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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Jacqueline on July 13, 2012 at 12:28pm

Oh, thank you so much!
I really appreciate it. :)

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Permalink Reply by MayaAya on July 13, 2012 at 1:20pm

haha It looks good to me!

I have been hooping [sporadically] for two years and I am still not that good.

Keep it up!

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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Jacqueline on July 14, 2012 at 10:22am

Thanks! Positive feedback is always good. :) It's hard for me to get any feedback, really. Because nobody I know is really into hooping. So, of course, the people I hoop for think it's amazing, but these are not really educated opinions.

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Permalink Reply by MayaAya on July 14, 2012 at 12:15pm

Yeah, I know how that is. I don't have anyone to hoop with so everyone thinks it's amazing and I don't get any constructive criticism.
I wish I could give more constructive feedback, but I'm still trying to figure it out as well because my practice with it has been so spotty. :P

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Permalink Reply by aHOOP!duh on July 14, 2012 at 8:21am

Definitely looking good- especially for only having been at it a year!

The one thing I noticed [and it's definitely to be expected, I just think if you put some attention to it it could really spice up your entire show] is that you have that "concentrating on what's going on" face the entire time. I think the first time I saw you smile was at around 1:45 and you seriously just LIT UP! It was AMAZING! I would suggest periodically thinking about what your face is doing and perhaps try not to be watching the hoop so much the entire time. I practice picking a spot on the wall to watch while I'm doing certain tricks, or if you can practice in front of a mirror that makes it even easier =]

Otherwise, you've got a lot of tricks in your repertoire and that's really great! You transition between a lot of moves really well and I didn't feel like you were just repeating the same things over and over again, which is what I feel like I do a lot of the time. I don't remember where I heard this, but someone suggested putting all the tricks you know into a hat and then pulling out a small set at random. It's a good way to get really familiar with all your moves and even think of some fantastic new ways to transition between them!

Good luck & happy hooping =]

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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Jacqueline on July 14, 2012 at 10:34am

Yes, awesome! These are exactly the type of suggestions I was hoping for. :)
I had never thought about what my face was doing while I hooped, but I'll have to start paying more attention. After re-watching it, I realized that you are absolutely right. This is definitely something I'll be working on.

I really like the idea of pulling tricks out of a hat to change things up as well. I try not to repeat the same tricks, but I often feel like I'm doing that as well. I have a habit of repeating certain sets of tricks that I feel flow well together; and it may not be readily apparent, but there are certain times where I continuously transition between the same tricks just because I'm more comfortable with the way it's done.
Seriously, thank you so much for the advice. :)

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StudentPermalink Reply by Kacie Knight on July 15, 2012 at 3:08am

I also loved it when you smiled. Changed the whole feel for me! Made it look like more fun :)

A couple notes to ponder for you- 

Watch what your free hand is doing when you are hand hooping. It was usually just doing nothing, but it could be doing some fun tracing of the hoop, or just moving around  a bit rather than sitting at the same angle (although it was nice and neat and not flopping about which is always awkward). 

Also, I always encourage people to relax a little in the hoop and get a little more groovy. Feel the earth a little more and dance!!! Getting  a little funky and dance into it since you have such  a great vocabulary of tricks might make it more fun for you both you and the audience. On the same note, with vertical chest hooping, getting a little deeper into it and letting it get groovy will help- the more you bounce with your knees the better it works and the funkier it gets! 

I really like the musicality of it and the beat punctuation. Very awesome. Nice work!

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