Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maggle Rock on February 29, 2012 at 2:01pm

"The funny thing is that I generally think of myself as a body-rocker, but I still incorporate a LOT of off-body moves. I think it does the hooping community a dis-service to separate our flow/styles into these separate camps. "

THANK YOU! I do think it is important to be aware of flow-evolution in the hooping community as a whole, but I get very nervous when I hear blanket statements like "I don't like how there are less body-rockers nowadays" or "People just do off-body because it's flashy and cooler looking" (these are not direct quotes, they're general musings that have been unearthed with this whole discussion since Philo's article came out). Personally, I LOVE off-body hooping. Some people have said they feel more connected to the hoop with on-body but I'm completely opposite. I love extending my limbs to their limit, creating speed contrast with off-body flow, discovering beautiful patterns with isolations, and feeling centripetal force on my hands/arms with sustained spinning off body.

ANYWAYS, I'm not just trying to defend my flow style, it just makes me nervous when people judge other people's flow in any way or tries to limit them with their own pre-conceived notions. Let people do whatever feels right to them, and do what feels right to you. There will always be people who say "I miss the old/classic way of doing things," and for hoopers that will be the classic on-body styles. If people feel good sticking to that, awesome! If people want to be innovative and crazy, that's great, too. This whole discussion has got me thinking a lot about the clash between old and new in a lot of disciplines : music, art, etc. There will always be people who say "Music of the 60s/70s was the best, and now it's just getting worse." Well you know what? I bet a lot of people said that Mozart was the best composer the world will ever know, and they didn't even know what was coming :)

So let's have a toast for progress in hooping : whether that means on-body, off-body, tiny hoop or gigantic hoop! Do what feels right to you, and try not to judge others for their own choices :) (also this ended up being waaay longer than expected. I guess I can ramble on quite long when I'm passionate about something :P )

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Permalink Reply by Tangled Macrame on February 29, 2012 at 6:23pm

haha! It's a good topic to ramble about. The whole debate on hooping.org made me sad, but it needs discussing. Because there are a lot of those half spoken "blanket statements" floating around and I think they create a lot of insecurity and resentment....at least on the internet.

The fact that these types of conversations (or the "is hooping becoming too main stream" discussion) come up online, but I've never ran into them in my local hooping communities is an interesting phenomenon itself. 

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Permalink Reply by Stacy Sunshine Bryant-Cardwell on February 24, 2012 at 10:07am

I think that it is important to find a balance between off and on the body. When I first started spinning I did mostly on the body movements because that was all I really knew how to do. As I progressed I have become very fond of off the body work. There are just so many more possiblities when the hoop is off the body. Not that I dont love me a nice hoop massage!

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Permalink Reply by Hoop Cubed (Heather Says) on February 24, 2012 at 10:21am

I LOVE on the body. That's how I feel a real connection to the hoop and the dance. I try to include off the body as well, but I always go back to needing to feel the hoop and to be inside of it. I totally understand where you are coming from!

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Permalink Reply by Niky on February 27, 2012 at 10:00am

Phylo's artcle was great!  I loved it!!   And its so good to know that there are people out there who still put that thing on their body!!!  There was a comment on here that on body stuff is limiting, but please go watch a Sharna Rose video if you haven't....I feel like the only limiting thing about it is ourselves - there is never a time with hooping where something should feel that its limiting; if it is, you need to push harder to break thhrough!  We only have two hands, but damn we sure do have a bunch of body to be hooping on and with!!!   much love to you all for responding!!  Hope to see some more "body rockin"!! haha

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Permalink Reply by helski on March 1, 2012 at 8:20am

I enjoyed reading this conversation, it just shows how each and every one of us is different. My style has always been about a lot of vertical off body moves, I love drawing circles around my head and having the hoop in my hand. At the same time, I love the way chest hooping feels and I probably mainly alternate between these two. I'm not very good at leg stuff as it doesn't feel very nice to me so I've never spent much time on it. It always interests me how different all the people I dance with are; we all have our unique styles, preferred hoops and different things we are good at.

Off body stuff can look totally bad ass and it is a lot closer to other flow toys such as poi and staff. The hoop queen herself Anah Hoopalicious still has the most rocking style to me... I could watch her all day.

I would love to be able to dance like her but I just don't seem to have the rhythm!

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