Thread: Hoops and my first mini-class

Calling all Buzzards!

I was recently contacted by a local hoop instructor about participating in a afternoon of mini-classed for her students. It’s probably going to be a bit of an absurd affair…there will also be Afrocuban and Burley instructors and a final "dance hour"...each of us teahicng for 50-60 minutes. The point is to look to other dance forms and get food for “hooping” thought. I’m not too worried about bellydance muddying the fine art of Hula Hooping and these are not people who think this is an instant pass to BD…they just want to have fun and steal.

“Most of the students coming are beginner to intermediate hoop dancers. We hoop on our hips, waist, chest, neck and above the head so the areas that you suggested can all be integrated into our dance movements. Naturally when hopping on the body we need to be aware of arm placement so as not to knock the hoop off its rotation. Many of the students have a good ability to tame their hoop no matter where it is on their body so traveling moves and hip shimmies would be fabulous for them!”

I’ve recently been feeling some pressure from peers and dancers in the community here to teach. I don’t wish to take on regular privates or regular classes, as my fulltime “day” job involves teaching, thinking about teaching, teaching teachers…but when I got this out of the blue email (she knew of me through our mutual photographer) I figured…a one-off…this is the fun that bellydance can be, here are things to think about when you go back to hoops…and if you want regular classes I have some lovely recommendations about who to study with in the Tokyo area….and that hoopers might be a fun, absurd group to network with and maybe get some odd gigs through.

I quoted a price and a basic structure of starting with posture (the students will come to me after 2 other mini WSs nice and warmed up) and then focusing on hips slides and circles…then showing how you can lock a slide or a circle to make it percussive, how to move with it…and then trying hip shimmys, and if they do well with shimmies, see if we can layer them over the slides and circles…and combine them into a simple improvised dance.

I talked to friends/peers who teach workshops in the area and they supported me doing so and gave me an acceptable local price range. I quoted high and settled on the lower end of the range with the addition of doing some hoop classes and the other workshops.

It will be the first time I teach a simple workshop.

Question 1: any of you hoopers? What sorts of things do you like to borrow from BD? Have any of you ever taught hoopers? Suggestions?

Question 2: What advice do you have for teaching 12-15 students some very very very very basic BD? I see this as slightly more complex than what people may do for hen parties….but not by much. This will be my first time dipping my toe.

No advice, but congratulations! Go kick some ass!

I hoop. I do belly-hoop fusion, even in our ME restaurant. They love it. I am not what I would call an "advanced" hooper, but I'd say I'm a nice intermediate. When I do a belly-hoop fusion, I incorporate shimmies into the hooping, I incorporate hip lifts, hip circles, chest circles, choo-choo shimmies, I come down to the floor and hoop on my knees and in a sitting position. I do a lot of spinning, and a lot of traveling while hooping. I don't do a lot of "tricks" and I don't do much arm stuff because I don't have small hoops to work with, and I've not learned that stuff too well.

So if I were teaching a bd class for hoopers, I'd focus on choo choo shimmy, hip circles (that should come really easy for them), chest circles, shimmy, and hip lift

Originally Posted by Sonja2

I hoop. I do belly-hoop fusion, even in our ME restaurant. They love it. I am not what I would call an "advanced" hooper, but I'd say I'm a nice intermediate. When I do a belly-hoop fusion, I incorporate shimmies into the hooping, I incorporate hip lifts, hip circles, chest circles, choo-choo shimmies, I come down to the floor and hoop on my knees and in a sitting position. I do a lot of spinning, and a lot of traveling while hooping. I don't do a lot of "tricks" and I don't do much arm stuff because I don't have small hoops to work with, and I've not learned that stuff too well.

So if I were teaching a bd class for hoopers, I'd focus on choo choo shimmy, hip circles (that should come really easy for them), chest circles, shimmy, and hip lift

Thanks! As I only have an hour and this is their first time, choo-choos might be a bit too much, although I will be talking about how we can layer shimmies and will try to get them to start up a shimmy and layer over very basic hips and (shoulder shimmy) over very basic chest.

This was helpful, thanks!

This sounds like a blast!!!

I did the workshop, and it was enjoyable and perhaps one of my stranger BD related experiences...which is saying something.

