Looks like a UFO

One night at a drum circle in Toronto I was met some girls who let me try out their hoops and introduced me to a great idea. They had converted their simple home made hoops into fancy LED hoops by taping cheap glow sticks around the circumference. We span in the dark, creating impressive neon rainbows.

The next day I went to Dollarama and bought a variety of glow sticks to bring back to TT with me.

About two nights ago, I stuck two of the glow sticks on a hoop and my nephew and I turned off the lights and tested it out. The above photo shows him giving it a spin.

Neptune (hooping video)

As far as I can help it, I think this is the last hooping video I'll record using the camera on my laptop. It's convenient to just switch it on while practising ... but the quality isn't good (in the event that I one day want to do something on a bigger scale with the videos).

So I'm going to start doing proper hooping videos:
(i) using either Karishma or the smaller video camera that I use when doing video projects with children
(ii) setting up the videos in specific landscapes, with costuming, etc.

I love the idea of recording my hooping progress in video, but as a multi-media artist I am also enjoying exploring it within the context of the media that I use (video, music, photography in particular).

I wasn't going to upload this video, Neptune, because I didn't like the quality ... but it is priceless to me because it records the moment in which I successfully did neck, chest and arms-at-sides hooping for the first time. Prior to this occasion, I had been wondering how on earth I would ever learn to do it. Then it "just happened" ...

I shared it with a friend, saying that even though I felt and looked like a flailing sea mammal, at least I finally got the chest hooping. She responded that it looked like I was floating in the ocean, with the hoop as the ocean. To emphasize that perspective, I adjusted the hue of the video, slowed it down a tad and applied one or two simple effects to give it more of an under-watery feel.

The sounds in the sound track are:
(i) my Tibetan singing bowl with reverb-type effects applied
(ii) a small wooden flute with effects distorting it (so that it sounds like a whale)

Neon (hooping video)

42 seconds

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I used a portion of a piece of my original music in hooping video #4. This was a simple moment when I realised that I was getting my hands easily in and out of the hoop as it revolves around my body.

You can see my other three hooping videos here.

Technical note:
I shot this video using the little video function in Mac Photobooth. Pulled it into iMovie to do minor editing and apply effects.

Two-gether

My 3rd hooping video (maybe one day I'll stop counting).

Keep looking and you will see the big HEART that appears. I didn't expect it ... but saw it when looking back at the video after applying effects. It's what made me decide to post the video.

On this particular day, I was trying to:
(a) hoop faster, using fast music (you'll vaguely hear this Ofra Haza remix playing on my laptop in the background).
(b) bring the hoop from waist up to chest
(c) bring the hoop from up in the air twirling around my hand down over shoulders and chest to waist without stopping rotation

None of these things are as easy as they look! But I'll get there one day.

(Video recorded using Mac laptop camera and edited in iMovie HD)

Hooping Dervish (my 2nd hooping video)

On Sunday, after my morning yoga (hence still wearing my yoga clothes in the video), one of my favourite songs was playing on my laptop ... and I spontaneously gave my new TO-born hoop, Fireheart, a spin. As promised when I did my first hooping video, I will be sharing the various stages of my hooping (r)evolution on the blog.

This was my first time hooping since the op two weeks ago ... so, essentially, it's Fireheart's "maiden voyage". I haven't had the opportunity to learn & practise any 'tricks' and 'moves yet ... so this is a simple performance. I'm at that awkward "learning to walk stage", sometimes not quite sure what to do with my hands/arms, trying not to knock over anything (as I'm in a contained space)...

This feels somewhat like letting you see me sing in the shower or dance in front of a mirror. But if I only showed videos of myself doing it when I get really good, that wouldn't be a true visual documentation of my hooping evolution. I want to share with you the journey that takes me from where I am now in the beginning ... to what I end up becoming.

I called the video Hooping Dervish because a friend of mine saw it and said it reminded her of the Sufi whirling dervishes (just in a 'me' style). Interestingly, I had thought the same thing when I first looked back at it ... mainly because I have on all white and I'm spinning. Take a look at the artful and simple Whirling Dervish video below. I've always been fascinated by them. I find them beautiful and transcendent.

What are the odds of this happening?!!

Collaboration

Talk about uncanny! I had shot this footage when I was in Toronto in May 2007. Some friends and I were at an outdoor Drummers in Exile gathering with our djembes. Fascinated by the fire hoopers, I captured a little footage using the video function of my digital camera. I had no idea who the hoopers were at the time. Some months after, I used this footage for the above video when German musician/blogger, Gary Winter, and I collaborated on a series of short video/music pieces.

Two days ago, digging through my video archives, I came across these collaborative videos and watched them again. As I looked at the fire hooping one, I found that something in the shape and movement of one of the fire hoopers struck a familiar chord. Toronto/Canada/the world is a huge place and the person in the video could have been any one of a multitude of hoopers. Plus the video is dark and her figure isn't very distinct ... but I saw something in her movement and form that I instinctively connected to the Toronto hooper from whom I had ordered my professional hoop in December 2008. I received it in January 2009 just before going on my surgical adventure.

I sent the collaborative video file to her and she wrote back saying "Yes!" it definitely is her and one of her fellow fire hoopers! To think that over a year and a half ago I shot a video clip of a random stranger hooping in a crowded field ... then this year (without even knowing that the dots are connected, until now) I order a professional collapsible travel hoop (made by her) from her! Fascinating ... considering the many other people and places in the world I could have chosen to order from.

Talk about coming full circle, just like a hoop.

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When I got my hoop earlier in January, I named her Fireheart (inspired by this). She joins my:
Video camera (Karishma)
Digital SLR (Synchronicity/Synchronici-T.E.)
Drum (Dandelion)
Laptop (Satya ... which, interestingly, I almost named Karishma).

Hoopy Hippy

rEVOLVE (my first hooping video)

Soundtrack & Hooping: Elspeth Duncan
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Remember some time back I mentioned my new mission ... to learn to hoop and get good at it? Above is my first hooping video. It's very simple ... no fancy moves and impressive spinning yet. At this point, basically trying to keep the hoop up. I am using a child's hoop (the small, lightweight ones we get here) because it's the only one I have right now. But to get into it properly, I'm going to have to get (or make) a real hooping hoop, which is much larger and weighted. Working on that ...

I'll be documenting my progress over time and sharing those subsequent videos as I revolve.

Wowwwwwie! My new mission

Source of this photo
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My friend C has a daughter, A (12 years old now) who, at times when I was over (when she was still in primary school), often had her hula hoop out. I would always pick it up and give it a go ... but that talent which I'd had as a child seems to be dormant now.

My friend's daughter would laugh at me, then sigh with childish exasperation: "Spec, look let me show you. It's eeeeeasy!" She would then stand there, barely even moving her body, a placid, yawning, this-is-so-easy expression on her face as the hula hoop went zipping about her slim frame.

The other day I bought a red hula hoop in Excellent Stores so that I can practice. My new mission is to get really good at it. I will experiment on my own ... but I think I may also have to take some lessons (not sure where though) and learn some tips and tricks. This is a beautiful art. Whether it zips or floats around your body ... it just looks great ... fluid, sexy, relaxing, energizing, zippy, fun, wow ... Below are a few inspirational videos featuring other hoopers. When I've got the hang of it, I'll do one of my own.

(N.B. The music in the last embedded video automatically plays. Just press stop or pause so it doesn't conflict with the sound in the other videos if you're looking at them).

Unwinding at home
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(Sigh): Look Spec, it's easy!
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Simple, natural, effortless, surreal
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Effortlessly elegant