One Handed Flow

Today, I conducted an experiment with the hoop. It wasn't terribly successful. But anything with practice gets better. In an effort to unlock my flow, I grabbed the hoop in one hand and didn't allow myself to really alter that grip much. The point was to focus on dancing to the music. I danced two songs with each hand. And none of them I'm quite particularly pleased with. However, the most important thing, the last song was better than the first. Proof things do get better with even just a little bit of practice. This is with my left hand, my non-dominant hand. I share this in the spirit of sharing my skills, even when they're not particularly good.
(apology note: not a professional video, I go off camera a bit because it's not centered)

I also have a short video of my three beat weave, with a 180 turn.

And a fun new trick, jump through weave. I can see incorporating this more into my flow.

Deanne Love

She's gotta be my favorite hooper. Her enthusiasm and sweetness, I think I'd like her in person. Her willingness to spend time "teaching" me, it's invaluable. I've learned more from her tutorials than anyone else. I also really dig her style, her pixie haircuts and colors, her healthy body and quirky clothes...she's just adorable!

All I care about

yea...pretty much

Twin Weaves

Got a chance to smooth out my three beat weave today, in the hot sun. It's nearly there! I'm working on flow into a two beat weave, seamless transition into a three beat weave. I can't wait until my twin hoops arrive. I ordered some polypros in 32". These in the video are 1) mismatched in weight and 2) 36"

And I wore sunscreen today. It was hot hot hot!

Three Beat Weave

I got it! Well, sort of. It's rough. It needs smoothing out. That's what practice is for. Getting it is about 80% of the battle...75/80, yea? My left arm is obvs not as competent as my right.

My face cream is SPF, but I wasn't planning on being out too long today. Got lost in this trick and noticed my shoulders pinking/itching. Time to go inside. Next time, just anticipate that I'll want to stay out longer than planned...and wear sunscreen. tsk tsk

And embrace the racerback tan lines...

Thanks

10 lbs down since mid-March. All thanks to hooping! I look forward to seeing my skills progress, more twin hooping, more dimensional dance flow. I'm so glad I found hooping. It's the best thing to happen to me since I met my husband. It's the perfect amount of challenge, physical exertion, creative performance that I could ask for. As a kid, I loved rhythmic gymnastics, with the hoop and ribbon, but I wasn't very flexible. I tried belly dancing a few summers ago, that was fun. I did colorguard in college and loved it. Hoop dance has the best elements of all that. It's my favorite!

Still going to roller derby because I love my retired league. But my passion is hoop dance.

Twin Hooping

Now that I have two 36" hoops, I wanted to try some twin hooping. I think I definitely need a matching set of smaller hoops, maybe 32" for practice.

Twin hooping...I can sort of do a basic two-beat weave but cannot figure out how to flow into it. I'm still clumsy. I mean, it WAS my first time trying so....

Does this move have a name? I saw Rachael Lust doing it, albeit much more fluidly. I'm just calling it a side toss.

I finally nailed shoulder vertical hooping!