This Saturday and Sunday, June 9 & 10, at 2pm and 4pm, Hello100!, a vision of the bold & beautiful Bex Burton will be danced by dozens of hoopers from all over the land on Governors Island, NYC. Strange Powers will be making it up from MD to join in this epic event- part of an amazing arts festival that is free to all: the Figment Project. It’s not every day that you get to see a hundred or more colorfully costumed hoopdancers in a choreographed piece inspired by LOVE. But each day of this weekend, it IS that day. And it’s twice daily. And there’s a BUNCH more wild, fun, love-centered, experiential arts pieces happening on the island all day long, THIS WEEKEND! Here’s a video link to inspire you even more. If you have any way to get to that free ferry that takes you to that pretty island of (pedestrians and bicyclists, no cars:) and spend the day in a priceless, liberating joy-state, I strongly suggest you go. And we will hug you in our hoops when we see you.
Archive for the ‘Performances’ Category
Hello100! A Hundred HoOpDancers spin up a New York Isle!
Thursday, June 7th, 2012Dance In The Circle- POSTPONED! ! !
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
There is a super rad movement event in the gay-means-happy heart of Washington, DC originally scheduled for Saturday the 21st of April, THAT HAS NOW BEEN RAIN-DATED TO TAKE PLACE ON SUNDAY, MAY 13!!! While it’s not a hooping-specific event- it does take place in Dupont CIRCLE, it is all about unity and community, plus there will be free time and space to hoop in between company performances and there’ll be an open dance party for ALL built into the schedule! Check out their website here to stay tuned for further deets, and polish up your dancing shoes and hoola hoops in preparation for some sweet a-s tail feather shaking with many like-minded, dance-loving souls coming up on Sunday, May 13th! Be there or be… out of the loop!
Valentine’s Day 2012 @ The Birchmere
Saturday, January 14th, 2012
Join the world famous Pontani Sisters, the Maine Attraction, Strange Powers, and more special guests for a romantic holiday evening set to sultry jazz favorites with a beauteous burlesque bent. Hooping like you’ve never seen sexy hooping before: set to live jazz music! At the Birchmere Music Hall. Show details: 7:30 pm on 14 February, 2012, Alexandria, VA. Click here for purchasing tickets, and we’ll see you on V-Day for Burlesque-A-Pades delight!
Ottobar Show This Saturday: 12.10.11
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Friends! Hoop-Lovers! Holiday-Lovers! Burlesque-Lovers! Come out to Baltimore’s Ottobar club this coming Saturday for a rare B’more treat: The World Famous Pontani Sisters from NYC will be gracing the stage in all of their foxy adorableness. The italian stallionettes will present their seasonal revue: BURLESQUE-A-PADES, HOLIDAY INN! And, in addition to the reigning queen of burlesque & real deal beauty herself: Miss Angie Pontani, joining the fun will be the tres talented tap dancin tornado: Helen Pontani, the great deceiver from Ripley’s Believe it or Not: Albert Cadabra, Baltimore’s boylesque starlet: Paco Fish, and yours truly, Strange Powers, holding it down and all around in the sexy circle… In sum, a veritable cavalcade of gifted hotness upon which to feast your eyes and ring your bells. Doors open at 8pm, show is at 9pm, 18+ years of age & $15 to enter. Get your tickets here and see you THERE!
