple years as they improved the lighting, replaced the leaky skylight domes, rebuilt the rink surface, and shined the place up! I am really impressed with the new look and improved functionality, and cannot wait to participate in all of the events that will be scheduled for this space.

The Saturday Circus will hopefully be able to squeeze under the extended domes on fall and winter days with questionable weather, but we may need to wait and see how the space is allocated for the next few months: for the next couple of weeks, there will be a test-run of the ice sheet, then the rink will be cleared again for two weeks at the beginning of November, and then the ice will go back on for public use through until the end of the Olympics. We will have to wait and see how the people supervising the plaza space feel about having a circus group practicing among the other area users!

Once the Olympics are over and the ice has cleared out, I will be looking into the possibility of offering one-hour lessons in this space on Saturday afternoons before the Circus. Please let me know if you would be interested in these classes!

In other Saturday Circus news… I think that I am finished with my summer and fall travelling, and will be able to attend the Circus each weekend up to the start of holiday travel! I’m really looking forward to participating weekly, as these sessions are a valued part of my social life, and provide me with a decent chunk of personal practice and play time. I hope you can join me!

Here’s an old video that shows the space pre-renovations (and also records a point in time before our playdates were dubbed “Saturday Circus” … but you can see that along with a ton of hoopers, there were a lot of poi spinner showing up, so the change was already in progress):

August 23 - there IS space in this workshop! Due to technical glitches, the course has not appeared on the online registration system, and if you called to register the staff may have told you that the course was full, and this is NOT TRUE! Come down to play, you can register before the workshop begins!

First: I am in town for the Saturday Circus this week, yay! I’ll be heading down to the Vancouver Art Gallery from 2-4ish, with music and extra hoops to share. Come play!

Second: Fall classes are filling quickly. The earlybird deadline has passed, but Season Flow passes are still a great deal at just $12 per class when you sign up for the September-December season. Wednesdays start September 9, and Mondays start September 14, woot! See details on the Weekly Classes page, and check out the various package deals on the Fees page.

Third: I’ll have a new mode of hoop transportation shortly! When we were in Seattle last weekend, we picked up a Free Radical kit by Xtracycle, from Aaron’s Bicycle Repair in West Seattle. I originally went with the intention of just going for a test-ride on Aaron’s rental Xtracycle, but after pedalling it around (and UP and down the huge hills in that area) for a couple of hours, I was in love and didn’t want to wait for an online order to be shipped! My long-term intention is to add an electric motor to the bike, to keep me riding year-round and all the way out to UBC and back for late-night waterpolo practices, or downtown and back with the bike fully loaded with hoops. Chris will be helping me build a specific rack attachment to hold the hoops - the Wide Loaders on Aaron’s bike were reasonable, but I didn’t like the way my biggest hoops fell over sideways - we’re planning something in the shape of an “A” as tall as the big guys, with an anchor point at the top of the “A” for a quick tie-on and the bottom of the “A” to have 90 degree bends to slot into the connect points of the cargo rack.

And last: if you haven’t already seen this, check out the review of my class on the Tinybites blog. I sponsored their participation in the 2009 Blogathon to support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, and had a great time when Karen and Dave dropped by to give hooping a spin! Jason L. won the random draw for the TinyBites Grand Prize (which included a custom rainbow hoop from me along with a bunch of amazing things from the other sponsors) and did a drop-in to class to try out different hoop sizes .. and turned out to be a natural hooper! This was a neat experience, and I was really happy to find yet another way that I could support the Food Bank - they do amazing, and unfortunately necessary, work.

How’s your August shaping up?

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!

Last weekend at the Hoop Path Retreat was amazing, and a longer blog post will come, soon!

In the meantime, though, just one thing:

Sign up for the Hoop Path workshop with Baxter (!!!) when he comes to Vancouver July 11 and 12! (see the Special Events page for details) This was my fifth workshop with him, and I continue to learn new things every time. (I’ll be in the Vancouver workshop, which will be my sixth, and I know it will be incredible.)

I’m also looking forward to Saturday Circus tomorrow (okay, today - it is 1:15am as I’m writing this), and perhaps the Fire Jam on Sunday night.

Next week, no classes: Mondays start on July 6, and Wednesday is July 1, Canada Day, so the studio is closed and the next class will be July 8. If you have a Flex Package, please get in touch ASAP to get your name down for the weeks you want - Wednesdays are filling fast! Mondays still have tons of space, and the Flex and Flow options will get you some mad hooping skills by the end of the summer!

Lastly: Many thanks to the lovely Erica for taking over the Wednesday class while I was away - sounded like everyone had a great time!

That was an amazing weekend: Circus was awesome (if crazy - a Family Fuse event had us shifted to the other side of the building, but the helpful security staff will be emailing me to advise of future events so I can keep everyone in the loop!), the Bridge celebration was glorious (running into an old friend in the green room at my first performance location was a neat bonus, and my awesome volunteers kept everything running so smoothly that I could just relax and play), and the Fire Jam was a great personal success: I juggled three fire clubs successfully for the first time, AND I pulled off a shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder pass with my fire hoop! Wheee!

This morning is all about packing before running off to a day of yarny goodness at Three Bags Full (including Chris and I being models in a fashion show with sample garments from Twist Collective, yay!), hopefully with time to finish off the top I’ve been knitting and crocheting for the past week.

What am I packing for? We’re heading to Carrboro, North Carolina, to be part of the third annual Hoop Path retreat! Thursday to Sunday will be filled with workshops, social gatherings, parties, glorious meditations and drum circles and fire ceremonies.. and some playing with the miniature goat and horse that live at my host’s farm! It will be awesome, and I expect to come back feeling totally and utterly recharged with a ton of new things to wrap my mind around!

For classes, this means that I’m away for this Wednesday’s class. My dear friend Erica will be leading class this week, and she specializes in jumps - simple or complex ways to move your feet through the hoop as a stand-alone move or as part of a combination! Erica has been hooping for years, so she’s got a great base of knowledge for beginners, too, so feel free to drop-in to this class and check it out! $10 drop-in for first-timers (Vancouver area locals only for this deal), or $20 for a regular drop-in.

I’ll be missing the Saturday Circus and Sunday Fire Jam, too, but I look forward to seeing all of you next week!

Another glorious sunny Saturday Circus calls…. and luckily, there is now shade at the Vancouver Art Gallery! I plan to be there from 2ish to 4ish at least, so come play!

Sunday morning I’m teaching a workshop at the Roundhouse that still has space - visit http://christahoops.com/monthlyworkshops for details… 9-11am, $36ish to register at http://roundhouse.ca

Sunday afternoon I’ll be hooping at the opening for the Golden Ears bridge, with hoops to share and moves to teach! Look for me from 2:30 onwards, bouncing between the south and central stages!

Sunday night, if I can still move, I’m planning to hit the Fire Jam at Trout Lake - sundown (or earlier, for some non-fire types) until we get tired! 13th ave at Lakewood is a good entrance to the park that will bring you quite close to the gravel pit and dock that frame our burn space!