Fedhooper Love!
Baltimore residents may recognize this background as the view from Federal Hill over the Inner Harbor, along with three charming and love-filled hoopers enjoying an afternoon of hooping fun in the sun! Federal Hill is a sweet spot to hoop, and it’s so very close to both the Visionary Art Museum and the Trapeze school, two radically fun places to check out while in town. Thanks, Meredith, for sharing such a quintessential B’more Hooper shot!
Baby~Toddle Hoopers
While it’ll usually take a person that’s been alive a handful of years (if not 6 or 7+ years) to get the swing of the revolution around the waist, it’s really never too early to introduce the ring of wonder & joy to your little ones, provided that they are toddling around a bit and you can monitor them to keep the hoop out of their mouths. Stick with light, small hoops for your super-youngsters. Be careful also for dangerous connection points on the cheap, store-bought hoops as they are often held together by staples beneath the sticker that reads the brand name. Help them play with their hoops by holding them up for them to walk or crawl through, using them as a hole for tossing a ball (I like to call this game ‘hoopetball’), or place hoop/s on the ground to jump in and out (’hoopscotch’). Alternately, you yourself can hoop in front of them on your torso, arms, and neck as a funny & spectacular site to behold. If you’ve got a grumpy or tearful toddler on your hands, hooplay can be a very transfixing and pleasant distraction. Hoop on witchur baby self!
Reversing Your Spin
Whether in a structured hooping class or on your own hooping journey, I highly recommend making it a point to reverse your direction of spin as often as you can, with the goal (in mind and body) of being completely ambi-hoopstrous at some point in time. Just like it is a lot easier to learn a new language as a child than it is as an adult, if you start hooping in your non-dominant direction earlier rather than later in your practice, both your body and brain will thank you for it. Your body will appreciate the advanced coordination and symmetrical development that ambi-hooping provides. Your brain will grow leaps and bounds with the heightened levels of bilateral brain hemisphere stimulation that comes from going both ways. Whether to help your flow, dance, “breaks,” or trick execution, being able to spin both ways is critical to taking your hooping abilities to the next level. Furthermore, it’ll help you be both a better student AND teacher, if, no matter who you’re hooping with, you’re able to ‘go with their flow.’
Hoopin, Beatboxin, Bellydancin…
Tonight (Friday the 13th!) at the Palace of Wonders! comes another fabulously-faux-French cabaret hosted by the one and only Monsieur Paco. Also starring hooper Strange Powers, bellydancer Ariel, beatboxer the Bow-legged Gorilla, and burlesque starlet Sable Sincyr. A night not to be missed! Show at 10pm. Cover at 10 dollars. Bring your friends!
Hoopin’ at the Palace!
Tonight, June 5th, brings yet another fun-filled edition of the Dutch Oven at the Palace of Wonders, brought to you by the L’il Dutch, and her sweety sidekick MC Gary Gutter. Come out and watch my Strange Hooping Powers, in addition to the divine Lily Stark White, the debut of Poppy La Rouge, and of course the creator of the night and keeper of all things Tiki, L’il Dutch herself. Doors at 6, show at 9pm, $10.
Hoopnotica Love
This month I was fortunate to meet and hoop with the lovely Rayna McInturf of Los Angeles’ Hoopnotica fame in my home city of Baltimore. It was awesome to get to spend time with such flowing and renowned hoopdancer as Rayna. Beginning this Thursday at Studio Edge in Mount Washington, I will be combining my own hooping curriculum and style with that of Hoopnotica’s in a new series of classes. Check back soon or email me for more details!
Tonight at the Palace!
Check out two of my brand new shiny acts: a whacky new solo hooping creation that’ll put a crinkle in your chaps, and a delightful & danceful duet sans hoop with the inimitable Paco Fish (aka Monsieur Paco for the night). Vive La Decedence at the Palace of Wonders begins at 10pm tonight! Along with juggling, aerial arts, boy-lesque, hand-balancing, and french tickling, this will surely to be a night to remember~
Parent-Child Hoop Class 4.13.08
I am happy to be offering my first formal parent & child hooping class at this year’s Ladyfest Baltimore! As part of Sunday’s Feminist Family Indoor Picnic, our hooping class will cover such topics as: basic hooping fundamentals, how to happily hoop-bond with your youngsters, several games and tricks that utilize the hoop as a prop, and the overall significance and fun of cross-generational hooping! All children with accompanying parents are welcome, however attendees under 6 or 7 years old may end up using the hoop in different ways than the instruction will be focused, therefore extra-watchful eyes are requested for for the 5 and under crowd. The Indoor picnic which includes hooping, live music, crafts, and of course- food(!), will take place between 11:30 and 1:30 pm, on Sunday the 13th of April @ 264o St. Paul Street, 21218. Cost: donations much appreciated. Please email me with any questions or concerns to hoopingpowers@gmail.com.
