Caroleeena's Circles of JoyNovember, 2011
Raleigh Hoop Jam and Drum Circle Etiquette
Over the last three years our jam has really grown. Each week we have new hoopers and new drummers and I thought it might benefit us all if I shared a gentle reminder about drum circle etiquette and group consciousness. We’re very blessed that we’ve never really had any issues and I recognize and value [...]
Fire Safety, Fuels and First Aid
Contrary to what you may have read in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, we humans are not very combustible. We are mostly water. With the exception of our hair, there is not much on us that is predisposed to being going up in flames. What is flammable is fuel. Once you know this, you know [...]
How to Create a Hoop Jam
Hoop jams are an excellent way to build hoop community. They create a weekly opportunity to hoop, play, commune, get exercise, learn new things and get your dance on – almost like a festival at home. To create a hoop jam: – Recruit a Coordinator and Volunteers: These folks will scout out a location, coordinate [...]
Overcoming Plateaus and Releasing Inhibition in your Dance
Plateaus happen to everyone. They happen in terms of excitement, motivational energy and that joyful high feeling that you get when you dance. Be comforted in knowing that they happen to everyone, in every hobby, throughout life. Then pick up your hoop and get back to hooping. Plateaus are good for us. They mean we [...]
Power-Full Posture
When you slouch, your shoulders roll forward, your head droops, your general appearance becomes that of a person who is afraid of taking up space. Physiologically, the diaphragm becomes compressed, breathing becomes constricted, energy is restricted. Yoga teaches us that our chi, or energy, flows most effectively when we extend and expand ourselves, when the [...]
Alina Kabaena Rhythmic Gymnastics Tutorial
It is hard to find a rhythmic gymnastics hoop tutorial online, let alone one by a gold medalist, but Alina Kabaeva, Russian olympic gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics (and, weirdly, Vladimir Putin’s mistress) has a hoop tutorial on YouTube. It’s in Russian and is translated into Japanese but you can pick up a lot anyway. [...]
Playing with Beat Punctuation (or Pah!)
When I dance with my hoop, I emphasize different places in the music with my hoop or my body. If the tempo of the music moves from fast to slow, my movement moves from fast to slow. Where the melody rises and falls, I also tend to rise and fall. And in those percussive places [...]
Vaudevillian Hoop Rolling
When I was in Japan, I got to briefly study Hoop Rolling with Naomi, director of Japan’s Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and a rhythmic gymnast since she was nine. Naomi could make a hoop roll and return to her in many unusual and inventive ways. Most of us are familiar with rolling a hoop in a [...]
How to Make Sock Poi (with stuff you have in the house right now!)
Poi come from the people of the Maori tribe of New Zealand. Poi translates to “ball on string” and that’s literally what they are. The Maori make them by taking a small square of cloth and pouring flax seed into the center, then tying the corners of the cloth together with string. Voila! True Maorian [...]
Putting the Dance in Hoopdance
I enjoy studying many different kinds of dance. I find that every kind of dance informs and adds elements to my hoopdance. I take classes in everything I can, rent and buy videos, take workshops at festivals, ask my friends who take classes to show me things, watch videos and So You Think You Can [...]