the trouble with ranting

back in december, i wrote a post complaining about the lackluster homogeneity i’d been seeing in the hooping community. i wrote it a few weeks after a particularly blase hoop gathering wherein it seemed that most of what i was seeing was the same shit in the same clothes with the same plastic smile. it depressed me, so i ranted.

but, after some feedback and discussion, i have come to the conclusion that i was a little hard on the teachers. my bad. maybe no one is consciously presenting their dealio as “a single hooping orthodoxy”, as i put it. it just seems that way sometimes.

i think a lot of what actually bugs me, since the teachers i know are all really nice people, is the way classes are marketed. granted, it’s a bit of a weird thing to try to wrap your head around hooping if you are not familiar with it, but the marketing i’ve seen seems to run the gamut from cheesy (“lose weight! clear your pores!) to self-aggrandizement (“teacher x invented irrigation tubing 20 years ago”) to neo-hippy (“spin in concert with the flow of the universe”). i’m exaggerating because i am a smartass, but you get the point. before i get hatemail, i don’t have any problem with achieving better health through hooping (fo sho), someone with experience sharing their knowledge (yes, please), or identifying with the spirituality within spinning (it is absolutely meditative).  it’s just that the marketing language often sucks.  i don’t identify with it.  i guess it is a necessary evil for small business owners. i just wish it didn’t tend to describe hooping as the next version of jazzercise. ugh.

don’t get me wrong, i think taking classes is great. you can get fresh inspiration, connect with other hoopers, and build your skill set. (i took an isopop workshop the other day that was fantastic.) in fact, i say do yourself a favor and take interesting classes. it’s great for your development and helps to support some really hardworking teachers who teach for all of the right reasons.

but i would also say that it is important to keep in mind, particularly if you are a newbie, that the info you are getting in any given class is one person’s opinion. you can take what you like and leave the rest. or use what you learn as a starting point for something different. in the spectrum of possible hoop movement, we have only just begun the exploration.

ultimately, it is going to take a lot of personal practice to develop your own style. a class is really just a starting point.

summary: praise for hoop teachers; marketing is demon spawn; grain of salt and all that.

nuff said. go hoop.