I'm a 3rd year burner going on my 4th year and only last year did I experience what it meant to be a hooper, even if in my hoop infancy. I always marveled at hoopers, their vibrancy, expressiveness, and pure joy emanates throughout a space; mesmerizing to be sure. Fire Hoopers are on a whole other level: wild, passionate, and overflowing with life. My second burn, a friend, more of a sister, Cheeta decided to experience her first burn. She had been playing around with a hoop for a while in our backyard and I could muster only a 15 second streak of barely keeping it up (a large achievement in my eyes). Seeing my sister on the playa experiencing what could best be described as a child-like enthusiasm for simple joy and unhindered expression blew me away. Her talents seemed limitless and her image catapulted to that of goddess-like stature. I regret not having had the courage to pick up the hoop then and push through my own limitations. But I suppose that wouldn’t have been my journey.
8 months ago I found myself in a very odd transitional period. It was in the beginning of May that I returned home from my 4 month study abroad program in Dublin and with no school and no job I found myself a Guinness and Jameson infused lump. Coming back from an incredible experience that taught me about independence, I returned with nothing tangible to work on or grow from. My sisters had actually been picking up the hoop while I was gone "studying" and blew me away when I came back. Now home and a little worse for wear, I figured what better way to lose some fluff and gain some of the tremendous joy I saw across the faces of my sisters than to hop in a hoop! It was the beginning of May and I certainly had my work cut out for me. The idea of sticking my arms in a hoop and somehow manipulating it up to my chest was an impossible feat and anyone who could do it was a magician. However, there was a flaw in my “it’s impossible”-Point-of-view: I could see that my sisters and YouTube hoopsters could pop their arms in and out with ease and with a look of relaxation and pleasure across their face. Thus teaching me my first hooping lesson: Impossible is only a word for something I haven’t work hard enough to achieve yet.
After about 1 month of intensive hooping I felt I was adequately skilled enough to try a fire hoop. (Don’t worry, no horror story ensues) I could do the vortex, vertical hooping, the booty bump, swing the hoop from back to front and bend down to the ground. AN EPIC ACHIEVEMENT! I got my first fire play out of the way and immediately went to review it on camera, as my sister had recorded it. Hazza! I didn’t look half bad. A second lesson indeed: Be fearless! (smart, but fearless )
My sisters and I were hard at play hooping nearly every day and fire hooping a couple of times a week in our backyard. In July, with our friend Cheeta we form an enthusiastic fire group called Illuminata fire troupe. We get to do our first gig, for free; at an art Gallery show and I throw the hoop at the audience twice and drop the hoop about 4 times. Don’t worry it didn’t actually go INTO the audience so much as landed in front of me heading in their general direction. A good day for non-bendy spokes indeed. Anyways, in spite of my errors, I was surprisingly enthusiastic about my performance. I had accomplished a shoulder duck out, managed to pop one leg out and strike a pose (albeit I failed to get my foot back in), and more importantly failed to light myself or the audience on fire! Shweet. Third lesson? Perhaps try less risky moves when audience is 10 feet away. A Serious Third Lesson? Don’t be ashamed of what you accomplish at any level of your hooping, it is all success. A motto I repeat to myself: I am better than yesterday, but not as good as I’ll be tomorrow.
About 2 weeks later I fire hoop at a friend’s birthday party and don’t drop or throw my hoop at all.  I even tried some breaks and reversals! I always tried one new thing every time I fire hooped and still do. The end of August comes up and I’ve really been working on my hooping, I have most of the tricks I’m curious about learned and am down to a 36” hoop. I feel confident enough to just flow with my hoop. I think that’s something that has kept me inspired from the beginning is that I love to dance. The hoop provides me a way to further express a connection to music. 3rd BURN!!!! And I feel such a deeper connection to the Burning Man experience because I can offer myself to it in a new way. I run around all day with my hoop jamming at random bar to random roller skating rink. Wednesday, I ride into center camp with my sisters, mom and friends and with my hoop in hand decide I didn’t come all this way to hold myself back and step into Center Camp and jam for about 5 minutes to some beautiful mellow tunes, zoning in and finding flow. A man comes up to me afterwards and expresses how mesmerized his friends and he were and leaves me with a hug and a smile. Such simple and meaningful moments are what make Burning Man one of the best experiences of my life. I get some fire play in at our camp and have a clear moment where I realize I am no longer afraid of the fire or even cautious of it, but simply aware without needing to be on edge and have some true flow with a fire hoop.
The night of the Burn comes and the grisly white out that nearly made it impossible lends way to beautiful skies and a memorable, if not stubborn, burn. There is one spot my entire camp wants to hit that night and that’s the Do Lab, which killed it all week. We park our art car pretty close to the stage and unload. My sisters and I notice this guy breaking it down with a hoop in front of the Do Lab in the midst of a crowd, popping that shit like he was gonna break it off. When I see an opening where I won’t get thrashed by his hoop I step in and ask him his name: Rich. I tell him how fucking badass he is although with moves like that it’s like telling a penguin it’s cute; it’s an exercise in stating the obvious. He breaks it down some more and heads to the right of the stage where I spy with my little eye Spiral, the Vulcan crew, Shakti Sunfire and more(at this point I realize Rich is Isopop and enter a deeper state of awe). Probably stuttering like a child I rush up to Spiral to again, tell the penguin it’s cute, “You’re epic. You’re badass!” and probably a few other rambling complements that had no proper forethought or coherent structuring. She thanks me with a smile and Rich begins an epic hoop performance, followed by Poki, Spiral and Shakti. As sun rose we took the art car a little further out to enjoy the sunrise. I pulled down my hoop, walking a little further away from the warm huddle of my friends and hoop into the sunrise. Needless to say ’09 burn was my best yet and I can only expect more amazing experiences from 2010.
Coming home I start school at CSU Fullerton as a Journalism major and continue my hooping reinvigorated and inspired. This is a quick sum up of how the next month goes: Hoop, Watch YouTube Videos, Hoop, Hoop, Take Test, YouTube, Hoop, Hoop, YouTube, YouTube, and Hoop. I finally felt it was time to start sharing my hooping. Although I felt intimidated by the hooping community at large; after watching so many videos and absorbing so much from other hoopers and being inspired, a kind of guilt set in that I hadn’t returned the favor. I posted my first video on YouTube on October 23, Hooping to D-styles. I got a weird anxiety about putting videos online. Although, I learned that I know all of the flaws more than any of my friends do because they seem to think I rule. Further, I find reviewing my hooping and keeping a consistent video log helped immensely in my own growth as a hooper. Hooping became my passion and by the end of the year when people asked me what I did I said, “Hoop.” Then of course rambled on about how it ain’t yo’ mommas hula hoop. Fourth Lesson: You can’t be intimidated, you can only be inspired.
Now it’s a new year and I feel I’m beginning to repay the favor to so many I have been inspired by. I feel like a novice in so many ways, but am happy to be a part of a community that celebrates growth, exploration and innovation. Thank you to all of the wonderful, beautiful, inspiring hoopers I’ve met, seen and with luck will one day spin with. And about that Journalism major, it’s now evolved into Dance. 