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Permalink Reply by Harlow [Hulacination Hoops] on November 14, 2011 at 4:29pm

Before you started teaching you should have looked at each technique you were offering and broken them down to yourself-- that includes basic waist hooping. some people understand the movement required better than others. The good thing about teaching is that you also learn with your students. Having to break down even the most basic moves and explain them at their core helps you understand them better and allows you to experiment more with them...

 

Basic waist hooping I explain like this:

"have your feet shoulder width apart-- this is just one of the ways you can waist hoop, and the one I feel most comfortable with, I will explain the other way after we've all tried this one. Have your feet shoulder width apart, keep your back straight and place the hoop so that it's touching the small of your back. Make sure that you are holding the hoop straight. What you're going to do is pick a direction and you're going to push the hoop into a spin in that direction when I say. Keep your knees loose and slightly bent. When you let go of the hoop you're going to shift your weight from foot to foot. Don't chase the hoop with your hips because the secret to keeping it moving is all in your legs, contrary to popular belief. So when I say, pick a direction and give the hoop a big push and start shifting your weight. If you want you can let go of the hoop and let it do a couple of rotations on it's own without moving just to feel the momentum of your hoop to see what speed you have to move at. Remember if it's dropping you're either going too slow or too fast so try and figure that out. And try both ways... okay, go."

Then after they have a go that way I explain waist hooping with one foot in front of the other and people can choose what is easiest for them. After that I teach walking and turning with the hoop, starting with the pivot spin which I describe as a momentum spin because it's just a quick spin, using the momentum to keep the hoop on your waist. Even if things came naturally to you at first you have to remember some people have never done anything like this in their lives and will need step by step instruction. Good luck!

 

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StudentPermalink Reply by Lulu Hoop* of Spiraling Within* on November 14, 2011 at 6:12pm

Have you taken any classes yourself or did you learn by yourself?  Some people can pick stuff up just by watching and mimicking movement, but most cannot.  Once you step into that teacher-role it is important that you can breakdown movement and concepts in multiple ways to help people with different learning styles. 

 

I would suggest studying beginner dvds/tutorials and taking as many classes/workshops you can yourself, paying attention to how the moves are explained and taught.  The more you master the basics, the better you''ll be able to teach them to someone else.  :-) 

 

I found Hoopnotica, SaFire and Caroleena to be very helpful when I was first compiling terminology and breakdown methods.  Of course, there are many more options out there to you now, as well. 

 

For waist hooping, I found Hoopnotica's Push Points very useful.  Basically this is about finding the spots you need to make contact with the hoop as it rolls over the body.  These will change with different methods (front/back, side/side, etc.) 

 

Try closing your eyes while you hoop and see if you can feel into what your body is naturally doing to move and save the hoop.  Then see if you can put it into words for your students.

 

Make sure they try different stances and methods.  Explain a few ways to "save" the hoop if it starts to fall.   And be prepared to help with different troubleshooting problems, like the hoop is angling down on one side.  Also make sure they go in both directions to even out muscles, balance and control.  Even if it seems impossible at first.  :-) 

 

Let them try out different hoop sizes and weights, sometimes it's just finding the right match.

 

Good luck with everything!  Teaching can sometimes be a challenge.  But it can be such a joy when your students get that look of amazement on their face after "getting" something.

 

And most of all, encourage them to just have fun!  I have a rule in my class that every time they drop the hoop they (and anyone who sees it) have to whoo!   You know, like a crazy girl at the club.  It makes their mistakes become silly fun-time and gets everyone pumped and excited in class.

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StudentPermalink Reply by Tilly Whirls on November 16, 2011 at 1:48am

If you can I would get the Hoopnotica DVDs or just watch online hooping tutorials and listen to how the moves are being broken down. Then practice breaking them down yourself and explaining them. Even if you're alone in your living room. Maybe record yourself so you can see if you're missing anything. I've got a playlist of beginning to intermediate tutorials if you don't feel like searching for some: 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAF45B4C9B61AB44E&feature... 

Good luck! Once your students start catching on and getting things down you'll feel so happy that you decided to share your hoop knowledge. Also—I always tell my students that every teacher and every tutorial might break down a move differently than the next. When I was learning I would watch multiple tutorials for the same move and often it would be one person that said one little thing that would make the difference and get the move to click. Collect some of those tips that are different from the ones that were specific to your journey so you can share as many different ways to do things as you can. 

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Wormley on November 17, 2011 at 5:04am

Hi all,

 

thank you so much for the help, some of it is touching things I hadn't thought about, like xplaining it as a movement of the feet rather than the hips or waist.

It's not that I don't have method break downs - I do. It just became apparent after the first session that though most people got basic waist hooping within the lesson, there are those that need more time and help. Like Tilly Whirls said, sometimes it's just one thing that somebody says that helps it all to make sense and although I have a couple of explanations for basic waist hooping, I felt I could do with one or two more. Does anyone have a really abstract way or explaining it? Someone suggested 'spirograph' to me!

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StudentPermalink Reply by Shannon "HoopLove" on November 17, 2011 at 6:27am

I think the biggest things to teach is how to save the hoop.  In one class, a girl taught a "fancy trick" to pick up the hoop when you drop it so that it doesn't feel so lame. :p I use the push points method. It makes so much sense to me. 

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