Hooping for Social Justice
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
The revolution may or may not be televised, but it will most definitely be social-networkified, and it will ONE HUNDRED PERCENT be hoola hooped! Hooping was, is, and will always will be for me a true act of revolution~ not only of the physical variety (which is so infinitely cool) but also for the plight of oppressed peoples who need a lift, a jolt of joy, and a big boost of community momentum. Real and large-scale social change is taking place in our country, the colonizing capital of our planet~ having begun a month ago in New York City with the tremendous Occupy Wall Street movement. Masses of people are rising up in frustration, desperation, compassion, and all in the spirit of non-violent, loving-kindness with a vision of major paradigm shifting. Hoopers are among the many brave ones taking to the streets and inundating social media networks with coverage of what’s actually happening. It’s so easy to get stuck in our analytical, overwhelmed heads these days, amidst the traumatic events, economic crises, and environmental disasters taking place across the world. A hoop can help with this worrisome tendency. Hooping is an immediate source of grounding into ourselves, flexing & strengthening our muscles, and feeling the full range of motion our bodies will allow. Hooping also quickly unblocks stagnant energy channels and returns them to their natural states of flow. It is no wonder that so many hoopers are hip (pun noted) to the greater socio-economic revolution taking place right here, right now. As a general truth, hoopers are community-oriented, justice-centered, optimistic, super flexible, and (as an added bonus:) truly in our bodies. A superb recipe for a revolutionist, I do believe. AND HOOPING IS FUN! Super fun! Plus it keeps you well & feeling frisky. Consider organizing groups of hoopers to take to the streets, not only amongst all of the awesome ‘OCCUPY’ movements happening across the country and planet, but just to walk the walk and spin the circle in united communal fashion wherever you may find yourself, and in doing so draw magnetic attention to this overarching concept of REVOLUTION. There are groups sprouting up all over to hoop for peace and social justice. Tisha Marina, pictured above, has been holding it down with the hoop in LA for a number of years, successfully using our beloved circle as a means for social change. As my dear hooper friend Jaguar Mary likes to say: “Flow is the new Change.” Today I think we can safely add that: “Change is the new Flow.” Welcome to the age of Aquarius and the return to human decency. And let us all hoopdance to celebrate!
Spring-Summer Hoopdance Events!
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Hooping Powers is actively and joyfully booking out spring & summertime events for all things hooptacular! A sampling of our 2011 schedule includes: performance at an end of year school social, birthday parties for folks of all ages (youth AND adults!), summer camps for special needs groups of all ages (i.e. people with disabilities, folks experiencing grief, etc.), weddings, and community festivals. Your custom-designed event complete with fresh hoopdance flavor can look like a straight-ahead performance by one or more of our radical hoopdancers, a lesson or workshop of sorts, with or without audience/attendee participation, or some exciting combination thereof. In the past we’ve also led hoop-making workshops, brought rings to bat and bar Mitzvahs, and hosted countless other hooptastic happenings. We can arrange to do choreographed pieces or improvisation/ambient hoopdance, or pretty much whatever you can dream up having to do with the revolutionary circle. Please contact: Noelle Powers, director and principle performer of HoopingPowers, to discuss your hooping vision, our proposal, & get your event on our books! Powers can be reached at: noelle at HoopingPowers dot com, or by clicking on the CONTACT page of the left-hand toolbar. Accompanying photo courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art and photographer: Maximilian Franz. We look forward to hearing from you and hooping with you very soon~
Be Circled @ Joe Squared, Tonight!
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
If you live in Baltimore City you’ve probably seen this dedicated fella named Spilly (pictured above) who has been unfailingly spreading the hoopLOVE throughout B’more for well over a year, most visibly every Saturday morning at the northern end of the Waverly Farmer’s Market. Super. Impressive. Spilly. Thanks for getting B’more hooped! Sooo… Spilly and the lovely Jes Raschella have coordinated a musical hooping throw down to usher in the spring season & whirl our hearts into a state of communal bliss. This very night on Baltimore’s North Avenue we will be hooping to some fly live music at the beloved neighborhood joint of Joe Squared Pizza. First set will start at 10pm sharp- and we’ll keep on dancin and hoopin til we’re droopin. If you’re 21+, please join us! Joe Squared is located at 133 West North Avenue, by the intersection of Howard Ave. directly across from the Load of Fun Studios. See you tonight! : )
The Subtleties and Vastness of Arm-Hand Spinning
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011I am pretty much in love with light, mini arm & hand hooping these days. My time in Chile just over a year ago really jump-started this relationship, even though I had done it a bit before the trip~ but without as much intention nor attention regarding the many positive & often subtle impacts it was having on other parts of my life. I recently received movie clips captured in the Valdivian rainforest of my first natural exploration with mini hoops in hand. The videos (a portion of which is shown above) were produced by my friend Karin {y Ricardo tambien} whom I had the pleasure to meet during those few months I spent in South America, falling into winter~ 2009.
