Hoopaholic Review 2005-08: Intergalactic Space Babes Unite

The evolution of The Hoopaholics has been an incredible process to watch and be part of - a constant journey of change, movement, expansion, contraction and ongoing spontaneity that has encouraged us more than anything to just let it spin. Last night I watched the first video we ever made - all those boys! And so arty... well we always wanted to be.



With an urge to document as much as possible our underlying focus has been to shape the practice of hoops into an art form that speaks of creative expression, theatrical representation, synergetic experimentation, spiritual exploration and simple fun. It was never a pursuit in performance as a career or point of social standing - these things have blipped in and out along the way. When the Hoopaholics emerged as The Barbarellas in 2005 we simply wanted to put the hoopla out there in the best way we knew how - as a bunch of queers who loved to dress up and spin their hoops and dance in public. As artists, we knew that the camera would only make it a thousand times more interesting and fun for all involved.



We spent the first year getting a feel for what it was to be a group of friends performing together. For the most part it was exciting and joyous but was not without its sharp edges and schisms. Live performance, particularly professionally, really tests the power of the ego - does it push you to want to destroy it or to feed it without even thinking? In a sense, groups develop their own unique collective ego and ours was one of uncertainty. We didn't really know where we were taking the troupe as it grew a momentum of its own and we were simply and complexly left to fit in where appropriate. So we just kept on making art out of it and let it unfold as it was destined to. Tim started composing soundtracks, I learnt how to edit video, Nick kept snapping away with his camera and the beat kicked on. I love this video - it's an apt montage of the light and dark we experienced in the early days and has some amazing footage of so many of our talented folk.



The Power of Three has been a strong force throughout our journey. With people coming and going it has always been an interesting question - who are The Hoopaholics? We knew we were a troupe rather than a duo or single affair, we knew it had to be about the collective, and we also had a sense that we could never pin it down. The Hoopaholics have always been like a gang of teenage boys... restless, hot, unpredictable and ready for action at all times. Having said that, I love capturing the brief moments of stability (for want of a better word) - where we know exactly who the troupe members are. It's an amazing thing that we are now a performing group of anywhere between two and ten, depending on the occasion, but the essence of three is sweet... it generates a sense of core and lets that 3 way hoop play become all the more intriguing.



Something I have often grappled with and sought to understand in both hoop world and beyond is how the individual fits in with the collective and vice-versa. The hoop is such a great metaphor for this dilemma that we are invited to confront in life. Unless one is spinning tandem, which mostly we are not (altho recently The Hoopaholics have been more and more... a point to return to) ... the individual is flying solo inside a hoop. You can hang out with others and jam it all up but ultimately it's your sphere and nobody else's. The untouchable personal space is a place to hang out and get to know who you are and what you're about. It allows you to express in a way that nobody else can because, to borrow a Nia term, it's 'your body's way'. I've always found it somewhat strange and a tad frightening how hoop performers in Australia are so disconnected from one another and prefer to live their Divadom in isolation once off the stage rather than collaborate and connect (another blog). When I saw this collectively unconscious pattern hit The Hoopaholics and considered it as an optional route for myself I dipped my foot in to test the water then stepped right back to watch the rippled effect.



As the youngest of 8, I have to admit I always have gravitated to my tribe. The reality is, for me in any case, group energy is more FUN! At a time when it could have gone either way - fly the coop and go solo or hang in there with the gang - the hoop posse reinvented itself again and then again and again and continues to do so. It seems the trick is knowing your own way amongst the flock. We can bounce amongst each other as much as we like - how we will perceive that is a matter of where we stand within our selves.



