Welcome to September 2008
Highlights of the month
- Went to the woods to have photos taken
- Forward angles & barrel rolls
- Introducing hooping to my friend
- Delighting in my hooping idols
Thursday 18/09/08
I'd
arranged to go to a hooping event in Nuneaton, I was really excited
about going, mainly because I'd be meeting other hoopers and having a
nice day out by myself hopefully making new friends. I have to braid my
hair every once in a while and it's not a quick task. I thought that if I
braided fast I'd get my hair done in time. I didn't manage to achieve
it and I was absolutely gutted. I'd been looking forward to it all week.
I've been spending some time looking at the hooping community in the UK
and I'm so keen to be a part of it and meet the people whose hooping
inspires me. One of the attractions of hooping is the sharing element,
how willing other hoopers are with their knowledge. I found a group that
meet once a month in London so I'm going to go and meet with some
people at the beginning of Oct and I can't wait to meet them and be
inspired and hopefully learn how to do better what I'm practicing.
I
let go of having to learning something new each week and decided to
enjoy more of what I had already learnt, spending time honing and fine
tuning my ingredients. I've been enjoying the ways I could transition
between the moves. Not having much space is really a hindrance but some
hooping is better than no hooping and I'm still able to learn. I've even
found a use for my kid sized hoops. I don't have the room to do off
body tricks so I practice with the little hoop, it's really good and
useful, the only thing that I have to watch for is the change of weight
when outside using a full sized hoop.
I
managed to convince my boyfriend to film me hooping in the woods and it
was such a joy to do. The ground was soft, the air fresh and I felt
very free as opposed to the caged bird feeling I've been getting in my
very small kitchen. It was a good opportunity for me to view my
alignment when doing certain tricks and also to witness my enjoyment,
I'm not always aware of how much smiling I'm doing. I love hooping so
much!
I
probably mentioned this already but I have my hoopnotica hoop and I've
ordered two more from PeachySteve, I want some bright cheerful hoops for
the winter months and also two the same size so I can start using two
hoops and doing off body tricks using two, I'm scared to try it but two
hoops hanging about is going to be far too enticing to leave alone!
Guess
what? I can do my forward angles now too! It's great, it's taken sooo
long to get some kind of control over the movement and some consistency
but lately it seems to be coming together, I'd like to be a bit more
energetic when I do it though, I'm sure I will in time. I also think
that hooping will benefit from some influence from Alexander Techniques
and principles. I think better alignment will strengthen me and make my
hooping more elegant. I noticed that when I watched myself doing the
forward angles my upper back didn't look straight, it was like it was
bowed a little, the only rounding ought to be in my lower back and the
rest of the back to be straight, I'm going to pay more attention to the
detail so that when it's time for me to unleash a performance it will
look professional with well formed body shapes.
I'm learning to jump into the hoop, it's coming on ok but a bit clunky, practice will smooth it out a lot.
I'm
going to start trying to knee hoop again. I'm determined to keep it up
soon and to be able to do it before the teacher training. I'm also
working on my floating. I can do to about my neck or shoulder height but
no lower without getting tangled up. I'm sooo excited about all the
lovely things I'll be able to do this time next year and how many people
I will have taught also. I'm so excited about the people I'm going to
meet and the hooping adventures I'm about to have. It's going to be a
fun ride!
Wednesday 03/09/08
I've
been hooping hooping hooping, I've even begun finding hula in my
dreams, I dreamt I couldn't take it on a plane because security thought I
could conceal some kind of liquid explosive inside and in the dream I
was wishing for a collapsible hoop!
I
visited a girl friend on the weekend and she told me she has a hula
hoop but I knew it was likely to be a childs one so I bought mine with
me. I was a good hooper and practiced for 2 hours before I left, then on
Sunday I showed her some of my moves, that was it, she's hooked too!
She thought my adult hoop was massive and thought she wouldn't be able
to use it, she found it easy, she went for it and all the things I'd
learnt I shared with her. She bought her adult hoop before I left to
drive home!
I've
picked some new things to learn this week. I want to start in halo jump
into the hula back into halo. I'd like to be able to pop it back on my
waist but think the only way I can see myself doing it is by passing
rather than grabbing the hoop to give it momentum. My left arm
limitation means I haven't got (or think I haven't got) the energy to
give the hoop a good piece of energy to continue waist hooping. I'm also
looking at off body hooping, some of it looks cool! I'd like to hula
behind my back, there seems to be lots of different ways to do it, it'll
take a while though because I don't want to hit myself in the back of
the head. I'm also hoping to get the hula to stay where I want it to
whilst hooping on the thighs. I have to make the hula go really fast to
keep it working, I don't feel upright in my body enough and it seems to
go below the knees really easily. The weird thing is I used to be able
to do this really easily on my kids hoop but have not been able to
achieve any control or even keep it up on my full size hoop. It is
improving though.
The
other trick I'm struggling with is a forward angle (bending forward and
the hoops hooping at an angle up and down), I just don't seem to get
it! I know all the techniques on how, but when I use another approach it
still doesn't happen for me. I think my body wants to move in a
rotation rather than a pump up and down. I know I have to curve the
small of my back in a catlike way or bounce when the gap in the hula is
at the front. It goes at a slanted angle and I have no control. Limbo
however is the opposite, it's a beautiful move and I love it although
hate the loss of alignment in my spine at the neck in order to do it, I
need to tilt back and open my jaw. The transition between waist to limbo
is clunky and time consuming, I wish I could make it glide and happen
quicker!
I
got a hula aerobics dvd today, so I'll check it out. The hoopgirl dvd
is really good, there are so many components on there to do moves and
it's really inspiring. So basically a lot of content for my money. I've
seen most of the Hoop Dance Tutorial DVDs out there. The thing is,
each have strengths and weaknesses and sometimes neither dvd help me
learn something and I'll find someone on youtube and then it comes
together. What I like is the choice and the sharing of skills and
techniques, with so much good information available however someone
prefers to learn will be catered for.
I'm
still doing my best to overcome my frustration whilst hooping. I guess
those dvds make things seem really easy so if I hurt myself I'm not
expecting to have any difficulty and then feel daft that I am finding it
hard.
Although
the training is soon I'm really wanting to hoop with others. I want to
go to my hula class but know I won't learn anything. I have no way of
running and hooping, I haven't a clue how to do it as no techniques has
been taught, I just try to keep up and I don't leave feeling like how I
hoped. I wish there was more laughter in the group and when my hula
rolls off somewhere I find that hilarious and chase after it, I know I'm
supposed to save it before it's flown off but sometimes it doesn't
happen! It's fun for me and I love laughing.
Okay I'm done for a while, off to do my other things, knitting!!!