Dance Archives - Caroleeena's Circles Of Joy

Top Hat Hoopdance Award Winners 2015!

By Caroleeena March 10, 2016Dance, Hoopdance, Top HatCircles of Joy Hoopdance Award, international hoopdance awards4 Comments

Thank you to everyone who shared dances with me!!! Thank you to everyone who made hoopdances and shared them with the world! I have had the honor of witnessing hoopdances for fathers, mothers, and husbands as well as dances for audiences and dances in living rooms, back yards and interesting places.…

Suck In Your Belly for Balance, Elongation and Power in Hoopdance

By Caroleeena June 8, 2015Dance, hoopdance, Hoopingabs, posture, stomach vacuum, suck in your belly, suckng in your belly3 Comments

In a previous blog, I have talked about a ritual for building powerful posture for hoopdance. One of the instructions in that ritual is "Tighten your abs". The reason we do this is to pull our organs in and up, to center at our midpoint both horizontally and vertically -- the…

Repetition, Alternation, and Exploring Phrases in Hoopdance

By Caroleeena June 1, 2015Dance, hoopdancealternation, exploring phrases, phrases, repetition, understanding phrases1 Comment

Interesting dances are an alchemy of variation and repetition connected by transitions. I find many hoopdances have a lot of variation when it comes to moves, especially tricks, but they often lack repetition. Repetition and/or its sister Alternation allow us to really explore either a phrase in the music or an…

Embellishing Hoop Moves

By Caroleeena May 26, 2015Dance, hoopdance, Hooping, Uncategorizedembellish, embellishing hoop moves1 Comment

Any hoop move can be improved by adding a decorative detail. The detail can be as simple as adjusting the posture, holding the head a certain way, directing the gaze, a turn of the hand, articulating the fingers, positioning a foot or a leg, or it can be as complicated and…

Circles of Joy International Hoopdance Awards

By Caroleeena May 3, 2015Dance, hoopdance, UncategorizedCircles of Joy Hoopdance Award, Hoopdance Award, Top Hat Award, Top Hat Awards11 Comments

Celebrating Hoopdancers Telling Stories Through Movement! I love the Hoopie Awards. Every year I am exposed to new hoopers and hoop videos via Hooping.org’s annual awards: http://www.hooping.org/hoopie-awards/ Thank you Philo for making them! I know they are a ton of work. This past January I was sad to see that there…

Pointing the Toe and Dragging the Toe in Hoopdance

By Caroleeena April 27, 2015Dance, hoopdance, Hooping, Uncategorizedpointed toes, rond de jambe, tendu, toes1 Comment

Our focus this week is Toes! Pointing our toes, connecting with the ground at the point of the toe, dragging the toe while traveling in lines and circles and dragging the toe up the leg so it stays connected to the body at the ankle, knee or thigh. When the toe…

Hairography for Hoopers!

By Caroleeena April 12, 2015Dance, hoopdance, Uncategorizedhairography, putting the dance in hoopdance

Hairography is more than just a wonderful episode of Glee: It is a series of ways of moving the head that transfers energy to the hair so it becomes its own dance prop. To be clear, you don't have to have hair to do hairography. These moves are also interesting simply…

Bringing Energy to Your Hoopdance

By Caroleeena March 16, 2015Dance, hoopdance, Hooping, Performance, UncategorizedBringing energy to your hoopdance, energy hoopdance

Energy has many different definitions and all of them can be applied to hoopdance. - Chi is the active life force that animates every living thing. In Chinese medicine, this energy has two main expressions -- the inward flow of Yin and the outward flow of Yang. Yin is the softer,…

Exploring Levels In Hoopdance

By Caroleeena March 3, 2015Dance, hoopdance, Hoopinghigh level, level changes, levels in hoopdance, low level, mid level, middle level

Levels refer to a dancer's movement up and down the vertical axis as they move in and through space. As hoopdancer, our prop, the hoop, becomes an extension of the hoopdancer that can also explore movement up and down the vertical axis. Low level: Body Movements on the low level include…

Contraction and Expansion in Hoopdance

By Caroleeena February 23, 2015Dance, hoopdance, hoopdance, Hooping, Performance, Uncategorizedcontraction and expansion in dance, contraction and expansion in hoopdance3 Comments

Contraction is the act of becoming smaller. Expansion is the act of becoming larger. We experience expansion and contraction with every breath. As we breathe in, the lungs fill, the chest expands. As we breathe out, the lungs empty, the chest contracts. From any joint in the body we can expand…