Why Hula Hooping For Me?

Why did I get into hooping, and what makes it so special for me?

I got into hooping on a fluke. It was a rare Saturday off and I actually got to take 3 different dance types that I’d not yet experienced at the Summer Sideshow Circus, at the Buffalo Rose in Golden, Colorado.

One was burlesque. Fun, but I like to keep my clothes on.

One was aerial fabric, or silks. Hanging from the ceiling, climbing up, doing poses and different tricks. Sooooo much more strength required than it looks, to make it appear graceful and elegant.

The “fire” class as a dance class didn’t really count, because we lit absolutely nothing on fire, and just got handed a safety sheet checklist. Boring. But it did give me an appreciation of the danger and safety of the fire performance that night.

But then…My FIRST hoop class.

In retrospect, it was like the heavens parted and the light rays shown down upon me in angelic ways. Although that probably didn’t actually happen, it did metaphorically…because the hoop changed my life. Literally. The trajectory. My path. My career. My business.

Ann Dellinger, of Firefly Hoops was my first experience in hooping. She’s what we call my hoop mama (who first got me into hooping). Graceful, elegant, beautiful. Of course she made it look easy. And I’m a really good mimicker of the teacher when learning. (But when I get home, that’s a different story.)

For the next three days after the class I moved with the rocking motion that keeps the hoop up for waist hooping. It’s similar to getting off of a long train trip and having your body do that weird continual motion thing with your equilibrium.

I figured out how to make hoops.

I had to buy a roll of 100 feet of tubing…so I had to make a Lot of hoops. My first ones were so incredibly rudimenary. But they got me moving and hooping through a really rough time in my life.

My mom was dying of terminal cancer and that totally sucked, especially since I was the one running and also tasked with closing down our family southwestern gift store, all by myself.

There were days when all I did with the hoop was have it nearby at work, and just look at the pretty colors. Other days, I just sat cross-legged in it and told all my problems that they had to stay “out there,” out of the perimiter of the hoop I was sitting in. That’s all I needed was a few moments of respite, to not think about all the hard stuff.

The first year I just got some dvd’s from the library and goofed around. Basically I was self taught through dabbling. YouTube was in it’s infancy, so I didn’t think to go there for tutorials.

After a year of just bumbling around, a friend invited me to go to Jonathan Baxter’s Hoop Path weekend at the Boulder Circus Center. And cue the “Ahhhhhhh” moment. I found more of my people. (My first one of those was finding my belly dance people at the…you guessed it…Buffalo Rose for the Elevation Festival, run by Elizabeth Ashner…who did the Sideshow Circus, too!)

I was now officially totally Hooked into hooping.

Every and any workshop that I could afford and get to in Colorado–I made my best effort to be there. We had such a huge “flow” and circus community in Colorado, and especially Boulder. I was so spoiled.

Because so many people asked, “where do you teach” when I was out and about hooping, I started hoop classes at a the Bizzare Monkey belly dance studio in Denver. When that closed, I moved over to another belly dance friend’s studio called the Red Elephant, just a couple of blocks away. Not making any of that up. My Hip The Hoopla biz was born with the teaching.

When people took my classes, they natually wanted to buy a hoop. So I got into becoming a hoopsmith by necessity. I used to really not like making hoops, but eventually changed my attitude and got really, really good at making high quality professionally hand crafted custom hoops. So now I was a tripple threat: performing, teaching, and making hoops.

I eventually got involved with World Hoop Day…

And joined with the Fort Collins hoopers in organizing one of the best annual events. It was awesome being a part of a committee to put on such great events.

When the original choreographer of the World Hoop Day dance couldn’t do it one year, I asked if I could, and that torch got passed to me. I’ve now been the official WHD dance choreographer since 2017. And because YouTube was starting to crack down on music copyrights, I also started creating the original song, too. I wrote lyrics, and usually got amazing musicians to help me produce tracks. Even got a Grammy Nominee artist help me one year!!

Because I wanted to rely less on having to get others to help me, I ventured into music and production myself. Don’t think I’m going to be winning any Grammy’s, but it’s nice to have an original song that I help create.

So yeah, a plastic circle has changed my life. My health. My mental well-being. Physically and emotionally, too. And of course I’ve turned it into a little business that has helped change the lives of thousands of people worldwide, through my classes, YouTube channel, and online classes and memberships.

Here’s me and a bit of what I do and why in a short video: https://youtu.be/4ORsDUDD2jM

Want More Hooping??

Try one of my favorite hooping exercises for free: http://www.hooplacademy.com/exercise

How you can learn hula hooping FAST…

And if you want to jump in and learn one move a week, plus a short combo–in MINUTES (not hours), you can join my Friday Fun Hoop Club: http://fridayfun.hooplacademy.com/monthly

Thanks for reading, watching, and supporting throughout the years!

♥Welcome to the Circle♥
~Che’