Sculpin

At the Lake City market yesterday, a couple of women walked by carrying bundles of huge, brightly striped hoops. I approached and asked, “Um, pardon me, but, uh, what’s with the hoops?” Turns out I was talking to Carrole Johnson of Cirquesse Hoops, who’d been talking to the folks at Mieko’s about starting up a hoop dancing class there. (I didn’t care for Mieko’s, especially after the remodel, but for a hoopdancing class I might rejoin. Maybe.)

I’m sure I was staring at the hoops pretty hungrily. “But,” I said sadly, “I’m not even sure I can hoop. I had a herniated disc.” At which point the other woman, her mother, piped up and said that she was fifty-six years old with a bad back and it had done her a world of good. Meanwhile, Carrole was demonstrating a little bit, and wow does she look graceful. Hm… maybe…

Well, heck, I’m in. Josh and I went right up to Home Depot and picked up a length of 3/4″ 100-psi irrigation tubing and a few connectors. Using these hoopmaking instructions from JasonUnbound, we made a 42-inch hoop with 1.5 pounds of water for weight and took it out for a spin. It’s fun! I suspect it’s a little small for Josh, who was having some trouble with it, but I got it up and spinning awkwardly counter-clockwise, at least for a while. Pretty soon I was dipping my hand into the hoop-space as it went around and a couple of times I even managed to turn with the hoop, more or less.

The extra weight makes it easier to keep the momentum going. It also makes it a wee bit bruising at first. I can’t have been actively hooping for much more than fifteen minutes, but it looks like I’ve been punched over and over by something with tiny fists. I think I’m going to try one of those ridiculous neoprene slimmer belts to give myself a little padding, at least until I’m a bit more fluid. I’ll tell you, I may be bruised, but my back feels great.

On the advice of the generous and indomitable Kitty Kerosene — thanks, Kitty! — I sanded down the inside of the hoop, making it significantly easier to manage. Fancy gaffer tape is in the mail from Identi-Tape, enough to use on an awful lot of hoops. There’s still plenty of tubing left. Come join me!

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