Love B’more Fundraiser 3.15.08
Come support the rad folks of Fluid Movement at the upcoming Love Parade fund raiser…Fluid Movement will be parading their LOVE in this April’s Transmodern Art Festival! Join myself, hooper Strange Powers, DJ Jason , Jehnna the bellydancer, and Paco Fish as the Cupid MC of the night this Saturday at the 14K Cabaret in downtown Baltimore. Not only will we be there to entertain you, but you can entertain us with your Karaoke skills to boot! A night not to be missed. $12. All proceeds benefit the production of the LOVE PARADE. Show your B’more love. Doors at 9pm.
New Series starts 2.24 & 2.25!
Howdy Hoopers and Hoopers-2-be! After an amazing turnout for the first series of hoop classes at 2640 St.Paul Street, I am beginning another two 6-week sessions kicking off tomorrow (Sunday the 24th) and the following evening (Monday the 25th). Sundays from 12 to 1:15pm will be beginner Level 1 classes, and Mondays from 5:30-6:45pm will be beginner Level 2 classes. Please call or email me if you are unsure of what level class to attend. As always, I am also available for one-on-one instruction, parties, performances, and hoop sales.
Beginner Level 1 Hooping~ Sundays from 12 noon to 1:15pm, ***February 24-April 6, with NO CLASS the week of March 23rd***
Where: 2640 St.Paul Street (St. John’s Church Community Space), Baltimore 21218
How & How Much: Hoops provided for practice, and available for purchase. No experience necessary! Wear comfortable clothes; cotton=good, not too baggy, preferably no big necklaces, and bring water along to stay hydrated! $72 for the six week session. Drop-Ins okay, but full-registration recommended for optimal learning~ +$2/class for drop-in rate. Each class builds on the last over the six week session. Please email me to ensure a spot.
More location info: www.redemmas.com/2640
Beginner Level 2 Hoopdance~ Mondays from 5:30-6:45pm ***February 25-April 7, with NO CLASS the week of March 3***
Where: 2640 St. Paul Street (St. John’s Church Community Space), Baltimore 21218
How & How Much: Hoops provided, but folks are welcome to bring their own if they like! Bring water & a desire to move! $72/six weeks. Drop-Ins permitted, but each class will build on the last. Fluidity and furtherance of techniques from Level 1 class emphasized, focus on travel, levels, combinations, and individual skill-building of our unique hoopdance styles. Please email me to ensure a spot.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any additional questions. Hope to hoop with many of you this week & beyond!
Thursday 2.21 Follies
Judging from the talent gracing the flyer to the left, this Thursday’s All-Female Weirdo Show at the Palace of Wonders promises to be a night not to miss. Yours truly, Strange Powers, will take the stage along with such talented ladies as bellydancer Belladonna, burlesque startlet L’il Dutch, aerialist Moira Lee, and fire artists Malibu & Silver Raven. So do come out and getchur freak on at the one and only Weirdo Show! $10. 9pm. 1210 H Street NE.
Hooping @ Clothing Swap 2.16.08!
Come by to donate and adopt sweet and gently used gear tomorrow at Ladyfest Baltimore’s all sized & gendered “Let me Borrow That Top” Clothing Swap fundraiser; taking place from 1-4pm at 2640 St. Paul Street. You bring some old (but loved) stuff to give away, and leave with a new treasure or two or three! Not just any old clothing swap, tomorrow’ll be fit with changing areas, alteration help (yes: sewing machines!), Ladyfest logo silk-screening, button/accessory making, tea & muffins, and me! Yes, Hooping Powers will be there to share hoops and all kinds of hooping powers with anyone interested, wanting a break from the swappage, or needing to evaluate their newly re-fashioned DIY tee for its hoop-ability ease. $3-5 donation~ remember you’re supporting the all-volunteer amazingness that is Baltimore’s first ever Ladyfest!
New Class in Mount Rainier!
