Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kelly Kole on November 5, 2010 at 10:32pm

Hello!!!

My name is Kelly, and I can't help but dance with my hoop. I have been hooping for almost 9 months now! Once I learned some basic tricks I started dancing with my hoop and I have never looked back. I have some modern dance training as well as belly dance experience so it comes naturally for me to shimmy inside of my hoop and to always point my toes :) I like to think of my hoop as my dance partner sometimes. It has a different personality with every mood that I have and every song that I dance to. Whether its just a basic taped hoop, a glowing LED hoop or a fiesty fire hoop, I will always love my hoop and the way it brings the dancer out in me.

Hooper for life! :)

Peace, love and fire
-Kelly

StudentPermalink Reply by Jenni on November 6, 2010 at 11:25am

Hello, My name is Jenn, and I'm not very good with introductions, i have been hooping for a little over a year, i started out like most do with mostly tricks and waist hooping but quickly found that i'd rather dance with my hoop than go from trick to trick. Similar to Shelley i have picked up alot of dance inspiration from dance workout videos, they've helped me learn a wide variety of things which can be incorporated into my flow, and has also inspired me to look into taking dance classes at a local gym.

StudentPermalink Reply by The CircularPhile on November 6, 2010 at 3:19pm

Hi, I'm Helen. I took several years of lessons as a kid in ballet, jazz, tap and baton, but haven't taken lessons in several years. I have been hooping for a year and a half. I love dancing. I really like Latin and hip hop inspired moves and music, and I'm working on trying to incorporate them into my hooping. I listen to music as I'm driving and do mental hoop dancing in my head. That's how I work out choreography. Right now I'm working on a salsa combo. I'll post it when I have a video. Glad this group is here.

Permalink Reply by Traci "CircularPraise" Bonney on November 7, 2010 at 7:38pm

Hey! My name is Traci (CircularPraise here at HC), and I've been hoopdancing since January. I love it! I had a year of ballet and baton lessons when I was a kid, but that's the only formal training I've had. I've tried all sorts of exercise methods and programs, and hoopdance is the only one I've stuck with, just because it's so much fun. Everything I know about hoopdance, I've picked up from HC and YouTube videos. I love how supportive and encouraging this community is; it's given me a confidence in my hooping that shows through in other areas of my life, and I think that's awesome. :)

StudentPermalink Reply by MissCephalopod on November 7, 2010 at 10:38pm

Hello,

My name is Melanie and I love oriental dance! Especially folkloric Egyptian dances like balady and cane dance, but all kinds of movement are very usable for hooping. I don't like calling it "hoop bellydance" because often, it ends up a lot of hooping with a little bit of bellydance and I think bellydance has too large of a culture and vocabulary to be reduced to a few hip drops or shimmies. But I have no qualms using my dance knowledge when hooping :) I love going to class every week because it furthers not only my inner dancer, but also my inner hooper. I also love throwing on some random music and dancing outrageously when no one's watching!

I'm very inspired by the "dance combo with/without hoop" challenge and might just post one of my first ever videos for that :) Let's see what I can come up with, I've got an idea already!

StudentPermalink Reply by Noora on November 7, 2010 at 11:02pm

Hello everyone! My name is Noora and I've been hooping for 9 months now. I've never had any dancetraining besides some random dance cardio every now and then. I've always wanted to dance, but unfortunately I used to be an extremely shy person with a low self esteem, so I didn't have the guts. (I know I'm crazy! :D) So when I found hooping in the beginning of this year I was thrilled, because I finally found something that instantly felt like my thing and the best thing about it was that I could learn it on my own! Hoop became this amazing little thing that boosted my confidence first time in my life. I am now a different person because of hooping and I've become much more dancey. It showed me that I can learn and I SHOULD learn, because it makes me feel good and it's fun (Dancing fun? Go figure.. ;)) So last week I ordered two instructional DVD's about HipHop-Bellydace Fusion and I couldn't be more excited! Can't wait to learn and adding that style to my hooping too. Maybe I will go to some classes in the future, but now I'm happy to learn on my own. :)

Happy HoopDANCING Everyone! <3

StudentPermalink Reply by MissCephalopod on November 8, 2010 at 1:07pm

Are these by any chance Anasma's DVDs or Fayzah's? They are fantastic, but fairly advanced and bellydance should be learned by a live teacher because there's such a lot you can't learn in a video :) Such as proper posture. When you're teaching yourself it's very easy to assume a wrong posture and end up hurting yourself, so please be careful!

Just to prevent you from getting frustrated because they really are tough, even for people who've been bellydancing for a year (or two or three or...).

StudentPermalink Reply by Noora on November 8, 2010 at 1:37pm

Yes they are Anasma's DVDs! Thank you so much for the hint, I have to start looking for classes! :)

StudentPermalink Reply by MissCephalopod on November 8, 2010 at 3:58pm

No worries! It's just very frustrating to find that you're still very far from the level that the DVDs demand, I know the feeling myself ;)

Nothing can replace a good live teacher (as in any dance or many sports forms), not last because bellydance is also a dance with a rich cultural history that's really fascinating. I personally enjoy all the folkloric dances especially and love learning the different aspects and rhythms of middle-eastern music. They give me whole new tools and perspectives to play with, with or without a hoop, so I can only recommend trying out some lessons :)

Just to give you a bit of help, www.bhuz.com is an excellent bellydance online community with tons of information, as is bellydanceforums.com!

StudentPermalink Reply by Jana from Ula Oopla land on November 8, 2010 at 12:47am

Hi there, my name is Jana and I love to dance with my hoop, I feel myself when I hoop. It will be 2 years soon that I discovered my passion for life.
When I was younger I used to take all sorts of dance classes, hip hop, jazz, latin, dancing to Michael Jackson - which makes me think I should try some of his moves while hooping! And now, 15 years later (wow that went quick!), married with 3 children, I am looking to take another class... don't know which one yet.

Love, Jana

Permalink Reply by Hooploose on November 9, 2010 at 2:00pm

Hi, my name is Gosia (an English translation would be Meg, from Margaret), and I've been hooping for less than a month... I know, all of you are so experienced! But that's why I hope to learn form you. :)

As for dancing, I took a whole lot of classes: flamenco (four years, wow), bellydance (half a year, sadly, not my thing at all), contemporary dance (a year, but doesn't particularly suit me...) and dancehall (one year and counting! :D). The last one is my big and eternal love. ^^ As for hooping, it sure was love at first spin, but I'm yet to find out if it'll last... I sure hope so! Now the biggest problem with hoopdancing is how to do booty shakes while hooping... ;)

(I know, there's the booty bump, but it's not quite the same. Still, gotta try. ;))

StudentPermalink Reply by Shelley "HoopyChick" Gilbertson on November 9, 2010 at 6:16pm

I've been intrigued by Flamenco because it's sooooo expressive with the hands/arms. Maybe you can give us a quick tutorial on "Flamenco arms!" ;)

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