Core or torso hooping helps you be embodied and feel your core energy centers hugged. What an extraordinary gift to self in this day and age: positive & joyful touch and play, in a not-so-sexual yet body-positive, super sensual and self-loving kind of way, hugging around your belly, pelvis, & heart spaces. There is perhaps nothing to the hooper more personal and basic and raw and intimate as core hooping. Or so I thought- and still do, in certain ways. However, my mind has been super-charged of late through the motion of *lightly-weighted, miniature hooping on the left and right arms/hands/sides of body space. *I prefer a super light grade of tubing for tiny minis. This I feel allows me to focus more on the dance of hoopdance. It’s really up to your stylistic preferences- remembering that heavier tubing (even if only 125 PSI) is going to go a little slower and not fly of the fingers quite as fast.
When I first began “neo” hooping in 2005, I marveled at the brain training that waist hooping afforded me. It was obvious: I could tell core hooping was extraordinarily helpful as my balance increased, and I felt steadied in thoughts & emotions through bilaterally stimulating the two halves of my brain. If core hooping is a brain-boosting college class, arm-hand hooping is the doctoral level of brain training. In the vein of Poi-style object manipulation, arm-hooping is simultaneously a challenge AND a graceful flowing mix; at once the New York Time’s Sunday crossword AND an Alvin Ailey dancer. And cutie baby hoops.
In the last year, I have started to make arm-hooping a standard part of my personal hoopdance practice as well as many of my hoop classes. Sometimes it’s challenging to leave the comforting core space~ but I do believe it’s a risk worth taking & well worth any struggle, in my humble hooper experience. The rewards abound and continue to come ’round. Have you yet ventured off your core for more?
Reflections on WHD 2010
Monday, October 25th, 2010
This month’s World Hoop Day celebrations in DC and Maryland were resoundingly magical. My gratitude goes out to each person who showed up to hoop, take a workshop, join our jams, enjoy the premier DC showing of The Hooping Life, watch the diverse and delectable performances of the first DCHC Flow Showcase, and to volunteer time, energy, and resources to help make our event a smashing success, including constructing and decorating hoops to give away to 100 children (and a few lucky adults!) across the DMV.
A few of the more significant highlights for me were: meeting Jes Raschella from Baltimore and adorning Joe’s with the hooprayer flags she & Spilly created and lent us for the event; meeting little hooper Scarlet, daughter of Julie one of my dear & wonderful students of the hoop; seeing just how many hoopers have sprouted up in the last year as our revolution tumbles onward with a gentle yet unstoppable velocity; having the privilege of meeting and spending a bit of time with Tisha Marina from L.A.- what a spirit of light and force of positive change in this world! So good to know you, Tisha! More treats: getting to hoop upside-down(!) on a tree in Rock Creek Park (thank you much, Shapeshifter); hooping with my 4 year-old nephew Elias on 10.10.10, the prettiest fall day imaginable; and witnessing the sheer and awesome dedication of all the folks who made the weekend happen- especially the DC Hoop Collective, staff of Joe’s Movement Emporium, Flow Showcase performers, Sonya Gross who lead our food team, and our guest teachers: Tisha Marina and Ann Humphreys. I am honored and proud to be a part of such a loving, accepting, and playful community as this one~ both locally in the Mid-Atlantic hoop scene and in the great world over.
Coyote Grace with Mini Hoops!
Sunday, October 24th, 2010My dear friends are in a folk music band called Coyote Grace. And they are awesome. And last week I gifted them some mini hoops at their Delaware show with the Indigo Girls. Here’s their backstage pre-performance warm-up play-out hoop-around fun. Just goes to show how truly versatile the world of hooping is. It’s worth mentioning that their show was Ah-Mazing that night. Playing & moving with hoops really does relax and energize, calm and invigorate, and make you giggle- all in one fell swhoop! The song they’re singing is a cover of a beautiful tune by their friends MaMuse out of Cali. Hope you enjoy this video and my friends’ lovely voices and spirits. They are the best and I love them so.
Foto~Circular #4: Bring It!