For those of you DC/VA folks looking to get into a hoop class and build friendly hooping community, come on by Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mount Rainier, MD on Monday nights and get your whirl on. I am taking over classes for the lovely Inspyra, who’s leaving our fine city for westerly lands. Studio open for hooping at 8:15 pm. Class runs from 8:30 until 9:45. Hoops provided, but bring your own if you like! Multi-leveled, with a focus on beginner hooping and hoopdance fundamentals. $12/class. Drop-ins welcome. Call 240.328.9924 with any questions. Hope to see you there soon!
High Brow at the Ottobar 2.2.08
Come check out Trixie and Monkey’s cleverly ridiculous show entitled ‘High Brow’ this Saturday night at the Ottobar. I will present a nerd-a-licious hoop number, along with the genius talents of Scotty the Blue Bunny (back from Sweden!), Snacks, Captain Elastico, Paco, Sugar Ann Spice, DJ Woman, and of course, the most intellectually sophisticated and highly-low-brow entertainment of all: Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey. 9:30pm, $13, theottobar.com. 2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore 21218.
Co-creator of Wham-O Hoops Passes
This past week, Richard Knerr, 82-year old trademarker of the “hula-hoop” among many other wildly popular toys, passed away after suffering a stroke in Northern California. Knerr (pictured here on the right along with his business partner, Arthur Melin who died in 2002) patented the ‘hula hoop’ toy in the late 1950’s after learning about children in Australia swinging rattan rings ’round their waists. While hoops of various natural materials (like grapevines, wood, and metal) have been around for millennia prior to Knerr and Melin’s colorful plastic version, the two men of Wham-O made it the most popular toy fad in our country’s history…selling 100 million hoops within the first year of production! It is fit to mention here that Native Hoop Dance (which is very different than the Wham-O version of hooping) has been an integral part of this land’s indigenous peoples for many, many generations, and remains a thriving cultural dance form to this day.
Baltimore’s Hoopers in the Sun!
Check out this sweet article on our Baltimore hooping movement hot off the press in today’s Baltimore Sun. It is truly a pleasure to see so many residents of B’more coming out to join in the revolutionary movement! Monday evening classes at 2640 are going swimmingly, and we’re about to schedule another series for Saturday mornings~ so please do email or call me if you’d like to get on the list for the upcoming weekend session, and make your new year a hoopy one!
Bi-coastal Hoop for Hope
Pictured here is the amazing Crystal doing a lovely hooping backbend pose. Crystal is one of my many dear west coast hooper-friends. She and her mom stumbled upon my hooplog not too long ago, and a connection was made. You see, Crystal and I have both recently lost very dear family members to cancers in the brain region: I lost my Mother, Mimi, and Crystal lost her little brother, Cole. Crystal and Cole’s mom wrote to me to tell me about a hoop-a-thon fundraiser that her daughter Crystal, an avid hoopdancer, has put on for the last two years to help stop cancer from happening to other kids. When they read about my own Capital Hoop For Hope fundraiser in DC this past year, they reached out to connect and express appreciation for our mutual, bi-coastal efforts to eradicate brain and brain stem cancers. Cheers to the charitable hoopers out there, and here’s to my most inspiring new friend of 2007, Crystal~ Let us all keep on hooping for hope!
‘07 In Review: World Hoop Day
Hoopy new year folks! I hope that everyone’s had a peaceful and loving transition thus far into 2008. Have you yet hooped this calendar year? If not, what are you waiting for? Reflecting back on the last year, I am tickled with how much the hooping revolution has taken off…Perhaps the most significant hoop event of ‘07 was the first annual World Hoop Day, which took place on 7.7.07. People all across the globe took to their circles, uniting in the joyful revolutionary movement of the hoola hoop. Baltimore was no exception; we hooped it up in serious style on a beautiful, sunny day at the Inner Harbor. Take a peek at my photos on flickr, documenting the fun that was had in B’more for W.H.D. ‘07. And save the date for ‘08: August 8th, 2008 (8.8.08) for the next and biggest and hoopiest World Hoop Day ever.