I feel particularly grateful and amazed and inspired and excited that Sydney has been host to so many HOT amazing hoopers from overseas, predominantly from the States. That American Burner energy is infectious! I knew before I even landed at Burning Man in 06, I sensed it way back in 01 when I almost made it but didn't... that I had to go. Burning Man is like visiting Planet Art AND Planet Hoop all in one. It really is everything and more, to the point that I have to recommend to anyone who has a strong interest in art and / or hooping: YOU MUST ATTEND at least once in your life to experience the scale of synergetic artistic explosion in a surreal environment that promotes positivity, connectivity, creativity, generosity and the religion of FUN. That energy has landed in Sydney with our special hoopstar guests AND it has landed in the land of The Hoopaholics simply because this consciousness is what drives me the most and what informs me on a deep level in making decisions about what the troupe is about and where it is headed. It's organic and it's PHat. To be gifted with such wonderful people from other lands - just WOW.



When we open the troupe up simply to those who want IN and who are willing to train to perform it seems that the flower that is The Hoopaholics blossoms of its own accord. That is our point of certainty. If we just keep the hoop train running and remember to stop at regular intervals to pick up punters, or at least slow down so they can give it a running jump, the dynamic explodes into a spontaneous concoction of what is. It's holographic really - a personal favourite!



Another shift is coming - I have learnt the signs and can feel its approach. The Hoopaholic Sessions of a Sunday is a hub of inspiration and newness. We share and hang out and chill out and push ourselves to places we thought we would never ever reach (forehead hooping OMG!) and while it's another item to add to a rather stretched weekly schedule I can't bring myself to let it go as it feels like a rather special space that will birth the next chapter... whatever that may be. But for now, I just want to thank all the incredible hoop spirits that have come into my world and for sharing the dream of living the dream. Who would have thought that spinning a ring around you could be so profound. Intergalactic Space Babes Unite!

Love Bite

Friday 19 April

It is the eve of MOVE DAY. The last night that the Scorpion and I will share a bedroom and a home. After six and a half years this is quite a change, one that is both welcomed and embraced by both of us. We are ready for the shift... and as much as we have loved the time we have spent together we both simply reached a point of noticing the danger of familiarity and domesticity. It's difficult to avoid when you live your lives at break neck speed and fall into the flatmate zone of relationship. Why do humans naturally take each other for granted? Often it takes some distance and a considerable amount of awareness not to fall into this pattern with each other.

It's funny how at this time of moving away from others in the pursuit of discovering more about myself, and in an attempt to put my Libran points of relationship reference to one side, if only to reveal what lies beneath that surface, that I am discovering how essential we are all to each other but in a completely different way. I will call it the Old Way and New Way - the old way is about referencing other people as a source of happiness (or sadness) and about leaning on others energetically, emotionally, psycho-spiritually and physically for really selfish reasons... to boost one's sense of being. When we talk about how people "make us feel" we forget that no one can make us feel anything - we create that feeling ourselves. And when we reach out in perception for THAT feeling from someone it's like taking a piece of clothing off another, putting it on yourself and calling it yours. It's completely self-referential and centred around "how I feel". The New Way is about wearing your own thoughts and emotions, identifying them as yours and if engaging with others, appreciating (or not) what they wear and at most, considering how the two of you complement each other or not. What a Libran analogy! Straight from the wardrobe. The New Way is about learning to be supportive of others rather than leaning on them, it's about actively listening rather than waiting to have your turn to speak or impatiently interrupting, it's about caring about everyone as though they are your own child - with compassion, kindness, love, understanding and forgiveness. To live with an open heart.

Cut to a few daze later... Wednesday 23 April

I am now moved. And bed-ridden. For the first time in I can't remember how long! Telling really. The urge to purge... or at least to sit still - ratstyle: i.e. collapse. Drats! Time to blog and hang out in bed with my new feline friend Sasha, so its not all bad but I could really do without the yerky feeling inside my head and stomach. More about the love bite later and mental note on Hoopaholic update + report on last week's show at the Carnival. To be continued...

