just hooping around

Ever since my hooping and belly dancing routine, I've been wanting to use my hoop again. The problem is that, at 4 and a half feet in diameter, the hoop is rather large and I'm finding it hard to play with it in the house. I go to the basement, but then I can only spin around on the spot, cuz if I move to the left, I'll hit the furnace, if I move to the right too much, I'll hit the dryer, or the clothes that are hanging to dry, and if I move forward I'll hit Arek's drums, and backwards, it's the door. So, this is fine if I just want to stand around and hoop in one spot.

However, I've been reading hooping dot org, a forum for people who like to play with hoops, and I'm inspired to try some of the tricks and dances that other people are doing. Problem is, most of the people live on the US West Coast, where one can hoop outside all year round! Me, I've got two feet of snow out back on the deck, it's often freezing raining or snowing, and it's really hard to hoop while wearing a parka. So, hence my need to find a space in the house. My living room would probably work, it's just I would have to move two big armchairs and a big 3 foot square coffee table each time. A little much for those times I just want to play around spontaneously... I'll figure it out I'm sure. You'll just have to stayed tuned!

I did try some tricks the other night though, in the basement. Even though I nearly broke a few major household items, it was worth the near-breakage, bruises, and humiliation of having the hoop smack me in the face. One lesson learned - new tricks will have to be tried WITHOUT wearing my glasses. I learned two tricks: to grab the hoop while it's spinning around my waist, and to bring it up over my head and spin it round my hands (did I mention our basement ceiling is only 6 feet high... it's a good thing I'm only 5 of those), and then bring it back down to my waist again, while it's spinning the whole time, AND without dropping it. The next thing I learned was to bring the hoop from my waist up to my neck. It's not as painful as it sounds (the spinning around the neck part I mean, the learning part was very hard, as the damn thing slammed into my face a couple of times. I thought I gave myself a fat lip, but the swelling came down in an hour or so). While you're spinning the hoop around your waist, you just kind of crouch down, and get your shoulder under the hoop, and it starts going around your neck. I'd like to try spinning it around my thighs and/or knees, but I'll have to clean out the basement first, I think!