Level Up!

**cue Legend of Zelda sound effects**
I've been playing with vortex reversals for a long time now and over the weekend I started connecting them to vertical chest hooping. When I tossed in a vertical duck-in I learned from Ziggy and ChemicalGal’s back-roll, I moved into new, unexplored territory. I love the freedom of movement born of new combinations and new modes of hooping. These are the heady days before my muscles settle comfortably into memorized patterns. Every gesture is a new opportunity.

Angled hooping has been a real challenge and I feel I’ve finally obtained that diagonally plane through breaks and barrel rolls. Instead of doing my vortex standing straight, I bring it down while bent forward. I still haven’t figured out how to pass off, but I can break the hoop and send it back up. From there it’s real easy to move into hand hooping or better yet, to duck back into the hoop, then give it a flashy roll or toss.


I know posts like this are mostly irrelevant to the reader, since you can’t see what I’m doing and hooping-language is so bulky and variable. However, I felt I needed to post something documenting my trip to Hooper’s Landing and a homage to the skills I acquired there seemed very appropriate.

Many thanks to the Scattered Stars, who inspire me with their dance and for the luminous tribe of hoop-goddesses who teach on-line! Thanks especially for Elissa who helps me feel welcomed & who posted a whole series of LED photos (including this image of me!) from Hooper's Landing.

Hooper's Landing (a love poem)

The sunlight streamed brighter that day,
The leaves shimmered green in a dazzling way,
As I spun my hoop in an arc through the air,
Till it dropped with a clattered against the leg of a chair.
The girl learned forward, preparing to stand,
Dangling the hoop, like a wand, in her hand,
Then passed it back. I read in her glance,
That in motion or still we both form the dance.

Macra'maker

After many days of struggling, I finally passed two cords through the tiny, irregular hole in Beth’s holy stone. Yippee! The feeling is even more blissful than nailing a new hoop trick, because the stone need only be strung once and the completed necklace is visible evidence of my accomplishment. This necklace is more than a feat of cord-squeezing, however. It is a marvel of the imagination. Ever since Salali sent me her dangly bear-pendant necklace, I’ve been in love with long, tribal jewelry.

I made my holy stone necklace intuitively, just choosing beads along a color theme and string them in clusters. The idea was to create a necklace worthy of prayer and meditation, with texture and diversity. I left space between the knots so that the beads can be regrouped and rearranged. I love it! I love Beth’s necklace even more, because I was able to take my new design and share it. What makes these patterns even more special is that she and I found our holy stones on the very same day as we each enjoyed creek stomping adventures.