New Year Class Series
For lucky aspiring hoopers in and around Baltimore, Maryland, I am pleased to announce my next beginner adult-oriented hooping class being offered on Monday evenings for six weeks this coming January-February. This class series will cover a number of topics, including basic waist and torso hooping, neck hooping, limb hooping, simple traveling, transitions, hoopdance, beginner levels, angles, tricks, and overall fluidity of movement. Using hoops that are larger and heavier than the drug-store variety, people of all sizes, ages, and skill levels can and do easily pick up the spinning movement. Hooping is a fantastic mood-maker, work-out, meditation tool, and peace-promoter. It not only exercises your body but your brain as well, with it’s constant bilateral hemisphere stimulation. Give it a whirl and experience the joy that is taking over so many peoples’ lives. Here are the details:
What: Beginner Adult Hooping Classes
With Whom: Noelle Powers, a.k.a. Strange Powers
When: Monday eves, 5:15-6:30pm, Jan.7- Feb.11, ‘08
Where: 2640 St. Paul Street, C’ Village, see picture
How & how much: RSVP your interest to hoopingpowers@gmail.com to ensure a spot. $12/class. Drop-in’s permitted, but full registration preferred for optimal learning and class flow.
Why: Because hooping is all the rage these days! It’s a super-fun way to work out, highly crowd-pleasing, party-starting, and a guaranteed smile-generator.
Good vs. Evil 12.15.07
The next installment of Vive La Decadence will be taking place tomorrow, Saturday the 15th of December. It’s no holiday show, folks, but instead a serious battle of Good vs. Evil. The charming Monsieur Paco will once again host this French-infused variety show at DC’s hot spot, the Palace of Wonders. I, Strange Powers, reside on Team Good, tirelessly battling the forces of evil plagueing our nation’s capital with my super-duper-Hooping-Powers. Come find out who’ll be victorious! 1210 H. Street, NE. $10 at 10pm.
Hoop-Making Tonight!
Here’s a little last minute notice of the Hoop-Making Workshop I am having tonight at my place in Baltimore. It’ll be from 6 to 8:30pm. Learn all you ever wanted to know about making these fabulously fun revolutionary rings, and try it out yourself. $25, plus a $5 materials fee so that folks can go home with their very own d.i.y. hoola hoop, and all the skills for making holiday hoop gifts! Please call me at 240.328.9924 if you want to attend, as there is little room left. I can provide location details from there~
Upcoming Classes & Hoopmaking Workshop…
Hey beginner hoopers and hoopers-to-be: getchur hoop on this holiday season and new year! I am currently lining up my next six-week series of adult classes for January. Classes will either be a late-morning weekend time, or an early-evening weekday time. Feel free to email me at hoopingpowers@gmail.com with your preference, as I will take all feedback into consideration before finalizing the dates. Also, I hope to hold a hoop-making workshop around the 2nd week of December, just in time for handmade holiday gift hoops! Giving the gift of a hoola hoop is one of the most positive, peaceful, healthful and fun gifts around, and crafting it yourself makes it that much more special. Please email me if you are interested in the hoop-making workshop, and I will get back to you with further details~
Darlings of December 12.2.07
Join us at the Palace of Wonders a week from tonight for San Fran’s fabulous songbird slash ukulele-slinger Tippy Canoe to kick off her east coast tour. I, Strange Powers, will be hooping it up whilst throwing down all kinds of delectable dance moves, along with the varied talents of Sarah Azzara, Kitty Victorian, and the mistress of ceremonies, Citizen Rahne. The show starts at 9. Tickets are $8. The Palace is located at 1210 H. Street NE, Washington DC. Warm up your work week with us darlings!
NYC Roof Hoop
As part of Performa ‘07, New York’s 20-day biennial of performance art, here’s a shot of 2 out of 20-something synchronized hoopers spinning it up for an hour on Chinatown rooftops. It reminds me of how revolutionary and exciting it felt to me as a kid watching the U2 video where they’re playing a free concert on the roof of a building. Take to the sky with your hoops! And grow a rooftop garden while your at it!
Glitterama-3 This Weekend!
If you don’t already know about the gloriousness that is Glitterama, see and learn for yourself this Friday and Saturday night at the Load of Fun building located in Baltimore’s burgeoning Station North Arts District. Glitterama is a bedazzled fundraiser show for the awesome Fluid Movement community arts group. Come see 10 fabulous variety acts, including Strange Powers’ first non-hoop-dance performance in the city of Baltimore! The show is jam-packed with greatness- from wild lion acrobats to early-90’s-queer-cheerleaders and a hoop act to boot! Do NOT miss this glittery bliss! Details:
Tickets available at: www.brownpapertickets.com
How Much: 10 bucks for 10 acts!
Where: 120 W. North Avenue at Howard, in Baltimore, 21201.
When: Friday 11.9 show at 8pm. Saturday 11.10 shows at 7 and 10pm.
| HoopingPowers.com copyright © 2008 HoopingPowers. Powered by Tinboat Webworks |
|
| We all have hooping powers! |