"Feelin' Hoopy"

 Frenchy's hoop journey in words....

I first picked up a hoop last March. Little did I know how much of a lifechanging and positive experience this was going to be. It's the craze thats sweeping the globe and springing up communities everywhere. So what’s all the fuss about?

Hula hooping in modern times is a diverse and multiple artform. Many of its practitioners refer to the art as 'hoop dance' as it, indeed, is a form of dance. The hoop is a tool in which you can express yourself, a tool which is circular and in this very concept of its cyclical nature it symbolises wholeness, unity and unending possibilities. It promotes duality, the inside and the outside, of the hoop, of yourself, and the interaction between audience and performer. The process of looking inwards and projecting outwards. Hula hooping in itself, in its simplest form, is really good for you physically. It burns up to 100 calories every 10 minutes, it tones your muscles and uses both sides of your brain. It's fun, energetic and stress relieving.

I did circus skills for years, burnt myself on the beaches of Thailand with fire poi, spent hours in the park perfecting the 3 beat weave. But poi became too popular, it was old hat, it had all been done before, the crowds just weren't as impressed as they used to be. Every Tom, Dick and Harry could use a set of poi. I’ve never been one to follow the crowd. I needed something new.

When my best friend introduced me to the joy of the hoop I was pretty impressed. It was quite addictive to spin the hoop around your waist, and it felt incredibly powerful. All of a sudden my womanly figure, my curves, they all made sense, and it was physical and good fun too!

I spent a painstaking whole day in my friends back garden learning my first trick, 'the lift' - a trick which I teach in classes nowadays and most of my students pick up in an hour. Gems became my Mrs Hoopyagi that day, and has remained so ever since.

We soon came to realise we could use hula hooping to work at festivals. What could be better than being in a field and playing around with a hula hoop? The reaction to our workshops was so positive, the act of doing them so much fun, and we had such positive feedback we decided to take it one step further. Could we really make a living out of something we enjoyed so much? We were prepared to give it a go.

Our business went from strength to strength. Word of mouth and recommendations got us more work, Gems worked in IT so she set us up our own website. We began to perform in clubs and to do workshops around the country. Dreads 'n' Hoops were ready to take over the world.

Gems became heavily inspired when she went to the 'Hoop Camp' in California: so inspired that she came back a different person. I saw a new light in her I had never seen before, a new drive, a new purpose, she had finally worked out what she was meant to do. And that was to hoop dance. I tried to share in her joy, but to me, it all seemed a bit mad, could a piece of plastic tubing really be that lifechanging? I enjoyed hula hooping, but i didnt feel the earth moving passion that Gems had felt. I was just happy she had found her thing.

Gems decided it was time the UK had a hoop camp. She went about setting up the first 'UK Hoop Gathering' event. The weekend was a raving sucess. It sold out 2 months before the event: hoopers came from Europe, Australia and the US. Beth Lavinder from the Hoop Path in America (a hoop dance curriculum that is sweeping the US) even graced us with her presence. I helped Gems realise her dream that weekend, and was blown away by the sense of community, love and positivity that I experienced. At first I was totally overwhelmed and mindblown by the awesomeness of the artistes around me. It was humbling, and ego destroying, and from there I learnt so much, and rebuilt myself within a supportive and loving environment. I had so much to learn from other people, and by destroying my ego and accepting that, I opened myself up to the next level of evolving. I finally understood why the hoop had rocked Gems world. It wasn’t just the hoop, it was everything else that came with it, the holistic joy that it brought to everyone who was privileged enough to experience that awesome weekend, and to all the other hoopers not present who were part of such an awesome community. It was pure inspiration. I was proud to be part of that.

We now regularly work doing hoop gigs. They vary dramatically which means we never get bored...one week we may be teaching 200 Rainbow Guides at their Centenary celebration, the next performing in front of 3,000 people in a superclub, the week after teaching disabled women at a conference to empower themselves, then spinning fire at a party for someone’s birthday celebration. Its this scope that keeps me interested, and this accessibility for anyone and everyone to access the artform that I hold so dear to my heart.

The hoop community in the UK is growing, its spreading like wildfire and the same names always crop up...Sharna Rose with her insane trick-hooping, Tilly and Hobbit, the Pantaloonies, with their hilarious clown hooping...the possibilities and styles with a hoop are incredible and every single hooper has their own style, their own flow, a way to make the art their own.

In this ever changing world people are constantly looking for something different, women in particular are looking for alternative ways to exercise, something more fun and inspiring than the monotonous repetition of the gym. Why not learn a skill and have fun while you get fit? I set up my first hoop course and within two weeks I had sold out. Hula hooping was so popular I could have sold out my course 4 times over. It was a huge surprise and a great achievement. I love teaching my classes as I love sharing the skills I have learnt with other people, and being able to pass on the joy I have felt is a great way for me to give back to the hooping community.

You think of a hula hoop and you generally think of a sexy lady with her slinky hips....So what about the men? i have a soft spot for 'man hooping'. Its great to teach teenage lads who think they're too cool to hoop. Try these warrior breaks I say, it always catches their attention. The first experience I had of laying my eyes on a man hooper was at a club night in London called Luminopolis. There was a guy doing what appeared to be martial arts, with a hoop. The hoop literally appeared to ricochet around his upper torso, not once did he spin it around his waist. I later came to learn that the tricks he was doing were aptly named 'breaks'. It intrigued me to see how different he could make the hoop look.

Patrick, owner of Psi Hoops in America says 'The hoop is basically a circle and carries the symbolism of that. The circle evokes meaning that spans the entirety of human experience. From the individual to the group, the family of man, the earth, the universe - the circle represents them all. It represents wholeness. Man in all cultures has used sacred circles for ritual, prayer, trance, healing etc. The hoop is also a wheel. Our civilization could not exist without the wheel. So take time to feel the symbolism of the hoop and explore it in your dance and workouts with the hoop.'

DailyOm.com says 'The Circle, which is the outline of a circle (not filled in), is the symbol of wholeness, unending life force, and the unity of creation - the beginning and end of all things. It attunes with the all. It is complete, and draws together and encompasses all that is. It also represents duality, inside and outside, but shows, in its completeness, that apparent duality resolves itself in unity, in one being.'

Hula hooping is for anyone and everyone, young, old, man, woman. It crosses cultures and classes. It breaks down barriers and creates communities. It inspires beyond comprehension and breeds positivity.

I am often heckled as a hippie in the street. These days I turn around with a smile and reply, 'You got it all wrong mate, I’m a Hoopy'. My smile carries me through my day. I’m happy to be part of this growing community, of this wave and movement of positivity in this increasingly negative world. To share this journey with others. To be inspired and to inspire change in others, to learn and grow within myself....and if all I need is a plastic bit of tubing and some conviction... bring it on :-)

(Written Summer 2009 - Frenchy - all rights reserved)