Hoop It UP Baby

Over a decade ago ago I was dancing at a nightclub in Melbourne and came across a circus performer spinning many hoops all over her body. I think it was in that moment that a higher energy beamed down and implanted in my being the obsession to hoop! I was transfixed and very intrigued by the power of the hoop and its ability to captivate not only me as a viewer but obviously the beautiful hoopstress herself. Very soon after this initial siting a friend gifted me a hoop which pretty quickly became my new essential accessory - I took it everywhere. Together we attended many a party and dance floor where I would settle into the corner, tune into the music and bliss out on the circular and rhythmic whole body meditation that hooping dancing essentially is. I felt like I was in an invisible bubble and strangely enough (many people refuse to believe me when I say this) it drew me out of my shyness! It wasn't until well into my performance career which started several years later in Sydney and specifically when I added lights and fire to my hoops that the invisible bubble popped and I began to engage with my audience, my self and life with a new level of awareness and the ability to literally light up people's lives. I have stepped into a comfort zone within that feels good to be me - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and energetically.

Hooping has been a channel for so much personal growth and self development. It keeps me fit, pushes me to explore my boundaries, invites me to be playful, sensual and creative, has opened me up to a global community of people who are driven to feel as positive, healthy and happy as possible and has tuned me in to my eternal inner child which is a bubble in itself. It's also radically improved my wardrobe. Life can get way too serious all too often. I love how hooping pretty much overrides this feeling. I see it in my students or in my fellow hoopies when we jam, I see it in videos on the internet, I feel it in my heart - when you spin a ring around your body and start to move your body something magical happens and then keeps on happening as you learn new tricks and ways to play with the hoop.

My greatest wish is to share my love of the hoop with as many people as possible, which in essence is why I made Hooping for Beginners - A Hybrid Hooping Journey. This is my first instructional DVD which focuses on the foundations of a style that incorporates both circus hooping (multiple hoops) and hoop dance (freestyle movement and flow). It is a 90 minute DVD divided into three lessons - on the body, off the body and multiple hoops. We shot it in my favourite place in the world, Central Australia, where the stars shine so bright and the red earth vibrates with a creative dyamism that I'm not quite sure I have experienced before. But of course when you beam three hooping divas out into the Australian desert there is bound to be a touch of Priscilla Queen of the Desert... and beyond. After each lesson you are taken on an Intergalactic Space Babe journey which features hot moves, grooves, costumes and attitude... it gets pretty funky! The soundtrack is a delicious smorgasbord of international beats and melodies that cross world, electronic, classical and indigenous genres. There is also a non-stop 10 minute closing Hoopaholic performance that explores character, costume, lights, fire, visual montage and sound. We wanted to move beyond purely the instructional side and add a visual and auditory feast as an art project as well as a series of lessons that says: get your bling on, get your hoop on, tune into your own personal rhythm and have fun!





Posted on Realize Beauty November 25, 2009