I followed ( and participated in) the "Afrodizzy hoop" and burlesque workshops right before mine and...ya know...after the odd burlesque teacher busted out pasties for everyone, started getting people to cover nipples with bandaids and apply pasties with spirit glue (I opted out of pasties, thank you) I looked pretty gol-darned professional and respecting of FIRST TIMERS comfort levels...

When your first time encountering burly involves someone getting you to put on the pasties and jump up and down, I suspect your first time with a belly dancer saying "you don't have to show your belly, just tie on a your fabric scarves so I can see your hip line. It's about getting to know your hips and getting comfortable with the movement. If the fast movements get to be overwhelming, go back to the basic slower version" comes as a relief.

Originally Posted by ozma

after the odd burlesque teacher busted out pasties for everyone, started getting people to cover nipples with bandaids and apply pasties with spirit glue (I opted out of pasties, thank you) I looked pretty gol-darned professional and respecting of FIRST TIMERS comfort levels...

Waaaaa!?!?! seriously, i'm really proud of my boobs and the tat on them, but no way would i bust them out in front of total strangers and apply bandaids... even in the name of Art! did anyone else object?

Originally Posted by emtink

Waaaaa!?!?! seriously, i'm really proud of my boobs and the tat on them, but no way would i bust them out in front of total strangers and apply bandaids... even in the name of Art! did anyone else object?

I led a small band of "We'll put the pasties on over cloth, thank you!"...some girls looked unsure if they could say no so I piped up. "I am a bellydancer. I dance in a sparkly bra in front of strangers but this out of my comfort range." and did not disrobe...and they unsure girls relaxed and joined me.

so some actually did do the pasty thing? and then jumped up and down?

Originally Posted by emtink

so some actually did do the pasty thing? and then jumped up and down?

By my count 16 or so!

It was an awesomely surreal day.

"You can keep the pasties on!"
"Actually, we're going to do some shoulder shimmies and chest work in a bit. I'll talk about why a bellydance shimmy is a little different from what we've been doing...your breasts will want support....they've done enough"

One very strange girl kept wearing the pasties through my bellydance taster. It was rather disconcerting.

But my portion went well, all things considered.

Originally Posted by ozma

When your first time encountering burly involves someone getting you to put on the pasties and jump up and down...

I beg your pardon. Did you say "...AND JUMP UP AND DOWN???"

Oh, honey, there's not enough liability insurance in the WORLD to cover what would happen to me and anyone else within whapping range if I did that. Abunai yo! .w.:

(And: Thanks. Happy to be sharing a page.)

Originally Posted by Zana

I beg your pardon. Did you say "...AND JUMP UP AND DOWN???"

Oh, honey, there's not enough liability insurance in the WORLD to cover what would happen to me and anyone else within whapping range if I did that. Abunai yo! .w.:

(And: Thanks. Happy to be sharing a page.)

Yup. That's what I said!

One girl, a fellow American...had what I would guess at 38-40 DD-E cups, was with me, wore her bra, and still had to keep hands on her own breaststo keep them under some form of control.

すごく危ない！

wow, you must have an amazing poker face!

what woman wants to jump and down with no support? how is that sexy? where's the tease in that? also, didn't that hurt??

sorry... i don't know - what is hooping?

Originally Posted by emtink

wow, you must have an amazing poker face!

what woman wants to jump and down with no support? how is that sexy? where's the tease in that? also, didn't that hurt??

It hurt. People complained of being sore.

The burlesque teacher was sweet...but I've seen her perform and teach and she's not very...advanced. It's not tease and reveal with her, it's reveal and twirl often.

The hoop teacher was a blast.

Originally Posted by dancingstar

sorry... i don't know - what is hooping?

hula hoop.

well, props to you for keeping it together AND not causing any pain!

Originally Posted by emtink

wow, you must have an amazing poker face!

what woman wants to jump and down with no support? how is that sexy? where's the tease in that? also, didn't that hurt??

Well, just for reference, smaller girls have a harder time getting tassels to twirl just by doing the shoulder shimmy version, so you can also get a tassel twirl by bouncing up and down a bit. Again, that's for smaller chested girls, so it really shouldn't be that painful. Ah, the things I learn in burlesque class...

Originally Posted by ozma

hula hoop.

silly me how did i miss that?