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Permalink Reply by Mimy Constantine on July 17, 2012 at 10:31am

Or if anybody knows certain tricks that works best for them at certain sizes too! :D

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Permalink Reply by Christina Hummingbird on July 17, 2012 at 10:58am

my polypro is 31''.....i can do every trick ive ever learned with that hoop. :) 

i also have a 27'' hoop...i can do SOME tricks with it....but i havent mastered anything but isolations and off body movements with it yet. Of course there comes a point when you are unable to waist hoop, once it gets to a certain size....im guessing around 25'' or so??? im not sure though :)

and practice makes perfect!!!!

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StudentPermalink Reply by Kacie Knight on July 17, 2012 at 5:57pm

I am 5'3" and about average weight (not super slender by any means) and I can do most jump throughs and step throughs and walk throughs with my 22" mini's. Can't waist hoop with them, but I know a few people who can.

It's really about timing when it gets down to the really little guys, but you can do almost every trick with really tiny hoops if you practice. They are just way way faster, and usually lighter which makes it harder to sense on your body. About the only trick I can't do with my 28" hoop is shoulder duck outs. Too fast for me. 

To walk/step/jump through mini hoops, it's also about the angle of your body coupled with the timing. You are kind of sliding and guiding the hoop around your body rather than just going through it. You need way more precision, but it's really fun and looks really badass. 

If you check out some native hoop dancing you can see how effortlessly they slide their bodies through super tiny hoops while maintain a sort of breakdance rocking step. Rad!

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Permalink Reply by Jane "Electric Blue" on July 18, 2012 at 7:41am

I have found that i think about this the other way around.

I train lots of multi hooping and splitting 4 5 and 6 hoops. For that 35" is the best size. So rather than having to have a whole bunch of different hoops for different tricks in the same act i decided to commit to that size and make it work for every thing. I'm glad i did because now i can to heaps of tricks with the 35" that i thought i would not be able to, and i can do my whole act with the same hoops which i think looks better.

Probably the only think that i might do with a different size would be if i get heaps in to isolation stuff which looks much better with the small hoops.

any who, just my way of thinking of it.

Jane

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StudentPermalink Reply by Quixote on July 18, 2012 at 1:57pm

I'm 5'3" as well and as Kacie said, 22" is definitely do-able for walk-throughs. Waist hooping and vortexing is POSSIBLE with them, but COMFORTABLE? Hell naw.

My normal hoop is 28" because my style is decidedly based on reversals and off-body. However, bear in mind that I started with 34" because that was all I had access to at the time.

It's also worth noting that when you get into the REALLY small minis, the jumpiness where you let go and re-grab with basic one-handed isolations can be bigger relative to the hoop.

Lastly, I think the emphasis on small hoops being more "advanced" is overrated. I'm not talking about downsizing because you legitimately feel like the bigger hoops are too laggy or heavy, I'm talking about people who are like, psssshh THAT'S A BEGINNER'S HOOP or feel pressured to downsize.

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