Line of Flight

I’m at my beach house and I become aware that the man is about to arrive. He wants to kill both Nick and I. I’m not really scared or panicked by this, in fact I am more relaxed in going through the well known process of strategising our escape. I walk outside and realise that now is the time to fly high into the sky. I’m flying around the neighbourhood quite happily when something happens that has never happened before – he joins me in the sky. He can fly too! I find this kinda hot and in that moment fall in luv with him. We kiss and then I realise how inappropriate it is as this is THE GUY who always wants to GET ME so I break away and fly back down to the beach house.

I call Nick to let him know what’s happening and tell him to come over quickly so that we can fly away together. Nick arrives and I lead the flight. It’s night time so very dark. I am flying on my back with my head pointed toward the ocean and Nick is facing down. I have my hand on his heart chakra supporting his flight. We fly far out over the ocean in a relaxed and effortless way. I suggest to him that we may wish to think about finding land as it probably isn’t the best idea to keep flying out to sea. We look for land and see a town then a city – a big grey steel like metropolis… like City of Lost Children or Gotham City. I wonder if we have flown to New York as I gaze at a bridge that looks not unlike the Brooklyn Bridge. We fly into a theatre.

Cirque de Soleil’s Dralion is playing and I am watching the characters with great interest and notice the detail of their costumes and characters. Nick and I are watching the show then realise that The Guy is here. He too had flown all the way to follow us. We leave the theatre in a kind of a chase which comes to a quick halt in the foyer. The Doolanoid sits in the background. We are all there and The Guy is trapped – lights and cameras on one side and the authorities on the other. He's so busted!

From Light to Dark to Light

The Hoop Teacher Journey was an amazing success! What a wonderful group of women to share it with. I feel the material has developed seamlessly and is ready to go to another level yet again. Building learning resources and adding to the body of work is a constant mission. It's a tricky one the whole concept of one's imagination being the limit of one's potential when the imagination is so ever-expanding! I could day dream forever and have for a very long time. Now I simply vision then plan then work my ass off to manifest the dream. I know I can create anything and am now taking the time to remap my reality.



Life has been pretty much non-stop. The week after teacher training was filled with finishing off 8 week course classes and preparing for Lisa's birthday bash on Saturday where I launched my new Glitter hoops! To be honest, there weren't many gaps at all yet again reminding me of the illusions I create of there being time out when in fact there is very little or virtually none. Before I reached Lisa's we had the Colour Parade that marched through the streets of Sydney spreading the joy of colour and then the lovely Mondo's birthday drinks. In between those two were a quick bleach and dye making me now an incredible irridescent turquoise! A new colour... needless to say somebody was a little tired before she even arrived at the party of the year.



I think it is fair to say that once the performance was done and I had wrestled with my own inner critic given a slight glitch with my equipment, I pretty much hit one of my infamous walls. Why do I do this to myself?! Couldn't I see it coming? Again over-committing, again surrendering to intense emotions and that restless feeling within and AGAIN beating up on myself... right now! If the Pluto square Pluto square Moon oppose Pluto situation is not going to sink or swim me on this one I will take back every single astrological utterance and throw my ephemeris away. As I hear my father gasp in my head (most recently when I told him I wouldn't mind dying being mawled by a Lion!!) ... Good Lord!! And to think I thought I was Unstuck from Pluto...

An interesting tangent. Monday night I received news that an old friend who I hadn't seen in some time but always rests deep within my heart had died. She was 34 and had a heart disease that promised not a long life... her life ended as she kicked up her heels at a hens night. I can hear her voice now and her laugh. I keep thanking the cosmos for an Aries moon enabling me to process emotions quickly and in the now yet when I reflect right now all I can feel is the pain of losing another friend to the ether. From light to dark right. Tomorrow I will visit her one last time - her body lying still in a coffin. Will her face be pale with a hint of a blue like the goth she always leaned toward? Did I feel her passing on Saturday night while at Lisa's party as my mood plummeted igniting that intense melancholic aura? Is it fair to make another's death an episode of one's own? As her best friend said to me last night - Jabe was a Diva, she would have wanted us to be in hysterics throwing ourselves into fits of grief in disbelief that she has gone. You got it Jabe Babe. How did this blog start about the love and light of hulahooping and end in tears of sorrow?



