what is wrong with hooping today (imho)

As I watch the wave of hooping popularity get higher and higher, I keep finding myself with the same complaint and concern: too many peeps look the same. same moves. same plastic expression. same clothing. same style.

One of the kickass things about HooppaiN has been that our emphasis has not been on trying to learn just one person’s way of doing things. There has been no hoop-guru. Sure, we’ve all influenced one another, but we’ve had a basic agreement to focus on rocking our own individual style. And, because of that spirit, we’ve all built the foundations for speaking with our own hoop-voice, if you will. We each do our own thing, even if we are doing the exact same moves.

But these days most of the newbies I see out and about, and a large portion of what I would consider to be intermediate level hoopers, are all trying to emulate one or two teachers. I’m really not bashing the newbies- you have to learn somewhere and it is perfectly reasonable that elements of the teachers style will permeate the students style. But, there is way too much homogeneity. There are thousands of different kinds of dancing, millions if you assume like I do that each person has the capacity to express themselves in their own, unique way. So, why don’t we see more variety in hoopdance?

I think most of the blame rests on the hoop teachers.

There are some very gifted teachers out there who have turned their hoop passion into a career. I usually like what the teachers are doing when they are doing it, because it is the culmination of their hard work, the essence of their personal expression. And, having taught classes myself, I know it isn’t easy to teach complicated moves within time restrictions to hoopers of varied skill levels. I applaud anyone who can make this kind of thing happen.

However, it bugs the fuck out of me when hoop teachers promote their own style as a single hooping orthodoxy. There is no ‘official’ way of doing things, no matter how long they’ve been doing it, how many dvds they’ve sold or trick names they’ve coined. I think presenting your take as the standard is a disservice to the students.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. THE ABSOLUTE BEST THING ABOUT HOOPING IS EACH PERSON DOING HIS OR HER OWN THING. I’d rather see someone simply and happily hooping around the waist, having a great time, than a carbon copy of one of the popular teachers doing a thousand tricks. The latter isn’t inspiring, the first one is.

So, my challenge to hoop teachers everywhere is: do not push this crap. The way you do it is just that, the way you do it. Get over yourself. You can be successful without turning into Disney. Please share your moves and the elements of your style, but leave room for the student to take it to the next personal level. Help them build the foundations, then step away. Create more of a collegiate space of guided experimentation. Encourage peeps to do their own thing and celebrate what they come up with it.

Similarly, my challenge to newbies is: do not be a clone hooper. Don’t buy the hype. The style that will look best on you is the one you develop yourself. Spend a lot of time jamming alone and with other peeps. Practice. Practice. Practice. Learn from everyone, (everyone has something to teach you) but don’t feel like you are doing it wrong if it isn’t exactly what you see on the dvd. I want to see what you can develop and learn something new from you.

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Author:: kahunahula

Published:: 12.12.08 / 7pm

Category:: Blather

dBug 12.13.08 / 11am

hells yeah. well put, brother.

khan 12.18.08 / 4pm

I totally agree with you re: the homogeneity of the hoop scene right now.

However, I disagree about the cause. I don’t think the blame rests on the teachers but on the students. Having taken classes from a number of teachers (including a couple that I think you’re referring to) I can say that in my experience, there is no pushing their way as “the” way. They in fact do encourage students to find their own voice. The problem is, the students (most of them) don’t take them up on that challenge.

I have seen this happen in other object manipulation disciplines as well, particularly with poi a few years ago when flowers and antispin were all the rage. There were a couple of teachers that had a disproportionate effect on how people spun poi. But the thing is, as time moved on, that blip of everyone doing the same thing turned out to be just that — a blip. The concepts the teachers in question introduced were novel, and looked cool, so everyone learned and practiced those, but once fully integrated, people moved on and began exploring and discovering other things.

There are a couple of aspects as all this relates to hooping.

1) Hooping is not at the same level of development as poi although there are way more hoopers than poi spinners. I think what’s going on now is the styles of hooping that are dominant at the moment are dominant because the teachers in question are pretty much the only ones operating beyond a local level and are offering techniques that are (were?) pretty unique. It’s all at a stage of assimilation at the moment, but when the moment passes, as it eventually will, people will hopefully move on to new/different discoveries.

I say hopefully because I do see something else as the cause of the sameness you bemoan and that’s my second point. How to say this diplomatically? Most of the hoopers that I encounter in person or online do not have the same level of curiosity and drive to develop new things themselves at the same rate that poi and staff spinners and jugglers of all kinds do. In those other disciplines, yes, there have always been a few teachers/performers who are particularly influential, but then there’s this whole other way in which people who learn from them go on and do what they learned with their own take and build on it. I don’t see that in the hoop world, but I don’t think it’s the fault of the teachers: hoopers in general just do not display the same kind of drive and curiosity that spinners of other types do.

Another symptom of this is the fact that the hoop community is largely segregated from the rest of the spinning world. At spin meets and juggling conventions you see poi, staff, diabolo, devilsticks, toss juggling, bounce juggling, contact juggling, club swinging and more frequently now hoop manipulation. There’s this really rich cross-pollination happening. But hoopers (as in hula hoop based hooping) by and large don’t show up to those things. There are no teachers to blame for that.

Another symptom of the lack of drive/curiosity amongst hoopers is the fact that whenever someone posts a video, no-one will say anything critical ever. On poi and staff videos, no-one has any qualms about saying “your planes are sloppy” or “that transition doesn’t really work” but hoopers (generally speaking) just won’t go there. Hooping won’t progress if no-one is willing to critique. Again, not the fault of the teachers.

So basically yes, I see the same thing you do and it bothers me as well, but it bothers me for different reasons.

kahunahula 12.19.08 / 3pm

thanks for the comments! i loves me a good dialogue.

khan, i think you make some good points. i agree that hooping is far more isolated than other spinning disciplines. why is that? i’m not sure. because in some ways it is more accessible to the mainstream than poi or staff? because it is being pushed as yet another way to lose 20 pounds by xmas? because beyonce does it? don’t get me started…

one of the best things i’ve done in the recent past is to join a multi-disciplined spinning group. being able to see other peeps do their thing with different tools (that sounds dirty) has been an inspiration for my own hoop creativity. i think there should be far more cross-pollination, to everyone’s benefit. i also agree that there is this kind of pc-edness, for lack of a better word, around hooping. and, i concede that hooping is still in its adolescence, with all associated weaknesses. perhaps over time some of these issues will be ameliorated, as you suggest. i hope so.

but, i don’t agree that hoopers don’t display the same kind of drive and curiosity that other spinners do. in fact, i would argue, it is precisely those hoopers who do display those qualities (like you, for instance) that serve as my personal inspiration. the peeps who i am constantly learning from are always reaching beyond whatever classes they have taken. this is what i would like to see more of.

Hoopthink? A Late Weighing In on K. vs K. « *hoopspace* 01.09.09 / 4pm

[...] 10, 2009 in Uncategorized Back in mid-December, Kahunahula posted a thought-and-then-dialogue provoking rant on the HooppaiN site–essentially bemoaning the growing homogeneity among hoopers, and basically placing blame for [...]

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