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Many thanks Erin [Doh!] for sending along this fabulous femme-fantastical hoop shot in my general direction. Love to hoopers all over the world! It’s already been brought’en. : )
De’Arra’s Hoopy B’day Jam~
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
Here’s a mildly fuzzy yet still super fun shot from De’Arra’s recent 3rd year of life birthday party in which I facilitated a HoopingPowers Hoopy Birthday jammy-jam-dance session of bliss with HOOPS! This particular moment captured was when we were driving around with hoops as our steering wheels, whirling up a storm of goodness. The party was unique in that the ages of the youth ranged from 3 to around 11~ and it seemed to work out comfortably if not perfectly for all ages involved. I think, now that I’ve been constructing smaller, lighter, “toddler-friendly” hoops, and also hanging and hooping with both my 3 year old niece and 4 year old nephew, that I have developed more of a capacity to flow well in introducing hoops to younger humans. I used to shy away from working with youth under ages 6 or 7 for hoop parties and/or classes. I am excited to be gaining skill and grace in working with younger folks as well, and am thankful to De’Arra’s party people for being so cool and open to the magic of HoopDancing. I’m currently scheduling summertime parties from birthdays bashes to Bat Mitzvahs and all around the hoop of life. Contact Noelle at HoopingPowers dot com with party deets and visions, and we will liberate dancefloors with celebration & delight through HOOPDANCE!
Fishnet Fundraiser for Tango!
Monday, February 15th, 2010
This coming Thursday I will be donning my fishnets and grabbing my hoola hoop for a short performing appearance at Tango Mercurio’s Fishnet Fete party to raise money for this wonderful dance company spreading the beauty and passion of the Tango tradition throughout DC and beyond. Reception begins at 7pm and I will be hooping it up around 8:30. There will be tango dancing throughout the night ending promptly at 11:30pm. In addition to a splash of hooping, enjoy tango, live music, food & wine, a silent auction, and additional surprises! $35 and fishnets to enter. More on Dress Code: Fishnet fabric in any form or color will get you in the door. Legs, arms, ankles, wrists, and hair are all fair play for fishnet fashion! Masculine folks: consider a fishnet tie, cravate, or pocket square! This exciting evening will take place at the lovely Josephine Butler Center in Washington, DC. Get there early to enjoy all the fun and festivities. Limited parking in Josephine Butler’s lot and on 15th and 16th streets. Metro accessible by way of Columbia Heights or U Street/Cardoza. See you in your fishnet gear!
Circular Moon & Hoop Energies High!
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Today is a big day. On this eve of 2010, we are experiencing a rare celestial occasion, with the combined forces of not only a new year upon us, but also the powerful energies of both a ‘blue’ full moon, and a partial lunar eclipse (at 2:12pm EST). The *astrological significance of a blue moon (the 2nd full moon in one month) falling on New Year’s Eve will not repeat itself again until 2028! Those of us already blessed with a conscious hoop practice have an additional powerful mandala (concentric geometric shape) upon which to meditate today and draw strength to carry forward into the new year. Astronomy, astrology, and ‘hoopology’ all share in common certain traits, such as: predictable cycles, geometric beauty, and the movement of encircling bodies, whether they be planets, the Sun, or your everyday human hoola hooper. During a full moon lunar eclipse, as well as on the eve of a new year, things have a tendency to come under reflection and to fruition, often in the form of letting go of that which no longer serves our greatest good. Examples are things like limiting beliefs, relationships, behaviors, or material possessions. On a day like today, we may likely feel more apt and able to make resolutions about living more healthily, ridding ourselves of tired habits, and intentionally committing to furthering our personal evolution. Furthermore, with the influence of a lunar eclipse like today’s, it marks a perfect time to reflect on how we feel about our contributions to the world~community at large, the legacy we are creating within it, and whether or not it is in alignment with our innermost wants and needs. Hooping, like the mandalic planetary patterns studied in astronomy and astrology, can also be used as a tool for this internal and external growth work. As you find yourself inside the circle, it is at once both a literal and symbolic effort to reunify the sense of Self. My own new year-blue moon eclipse’s resolution (and revolution) is to keep fervently focused on Self-Love and being gentle with myself. The constant hug of the hoop helps me do this everyday. And today, more than most days, I have a bonus boost in accomplishing this through such a rare and powerful lunar placement as mentioned above. If you should find yourself free this evening from 7:30 to 9:30pm, please consider joining me and others in the Greenbelt hoop jam to ring in the new year and reflect on living the way we want to live in 2010! More info about the jam on my CALENDAR page and on Greenbelt’s website. Happy New Year, Moon Power, and Hooping Powers to you today, this coming year, and always! With Love, noelle
~Accompanying photo courtesy of my friend Ricardo, shot in Chile last month, of me and my hoops and the moon high above!~
*Thanks goes out to Alison Yates for much of the Astrological data and suggestions referenced above~
Fedhooper Love!
