Spin in the sPark

Looking back on a fun filled wonderful year of hooping, and forward to another year of exploration, play, fitness and hoop joy.

This past year was an amazing year for me in terms of hoopdancing. I learned so much, fostered by the incredible hoop community here in Ottawa, my personal practice at home, hoop classes I participated in, and the wonderful students I had the privilege of teaching. Summer and fall 2011 I travelled to my first hooping festivals, and learned from the shining talents of the hoop world -Brecken, Baxter, Ann Humphreys, Malcolm Stuart, Caroleeena, Nick Guzzardo (head hooping, anyone?), got to meet hoopers from all over the world, and hooped with Llamas. What a year it's been.

What have I learned from it all-hoopers are as awesome as I thought they were. Maine is beautiful; I love the ocean and for the life of me can't think why I live so far from it. Hoopfest New England was delightful. I learned that Pennsylvania can get really cold in September. I don't like camping in 2 degree celcius weather (this was not a big revelation for me). I can fall asleep wearing a wool hat, winter socks and a thick sweater in addition to pajamas, whilst holding onto a metal water bottle filled with very hot water in an desperate effort to heat up at least a foot of the sleeping bag interior. I can have a great experience despite the weather. Hooping trumps cold and damp. Llamas are amazing creatures, one of the highlights of Return2Roots. Hooping all day and into the night with a bunch of other hoopers for days is exhaustingly awesome. I learned and played and felt my mind and body grow stronger, more agile. I have now experienced a porta shower, which I had no idea existed prior to September. I drove through the Poconos and the Appalachians, and officially hooped in New Hampshire, New York, Maine, and Pennsylvania. I provided some camping entertainment with my hoops in Maine and New Hampshire; perhaps someone got the hooping bug and is now on their own hoop journey. We touch people with hooping without even knowing it, whether it's just a happy moment in their day, a reminder to take time to play in their own lives, a yen to try something new, and occasionally, that obvious glint in the eye of a future hooper.

Clearly, I am head over heels for hooping, and for flow arts in general. That has been true through all of 2011, and I don't see it changing for 2012. What can you say against something so much fun, that just happens to be a great overall fitness workout, a tool for dance, play, flexibility, spatial awareness, coordination...I could go on. Well, I suppose sometimes it's difficult to fit that hoop in the car, it stands out in a crowd, on a bus, but that's why collapsible hoops exist. It's hard to be invisible with a hoop, and that's a good thing. Think of the hoop as a circle of portable joy, a conversation starter, an easy way to get in those 30 minutes of exercise each day, something you can share with your children, with your friends, or your colleagues at work that might make their day just a little brighter.

As 2011 draws to a close, my deepest thanks to my hooping friends who are a constant inspiration to me, all those incredible hoopers I have had the privilege to learn from, and my students for sharing their hoop journey with me. I wish you all the best in the New Year.

Whether 2012 is a year where you are deepening your hoop practice, or if you're new to hooping, I encourage you to let it flow (however you choose to define that word), not to judge your progress against other hoopers, to find your own path; whether it's fitness or dance or spontaneous spastic play, it's all right and beautiful in the hoop. Try something new to you, hoop blindfold, learn a new hoop move, or create one, and then teach it to someone else. Share the joy. Maybe start a hoop dream piggy bank for that new hoop, an led hoop, a hoop class, local workshop, or that trip further afield to a hoop retreat/festival. What are your hoop dreams for 2012?