From Dark to Light
From the Untruth to the Truth

Today Lucia accused me of having no Scorpio in my chart! I contemplated afterwards the choice of filters through which to perceive - Light or Dark, positive or negative, trust or fear... the choice is obvious.

Back on track... cut to the rat having hit the wall lying in exhaustion trying to recover. That's what rats do. Drive so hard and fast and scamper until they can go no longer then crash then pull it together all a little too quickly then do it all over again. Sunday I woke up with an extremely sore shoulder and my back just not right. I blame my excessive need for glitter which destabilised my hoop which unsettled my sense of centre and started the spiral highway into said intensity. I am reminded of a Sabian symbol that came up in a reading about my solar return. Moon at 17 degrees Aquarius - using ALL of one's resources to prevent the destruction of a bushfire. Moon = emotions > 12th house = spirit realm. Dreams of boats and water and the people in my life. It's time to break it all down... rather than breakdown. In a sense it's like not caring but on the other hand it's nothing like that at all. It's having the detachment and willingness to care enough not to take ANYTHING personally and just get on with it. I gotta say, whilst floating through the downward spiral I really craved my fire hoop! Transmutation is a good thing.



When I made the decision not to buy into the viral like negativity about house hunting in the current rental "nightmare" that is Sydney everything fell perfectly into place. The room of one's own is sorted. My guides are with me and all is better than well... it's purrrfect. I feel just so blessed to have the women and men in my life that inspire me to be strong and to live my dream and to look towards the sun and think only beautiful thoughts. This life is SO intense mostly because I am knowingly and willingly stepping outside of so many comfort zones and pushing myself further than ever before to reach my highest potential as a creative human being. I can't settle for anything less because that's not my mission. And it's not about my ego although often it has its say, it's about being willing to raise the consciousness of humanity and the planet by being devoted to doing that within myself... In honour of the Boddhisattva. The words Spiritual Materialism keep popping up lately ... I guess that's what happens when East meets West. In reality, we are all bodhisattvas but not all are aware of it.



It's true that the hoopers are an Intergalactic race. We build energy, raise consciousness and bring happiness that is only known in the innocent and joyous childhood state. On Sunday, when Jabe was dying, I was in the park with a group of 8 year old princesses and JoJoMo hooping it up. I told the following story:

Once upon a time, far far away there was a Planet called Hulia - a planet where all people hulahooped ALL of the time. That's all they did, all day, every day. It was a distant planet, beyond Pluto and had a big ring around it. How many rings do you think existed outside of that planet?

Well. It's like clouds in the sky - some days there are a few clouds, then others a whole lot and yet others where there is only a single cloud in the sky or HoopGods and Goddesses forbid... there were none! On the days of only one cloud, everyone would hoop with just one hoop, on the days there were thousands of clouds people would hoop with thousands of hoops and on the days when there were no clouds in the sky... well... thankfully those days weren't very often!

Anyway, on Planet Hulia, the Hulian race ate the strangest things! Can you imagine what they ate for breakfast? That's right - fruit loops! And, at lunch? Donuts!! And for dinner?? No, not fish and chips... but yes! calimari! And ice-cream for dessert shaped into a ring with a big dollop of chocolate in the middle. Of course.

So one day each year there was a big holiday on Planet Hulia called World Hoop Day. On that day, all the Hulians had to get into hulahoop shaped space ships and jet out into the universe to visit every single planet and deliver hulahoops for the all the children, both small and big, to spin with. Some of the hoops even had incredible lights or glitter that sprayed from them or even fire!

Which is why we are here right now, doing what we are doing - it's been passed on through time and space. Everyone knows, secretly, that there is a place where the idea of as many hoops as possible goes beyond even the collective imagination. And the amount you can hoop with only really equates to your Super Power powers ...

Time for a hoop?