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
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!
Good vs. Evil 12.15.07
Friday, December 14th, 2007
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.
Darlings of December 12.2.07
Sunday, November 25th, 2007
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
Monday, November 12th, 2007
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!
Thursday, November 8th, 2007
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.
Vive This Friday 10.12.07
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
Hop on over to DC’s oddly charming Palace of Wonders this Friday night for another installment of Monsieur Paco’s ‘Vive La Decadence’ show, chock-full of faux French accents and fabulous vaudevillian variety. Yours truly, Strange Powers, will be spinning up two wonderful little hoop acts for your viewing pleasure. This $10 show starts at 10pm. Get there early to have a libation and check out the club’s particularly strange oddities on display in their upstairs mini-museum. 21+. 1210 H Street, NE Washington, DC.
‘07 Virgin Fest Follow-Up
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
The 2nd annual Virgin Festival which took place at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Track proved to be a thrilling and jam-packed, albeit swelteringly hot weekend for all. From The Police and the Wu-Tang Clan to Matisyahu and M.I.A., there was no shortage of stellar entertainment, and that includes HOOLA HOOPING! We got hundreds of concert-goers happily hooping both Saturday and Sunday at our Cowboy and Cowgirl-themed Hooping Corral. Here is a shot of my newfound friend Jacinda and I talking about the hooping revolution of late.
Hoop Doggy Dogg!
Friday, August 10th, 2007
Here’s a goofy shot from the 2007 Fluid Movement Water Ballet that took place just a few weeks ago in Baltimore City. I am hooping amongst my fellow canines, the Flying Basenjis! Check back in the next couple of weeks for info on my fall Baltimore hooping classes sponsored by the Fluid Movement Troop to be held at the Load of Fun Studios.
My First LED Hoop!
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Considering what a fan I am of all things that sparkle and glow, it surprises me a bit that it’s taken me this long to hop onto and into the LED (light-emitting diodes) hooping bandwagon. I am thrilled to have this hoop to add to my fancy stock~ A big thanks to sweetheart Jules for giving me such a spectacular birthday gift. Here’s a moment in time documented during my first brilliant spin. Pretty pretty, eh?! I will be debuting this blue-light-special down at the Palace on Saturday night for Vive La Decadence, so come out and marvel at its beauty!
Virgin Festival Hoop Corral!
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
The second annual and truly ginormous Virgin Music Festival is taking place this Saturday and Sunday (August 4 & 5) at the Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore, MD…but not without a wicked-fun & western-themed HOOLA HOOP CORRAL, to getchur spin on between your favorite bands. Look for me and a few other cowgirls and boys, along with our lasso-sized stacks of hoola hoops all set up in a sweet hooping pen for your pleasure. We’ll be hooping at the Stage of Fools from 11:30-1:30, 2:30-4, and throughout the crowd around dinner time both Saturday and Sunday. Stop by, say howdy, and stay for a spin if you are one of the fortunate concert-goers~
Water Ballet Final Shows: 7.28 & 7.29
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
Come on over to the swimming pool at Patterson Park (in Baltimore, MD) this weekend for Fluid Movement’s final run of this summer’s glittery water ballet hit, ‘War and Fleas,’ where you can catch ME as a hoola hooping canine from the wrong side of the tracks. Rather loosely based on Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ it is a tale of love, war, Napoleon, and acrobatic animals, all set in and around the (dog park) pool. Yours truly, HoopingPowers, will be playing a Flying Basenji pup known as Hoop Doggy Dogg! Shows on Saturday and Sunday, at 5pm and 7pm. Arrive a half hour early to get prime seating. Advanced tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com (enter the words: ‘Fluid Movement’ or ‘War and Fleas’ in the Search Event box). Tickets also available at the door one hour prior to each performance. $8. It is sure to be a ridiculously fun time!