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!