I am someone who is not a great dancer, can't really keep a beat... just not rhythmically inclined. I'm also not really an athlete (though I did do a zumba class last semester and sort of did okay).

I'm slowly learning a few tricks so I can do more than just waist hoop for hours on end but it's slow going. I don't have a "flow" and can't imagine how to start having one!

 

Is anyone else here a hooper who generally has no rhythm? Am I doomed? Can I learn to have rhythm? Any advice is welcome!

Tags: flow, no

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Close your eyes and listen to the sound of your heart beat, you have a beautiful rhythm inside of you =)

 

That's so true and beautiful! :]

oh i love this...very very true

:)

Flow and Rhythm can be linked, but are not one and the same, so it is perfectly possible to have great flow even if you have no rhythm, although I am pretty sure you do have rhythm if you managed to survive Zumba classes.

she's so right. Zumba was killer and i thought i was an "okay" dancer :P; i think with the range of music that one can hoop to it's really just a way to express yourself and so you will figure it out with practice. i sure know i don't have my flow figured out yet but starting to think i may be there at one point... patience and dedication

"Flow" comes with lots of practice...lots. The more you practice your tricks will start to look more smooth, and effortless. And the more tricks you know the easier it is to transition between moves. It takes time but don't worry about finding flow, you've still just beginning, enjoy the fact your still learning and take your time loving the learning process.

 

I posted this in another thread about linking tricks together.

"For a more direct way of learning to put tricks together you could try the Bag o' Tricks method. Write down all the tricks you know like: waist hooping,chest hooping, vortex, helicopter, one leg hooping, vertical hooping etc. on scraps of paper. Then place those scraps in a plastic bag, shake it up and pull out a couple of tricks. Then practice putting those tricks together. It's really fun and a great personal challenge. I used this method by slowly adding on tricks, I started with 3 tricks then after practicing those for a song or two I'd put them to the side and then pull 4 different tricks. After a hour of practice I would place all the tricks back in the bag and try to hoop not thinking about what I want to do but just letting go and going with my flow."

I also have limited natural rhythm, but with hooping something is a little different. I have not found the flow state yet, but I let myself go (Rhythm-less even though I am) and I just have fun. So that is my advice. Close your eyes and dance like there is nobody watching. Maybe you'll find flow, maybe you won't either way, you'll have fun.
my favorite quote on this subject is "technique first, grace second" 
musical rhythm is a little different from the hoops rhythm. I've been a music person all my life, band, choir, theater yada yada yada. I was not born with rhythm, but with practice I learned musical rhythm. Physical rhythm is a little different. Don't listen to the music, listen to your hoop, and you can break it down technically. Every hoop based on its diameter has a specific timing as it rolls around your body. You develop muscle memory to the timing of your hoop, and it sounds like you already have that down. technically speaking, flow is just knowing your tricks and your transitions well enough to be able to "flow" into them without pausing or thinking, and just doing whichever feels right at the time. thats all practice, and no one is born magically knowing how to flow!

For the longest time I would practice simply waist hooping to music. I didn't think I was moving around much at all, but when I'd think of it I'd go "oh, I should try to dance at the same time" and thought that when I wasn't conscious of it I wasn't moving in a dance-like fashion. Lo and behold, I look at some video and I WAS dancing when I didn't think I was. It's just not full out. The hoop was automatically making me move in a way that gave me a rhythm. I didn't realize it.

I second Vikki. Put on some music you love, get in your hoop and just hoop your heart out. I feel like consistently doing just that will help give you a better sense of rhythmic movement and flow within the hoop.

Girl you've got rhythm!  How do you think you're keeping that hoop on your waist?  If you didn't have rhythm it would drop right to the floor.
I was at a show the other night, and generally I'm comfortable hooping in front of people at these shows - dancing is another story, but after a few hours I put my hoop aside and decided to just dance, closed my eyes, and let the energy move through my body, and let the music move my body - whatever felt right. I thought I must look like an idiot, somewhere in between ballet and crumping, but I just laughed and kept dancing....then someone came up to me, one of the DJ's that performed that night, and said simply "You are a beautiful dancer." I almost didn't believe him. I never thought I had rhythm, or could dance at all, but when I put my inhibitions aside, apparently someone enjoyed it. Sometimes when you just do what feels right and don't think about how you look, you'll make art. One of my favorite things to do when i'm warming up, is let myself "hear" tribal drum beats, very simple, close my eyes and listen to the drums in my head, before I know it, my body is moving to that drum beat, and I'm ready to turn on some music and get hooping :) from there, it doesnt matter how many moves you know, as long as you're having fun, you'll find your personal flow.

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