Return of the Hula Hoop
I remember when I first laid eyes on her.
It was years ago, a sunny morning in a wooded area north of the city on the last day of theOM Festival. She wore a short torn dress, giant sunglasses, and leg warmers. Her hair was in dread locks, her feet were bare and dirty. Somehow I always imagine her with animal ears, though I can’t be sure if that was just my imagination. She danced in slow sensual sweeps to the wildly fast music, every 16th beat she would raise a shoulder, arch her back or stir her hips.
There were hundreds of people dancing in the sun, as I sat watching on the hill. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the dancer with the hula hoop.
The Hula Hoop
I saw it and was hypnotized. Where did she get that? This was not your kiddie plastic hoop that you pick up at the grocery store. This hoop was built for a woman’s hips. It was enormous, thick with weight and it moved in slow pendulous orbit around her dancing body.
There were other hoops there on the grass, and anyone would have been welcome to try. But I was frozen. It had been so long since I’d been inside a hula hoop, and I don’t remember being very good at it, even as a child. And so I sat there, wistful and wasteful. My hips stayed put.
Fast Forward to This Past Spring: I sign up for a six week hula hoop class.
My classes were in a small studio with a group of lovely women. The instructor brought us hoops and great tunes every week as she seduced us into sharing her playful relationship to hooping. She took us step by step through new moves like hooping on our bums, hooping with our knees, hand hooping and how to get in and out of the hoops with style. One of my favorite moments was when she had us practice dropping our hoops. We did this over and over until the sound of the hoop crashing on the floor was just a regular part of the class instead of some humiliating alarm signal that we had failed.
The Perfect Gift
Hula Hooping is exhilarating. It is a sparkly gateway to ease us adults into play. It is soothing on the belly, a delicious workout for the waist and hips, an instant way to wiggle off the blues. It’s faster than hopping on a bike. And as fun as it is to hoop in your own private world, it is much more so when you can hoop along with others. Giving the gift of a hula hoop to a friend is also a gift for yourself: an instant playmate to share hooping with.
Who knows, you may even find that you rock the hoop with little effort!
Be sure to check out World Hoop Day, a world wide celebration and non-profit organization aimed at bringing the joy of hooping to children in extreme poverty and underdeveloped neighborhoods. By spreading hoops around, they also spread joy. The founder, Annie Leffingwell-O’Keeffe’s dream is to have the world hoop for peace in 2012.
But if we pull back just slightly from world peace, I invite you to feel the peace in your body and spirit that wakes up under the coaxing rotations of a hula hoop.
Come on give it a whirl, then share your experience here.
The copyright of the article Return of the Hula Hoop in Body is owned by Carrieanddanielle.com. Permission to republish Return of the Hula Hoop in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Read more at Carrie and Danielle: Body
November 20th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Oh, a subject near & dear to my heart! Of course, I can thank my hoop for many things, but one of them is meeting you.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I can't believe you've managed to inspire me to add another thing to my 'list of ineresting things to do'! I loved hoola-hooping when I first started over 25 years ago – now I want to go out and start all over again – gotta getta hoop!
November 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
it's fun and sexilicious too. well i'm a bit of a dud but come summer it's hoopamania. hey danette, this is yet another one of your fantastic ideas you allyooped my way. dig the hoop, dig the video, diggin' you. xoxo
November 21st, 2008 at 8:23 am
Thanks for writing this email…. I got a hoop this summer and LOVE IT!!
I think you are talking about Sadie's classes… here's the link for anyone who wants a hoop or wants to take classes in Toronto.
http://www.hooptoronto.com/
Also, the SportsHoops are *not* the same thing! They're heavy and have annoying bumps on the inside that bruise and make it really hard to do tricks. Get a hoop from Sadie, or your local hooper, it'll be prettier, more fun, and you'll support a local artist!
November 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Yes, Thanks Heather. I did take my classes with Sadie and I also bought my wonderful hoop from her. Sadie is fantastic! I believe she is teaching a weekend workshop on the 29th (next Saturday). There will also be a beginner hoop workshop for people brand new to hooping taught by Allison the same day. They have hoops there! You just need to show up willing.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:47 am
Sexilicious indeed! Especially with you in the hoop. I can't wait already for the snow to clear so I can hoop barefoot in the grass again.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:51 am
Aw! So true Allison. I'm grateful that you were so patient when we were paired up in the very beginning and I kept dropping my hoop:)
Hula Hoops are a people magnet. Careful when you bring one on the streetcar…:)
November 21st, 2008 at 9:55 am
Hooray! Inspiring others is a thrill. There will be hoops sold at the Tranzac Artisans Gift Fair on December 6th and 21st in the Annex for those of you in Toronto looking for a killer gift (for yourself).
Maybe I'll see you hooping around the city MoJo…
November 21st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Small world – my friend helped to start OM festival sooo many years ago, and I already checked out the Tranzac fair and it seems to be run by a girl I went to school with over 20 years ago! Wow – I think the hooping was meant to be
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
I am looking forward to trying hooping. I am asking Santa for a hoop for Xmas!
April 14th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Absolutley brilliant! what an amazing article! i too have discovered the joy of the hoop! so much so we have set up a company! check out http://www.dreadsnhoops.com, much love, frenchy xxxx