Mountain Doom

Last week (maybe it’s been 2 weeks now) I returned from camping with a queasy tummy. I wrote it off as the result of too many days sustained on beer and granola. Then I spent a day in bed, followed by a week of periodical bouts of sickness and dizziness. I updated my diagnosis to a tummy bug agitated by too many days sustained by beer and granola. By the second week I was at a loss, because I hadn’t been drinking at all: no beer, no juice, not even much water, because I felt so icky and was so busy. So I made it a point to rehydrate, but still felt terrible. Part of me knew part of the problem was the soda. I drank it anyway. Then I decided to test my hypothesis. I felt great all day at work, and then during the mid-day doldrums I downed a Mountain Dew. Not 5 minutes later my stomach was burbling and heaving. Definitely the soda. So now I keep one cold soda in the fridge, but I try not to drink it. I like knowing I have one there if I start fiend-ing for the bubbly goodness. Yesterday I didn’t drink any, so I’m pretty proud, proud enough to blog about it.

That was probably a mistake, because I really, really want a Dew right now!

Celebrating the Crone

Grandmother spider, weave my soul,
unravel the tangle, make me whole,
grandmother spider, dreaming in her web,
she is the weaver, we are the thread.

Goddess Gathering at Ozark Avalon in just a couple weeks, yippee! I hope to hear back about hosting a hoop dance workshop that weekend. Either way I'm taking hoops, beads, and a song or three. Blessed be!



Breeze, a KC hoop dancer, weaves the story of Spider Woman

Competition

After reading Ashton Gannon’s “Hooping Is NOT Serious Business…is it?” I spent some time contemplating competition and it place in a community. Here on Hoop City (and in the hooping community as a whole) I perceive an ideal of inclusiveness, the belief that regardless of skill we are each unique contributors to our art and our tribe.

However I can’t ignore the fact that I judge others in relation to myself. I figure most people do. The issue therefore is more complex than saying “hooping isn’t a competition,” because competition, both personal and economic, shapes and hones our community. Among professionals and craftspeople, hooping is a competition to sell hoops and earn gigs. Not only does competition divide the successful entrepreneur from the dabbler, but it drives each contributor to craft a better product and create a more dazzling act.

Stepping aside from the eat-or-be-eaten perspective of competition, I also want to explore how competition helps divide and distribute the work of a community. Our skills extend far beyond those initial judgments of who is the most skilled or sexiest hooper. I find myself thinking about our meet-up last weekend, because in the days before I was so preoccupied with how I would measure up to the folks I met. However once I got there I realized being non-competitive is easier in practice than in my head. Watching hoopers drift in and out of camp I really glimpsed our diversity. Some gals are always hooping, others pick up the hoop for short bursts. Some know lots of tricks, others make waist hooping a fascinating dance. Outside the circle I met folks who organize, folks who share their booze, folks who teach, and folks who can identify the rocks we find along the creek bed.

All those unique skills strengthen and enrich our community. Competition gives us each the space and opportunity to use our energy where it is needed most, doing work we do best. As a community we must continue to be mindful that competition doesn’t create a mire or envy or elitism and I believe acknowledging competition, rather than denying it, is an important first step.

Hooping in my Community

Last week I was interviewd by Sarah Nail for our local newspaper "The Sedalia Democrat" I've embedded the video they created. The article was very nice, despite a few errors. For those interested in making your own hoops, you'll need to find 3/4 in. tubing NOT 3 1/4 inch.

Alter Ego

Handling books all day is nice, but the best part of working at the library is playing dress-up. My look is typically a fusion of hippie and house-wife, so wearing button-up shirts is a real treat. It feels a little sneaky to look professional, when there are mix-matched socks hiding under the cuffs of my new slacks. The first morning I dressed for work my daughter announced, “I love your costume, mommy!” She knows Mommy's a quiet library assistant by day and a twirly ninja by night.

The Alphabet

"Because it's time to stop babbling the alphabet and to start speaking in complete, poetic sentences ( choreographically speaking)." -Shimarella

Angled hooping
Barrel roll
Continuous step-through
Duck in
Eagle roll
Flight time
Good ol’ waist hooping
Helicopter
Isolations
Jump-in
Kick start
Leg hooping
Matrix
Ninja toss
Overhead turn
Pizza toss
Quick break
Rising sun
Shoulder pop
Threading the needle
Union hooping
Vortex
Weave
aXis switch
Y
Z

Thanks to Lulu Hoop and Safire for helping fill some of the blank

Introduction to Hooping

Hooping is a performance art that combines dance, yoga, and tricks performed with the hoop. Most hoopers share a common "alphabet" of tricks and techniques used to compose poems, songs, and goofy limericks of motion and joy. Most importantly and perhaps most accurately, hooping is fun! The following video is a recording of the hoop dance demonstration I shared with my public speaking class at State Fair Community College.

Hoop Dance Demonstration Project from Heather Hughes on Vimeo.