Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Stacey FireFly on May 20, 2011 at 7:17pm

Hello Sheena,

I can tell you how I started a community in Richmond, Virginia, and maybe that will help.  I used MeetUp.com to find hoopers in my area.  MeetUp is a free site used to find special interest groups by zip code.  It will cost you to be a facilitator of your own group.  I find it to be well worth the annual fee of $150.  You have several options for breaking up the payments. I started the RVA Hoop Lovers in 2007, and I use it daily to connect with Hoopers.  It has truly been the single most helpful tool for bringing hoopers together in my area.  I also use the site to register my Hoop Dance students.  You can check out my groups, and contact me personally if you have any questions.

 

Best of luck with building a community in your new location.  I have found it to be the single most rewarding experience of my life...well, other than motherhood, that is.

 

Hoop Love, and HOPE,

Stacey FireFly

fireflygirl.rva@gmail.com

http://www.meetup.com/rvahoophouse/

http://www.meetup.com/rvahooplovers/

Permalink Reply by sandandsky on May 20, 2011 at 7:46pm

Hi Sheena!

I know how you feel!  Hoopers seem to be far and few between here in my area as well.  My husband and I only know of a few others that hoop and unfortunately, they don't live here year round and at times it does get a bit lonely hooping by ourselves. 

 

We only have a population of about 500 people living in our village.  We do have a fantastic community school here though.  I taught yoga this winter at community school and would warm up  with my hoop before class and quite a few people would pick up the extra hoop and give it a try.  The organizers of the community school have asked me if I would lead weekly hoop jams this winter, to which I answered a huge resounding YES!  I'm not terribly outgoing and have a tendency to trip over my words when I'm nervous but I figure the more people who pick up the hoop and at least give it a try, the closer our village will be to having our own hooping community.   Also, the majority of our population down here is retirement age or slightly below but they keep quite fit so i hope that we can get some of these people interested because it will help promote the fact that hooping is for ALL ages to enjoy. 

 

Are there any community schools/community centers in your area that you could get involved in?  That could definitely help you make some connections.  Or a park that a lot of people visit that you could hoop at?  If you bring extra hoops, I'm sure there would be people who would love to give it a try!

 

I'm sorry that I can't offer you more suggestions ... I'm in a very similar boat myself.  If I come up with any good ideas, I will be sure to share them here. i hope that your day gets better and that you find some hoopers!

Permalink Reply by Traci "CircularPraise" Bonney on May 20, 2011 at 7:50pm

I started a monthly hoop jam at my church, and while it's been slow going, I have been able to spread the hoop love in my area a bit.  My pastor is very supportive of my efforts, which is helpful.

 

Hooping at parks and local festivals is another way to get the word out, especially if you take extra hoops for people to play with.  Halimeda Hoops and I went to a fest a month or so ago, and two of the women we met there showed up at our last jam.

 

Offering classes is another way to go if you feel confident enough in your hoop skills to try teaching them.  I haven't started a class yet, but I do a little informal instruction at the jams.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.  Building a hoop community takes time, but it's worth the effort to cultivate the hoop friends. :)

Permalink Reply by AmandaW on May 20, 2011 at 8:37pm

I try to bring my hoops with me around town when it's nice out.  I bring extras to share.  Good places are the outdoor farmer's market, parks around town, outdoor concerts, etc.  I would also suggest hosting a monthly hoop jam and putting up posters, ads in the newspaper, etc. to get folks to join you.  Meetup.com is also a great suggestion!

Permalink Reply by SpinintheSpark-Bryana on May 20, 2011 at 11:02pm

Hey Sheena,

We miss you too! 

I had a look, and couldn't find anything hoopy there online, but there was this:

http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/31475

which is a place teaching belly dancing, drumming and yoga.  They might be interested in having you teach, if you decide that's where you want to go with it, or they might know somebody who's hooping there, so you wouldn't be hooping solo all the time.  Maybe contact community centres if you're thinking of teaching a beginner class in hooping.

Also, take your lovely hoop (and maybe make some extras) to all this fun stuff there this summer,

http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/31475

and spark some hoop joy.  Look at it from this positive spin: sure you had to leave an awesome, active hoop community, but now you have a great opportunity to create something like that there.  And maybe make a living doing something you love, in a beautiful location. 

