Hula hooping has gyrated its way onto the main stage, providing circus loopiness to those who may not have a natural carnie instinct.
December 13 was World Hoop Day which aims to spread the health benefits and pure joy of hula hooping. And suddenly hip-grinding hipsters sporting personalised glitter embellished hoops are everywhere.
So is all this hooping just a ‘waist’ of time? Heidi Hoops, hooperdelic super-hooper and all-round darling of the circular, chats about hooping and why it’s suddenly hip again.
Q. How the hell do you get into hula hooping as a profession and actually make a living from it?
Well, unlike what most people think, I didn’t start as a small child. In fact I didn’t even see a hula hoop until I was an adult when I joined a women’s circus for a bit of fun exercise. I was never a natural – totally “unco”! In fact it took me quite a few classes before I could get it going at all. But I was obsessed with it immediately and didn’t rest until I mastered a number of difficult circus tricks. It took me a few years to realise that my obsession had only one logical outcome, and that was to become a professional hula hooper. It continues to surprise me, as well as most of the general public, that you can actually make a living as a hula hooper. I guess anything is possible if you’re passionate about it.
Q. What’s your favourite thing about hooping?
A hoop is a circle … it makes you move in a really fluid way and it has endless combinations and possibilities.
Q. All of a sudden hooping has blown out from niche circus to mainstream en mass, particularly across the festival circuit. Why this sudden interest in the hoop?
Anyone can hula-hoop is the simple answer, and it’s just plain fun. It keeps being rediscovered with each new generation. If you come down to the Rocks Village Bizarre where I run a drop in Hula Hoop workshop/Jam, you can see that everyone is laughing, smiling and having a great time. You will also see people aged from 5 to 60, men and women giving it a red-hot shot. Even in its simplest form, hula hooping releases endorphins which make you feel good, and it’s contagious. Although watching one single, sensational circus hula hooper is still the bomb.
Q. What quality do you admire most in a hooper?
Effortlessness is the quality I most admire. When it’s teamed with precision and purpose, I’m a very happy punter.
Q. Any injury stories – to yourself or an audience member?
Umm…My ankles bled the summer I tried to teach myself to kick a hoop up from the ground to my knees. I did give myself a black eye and a split lip once but essentially it is good for you. I’ve never injured an audience member with my hoop, but today I was hooping at an event and a guy walking past was so distracted by the hoop trick that he ran straight into a post and almost K’Oed himself. It was one of those classic moments when you have to resist the urge to laugh.
Q. What’s your most extreme hoop trick? Have you ever hooped a ring of fire?
Yes I have hooped a ring of fire. It’s best to do it in winter as it makes you toasty and warm in your own personal fireplace. You can toast your own marshmallows there if you’re keen. I also stand on top of a large pole and hula-hoop in my HMAS Heidi Hoops Street Show. It’s dangerous mainly because it’s held up by four random strangers and it is possible to fall to your death on the concrete below. Ouch!
Q. There’s something quite erotic about hooping. Indeed, Japan once banned the hula-hoop because the rotating hip action seemed indecent. How do you feel about the term ‘circus porn’?
There isn’t anything erotic about falling off a pole. Erotic? Yes, let’s face it, the hip gyrating action is erotic in the right person, and the forward thrust of a novice can be quite the sight. Watching the punters down at the Rocks, occasionally I have to raise an eyebrow at some of the pelvic movements. But I love to watch people swing their hips in any way. It is beautiful; nothing tasteless and cheap about it. Porn is not quite the right term for it.
Q. Hula Hooping has had a fascinating history from its humble beginnings in Ancient Greece as a form of exercise to Native American Hoop Dance as a form of storytelling and dance to the blow-out success of Wham-O toy company’s plastic ‘exercise hoop’ in the 1950s. Yet throughout this colourful history there seems to be a strong connection between dance/artistic expression and exercise. How do these two aspects interact for you?
Perfectly. I started hula hooping as a form of exercise but I am essentially an artist so it feeds my insatiable need to create. Circus is the meeting of sport and art – that’s why so many people fall in love with it.
Q. What’s the importance of World Hoop Day to you?
World Hula Hoop Day was set up to share the joy of hula hooping with people who need that joy. Hula hoopers from around the world unite to share this joy with the communities around them and raise funds to donate hoops to underprivileged communities. It’s about giving and sharing and I am proud to be part of that community.
Q. Best song of all time to hoop to?
Anything funky or fast does it for me.
Q. Any plans for a Guinness World Record?
Longest ride hula hooping on a surfboard in a sensational ‘50s style one-piece and an immaculate hairdo. That’s what I’m working on this summer.
The Rocks Village Bizarre will be held every Friday night until the end of the year. For more information visit: http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Things_To_Do-Village_Bizarre.htm
