Life: Learning and flow.

I began dancing when I was 5 years old in New Mexico. I still remember the box that held my ballet shoes, shiny and red. From there I took jazz class, then in high school I learn cheer routines on the junior varsity  team in high school. It’s pretty standard that I’ll see a new move or teach a new move put it all together and it’s fine. Learning new choreography has always been easy for me.

This morning was different. Dance class this morning had an awkwardness. Today I was in my head trying to see how what I was learning is going to fall into my hoop dance flow.

I’ve gone to “hoop camp” as I like to call it, several times this summer. I went to Hoop Path with Jonathan Baxter, at Wakarusa I attended Luna Breeze’s workshops and most recently Spunshine. Hoop Path wasn’t too technical but I learned more about grace & just how to use my entire body. I felt like I went to boot camp all weekend – all 3 days. I rarely have to take pain relievers but I took some for it. The other two were more about tricks – you know the WOW EFFECT. So I’m trying to pull both the awareness of my body (& using both currents, hooping from the left AND the right) and slipping in tricks.

Now where is where my dance classes come in – I want the attitude in there. When I dance hoopless there is a lot of attitude because I’ve been doing it before I can remember & I’m not trying to figure out where I need to put my hand, foot, leg, shoulder so I don’t drop my hoop & look wack. I usually don’t care if I look wack, rediculous, crazy, silly EVER but this past couple of years people will tell me “oh wow that looked so cool” when I hoop that I’ve become increasingly aware of omgpeoplearelookingatme. I’m just playing, it’s fun.

I like how I look when I dance but today I was just trying to figure out where I was going to put my hoop doing certain moves, it was like a 2nd class IN MY HEAD. One of my favorite things about dance class is the mirrors. I didn’t have these mirrors in any of the hooping camps. So I don’t know WHAT I looked WHILE I was learning just what I recorded when I got home.

So basically I don’t remember sh!t from dance class today because I was thinking about what I was going to do with a hoop – if I had it in my hand or if I had two or if I was using poi. I had crappy flow & didn’t even enjoy myself much. I did however sweat a whole bunch & was totally out of step with everyone else which kept making me laugh. It made my flow weird. I’m not sure if I should combine what I’m doing in dance class with what I’ve learned in hoop camps so literally.

Either way it was a fun thought to have a class that was more hoop attitude than either dance or tricks. I also know that next time I want to be more present for what I’m doing so I don’t walk away missing a whole hour of my life thinking about something else.

Hello Kitty Hoop Design by Rad Hoops
Hello Kitty Hoop Design by Rad Hoops

This is one of my favorite hoops. It was designed by Rachelle at Rad Hoops.

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