I firmly believe you would be an awesome teacher.  Spread your wings, there is so much room to fly there.

Permalink Reply by AmandaW on May 21, 2011 at 5:54am

That reminds me of another great place to hoop - drum circles!!!  I found a local one and they love having dancers and didn't think of hoopers.  We're welcome to hoop there.

Permalink Reply by SpinintheSpark-Bryana on May 21, 2011 at 2:16pm

oops, links don't go to the right pages! so, 1st one is page 134, 2nd one is page 147, which is also the back cover.

Permalink Reply by Jenny Anderson RaineDanceHooper on May 21, 2011 at 6:14am

Sheena, you'll surprise yourself in your new role as HoopAmbassador. You are truly missed here and I agree with Bryana that you could be an awesome teacher and really find connections by sharing your hooplove! Plus, in ThunderBay you'll probably link up with some aboriginal hoopdancers and you can swap knowledge and experiences. Teaching will definitely make you an even better hooper too.... I hoep you'll get lots of opportunities to hoop publicly this summer, and see where that takes you. HoopJams in T-Bay!

Permalink Reply by Serenity Spins Sheena on May 21, 2011 at 6:41am

Wow, this is an amazing thing to wake up to and read first thing in the morning! Thank you everyone for your response, support and wonderful ideas.

The ideas you've shared and experiences and feelings that have gone with it are encouraging and makes me feel better about my situation and the feelings I'm going through.

Thunder Bay is on Lake Superior and there is a park right by there with a view on the Sleeping Giant - that might be a great place to go to and bring some extra hoops along (which I won't have back for a few more weeks, but will have them soon enough)....

Sandandsky - I relate to your post alot...especially the feelings and such.

Bryana - Thank you so much for the link you found, your encouragement and positive spin.This might bring me out of my shell even more....I've always depended on someone else to be the go-getter. Maybe it's my turn :)

Jenny: I've always loved the native culture and you know what? How silly me that the aboriginal hoop dancers never even occured to me - duhhh! Thank you for pointing that out!

Thank you - I'm going to definitely consider everyone's ideas and figure out which one is best for me. Meetup.com looks like a cool website too.

 

Permalink Reply by Serenity Spins Sheena on May 25, 2011 at 4:48pm

The process has begun!

Bryana after you mentioned bellydancing in 'The Key Program" (the links you posted) - I looked up Belly Dancing Thunder bay in Google. I was looking through the schedule and what did I find? One lonely hoop and poi combined class among a full full schedule of belly dancing classes - but I was ecstatic!!!

I contacted the teacher (originally from Colombia) right away and wrote an extremely enthusiastic email, talking about my hoop experiences and making hoops and my overall love for it. She said that hoop and poi are extremely new to Thunder Bay and she herself is quite new and was quite blunt in saying  she couldn't teach me anything, but she wanted to meet to learn from me and talk about how to grow a hoop and poi community in Thunder Bay.

I met with her today and she is awesome! The chemistry is there and she is a go-getter a lot more naturally than me...We went to the park to practice. She is a beginner hooper, but she did a couple basic moves and added some belly dancing technique and the combination was beautiful.

She wants to practice with me over the summer...she will be offering that very basic hoop class in the middle of June, but has offered me an opportunity to teach at her dance studio by mid-end summer. She was also very excited that I could make hoops - she said I'd be the first in Thunder Bay to make hoops.

Apparently there is drumming jams that go on in parks here - so we'll show up with extra hoops just to practice and maybe get some people curious about it.

 

All coming together. Thank you everyone for your ideas.

 

Permalink Reply by Traci "CircularPraise" Bonney on May 26, 2011 at 4:12am

Sounds great, Sheena!  I wish you much success with everything. :)

Permalink Reply by Jenny Anderson RaineDanceHooper on May 26, 2011 at 6:18am

that's all such amazing news Sheena! Maybe this is why you've landed in Thunder Bay, you have hoop happiness to bring there! So fantastic that you have a hoop co-conspirator. And you'll be making lots of hoops I bet! YIPPEEE! Go Sheena go!

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