I remember clearly the first time someone handed me a hoop. I was at an outdoor concert in Northwestern New York. I was dancing and moving through the crowd when it opened up to a clearing where a woman was hooping. She stopped it and offered the hoop to the people around her to try- no one dared. Then she offered it to me and my first instinct was to politely decline but she insisted it was easy and I was feeling a little daring that night, so I took it, and whola! I could hoop! But the center of attention was a little much for me so I thanked her and handed it back. I soon forgot about it until a couple of weeks later, I went to another music event at a place in Connecticut called- ‘The Barn.’ There was a man there selling these unusually large hoops. I decided to give it another try, now that there were other people trying it and the crowd was much smaller. I could hardly put it down for the remainder of the evening. When I asked the man how much they were I learned they where way more than I wanted to spend for a bit of entertainment. Yet, I found myself returning there every Friday to hoop the night away. Finally, with my departure date across country nearing, I decided I couldn’t leave without one. That next Friday I came with the money but the man wasn’t there! I never saw him again. Oh no! Had I missed my chance?

Gathering of the Vibes, 2002- the last festival of the summer before I headed out West. There they were- the hoops! The first day I was there, I tried every single hoop out of about 20 and settled on a Rasta colored one- green, yellow, red, and happily hooped for the remainder of the festival to James Brown, The Allman Brothers and many more. When I passed by the vender on Sunday, he didn’t have a single hoop left, but I had mine!

The next couple of months passed as I took a leisurely route across country, hooping everywhere I went and inspiring everyone I met to hoop as well. I kept it in the back of my truck where my bed was. I would take it out at night to sleep and put it under the truck. One crazy morning I drove off without it! A couple hours later when I realised I had left it, I returned to the spot in town to find it had been taken- I was devastated! I wouldn’t live without my hoop. I knew they were hand crafted, so I had to find the materials myself, in a city I’d never heard of, in a land I’d never been to.

Redding, California is a busy place and I wasn’t very familiar with cities. It took me all day, five different hardware and building material stores and a lot of questions to figure out what I needed. I ended up with enough materials to make eight hoops. Two nights later, camping next to the Mc Cloud River by Shasta, I sat and made my first hoop by firelight.

A couple of months later, I found myself house sitting in Tucson Arizona. My funds were growing short; luckily I had some friends who set me up with a landscaping job. I invested in more hoop materials, but I couldn’t find the right size tubing- it was too small. I had a bunch of child size hoops that I ended up sharing with all the neighborhood children. They came over every day to play. One day I let them make their own to keep for I was going away and I wanted them to have something to remember me by. For what I lacked in profit, I gained in friends and fun.

I discovered a passion. I knew this is what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve worked many other jobs, sharing and playing with the hoops on the side. I brought them anywhere I could to dance. Festivals offered the best opportunity to do this. I started bringing hoops to share and to provide an opportunity for people to take the magic home where they can continue to express, play and dance to their hearts content. I found a great joy bestowed upon any who use the hoops. It then, in turn filled me with joy, as it does to this day. What better work than to spread joy? Than to play and encourage others to play?

When people pick up a hoop they hold a piece of their childhood. It is this part inside all of us we must never forget. It is the child within, we must nurture and cherish by giving ourselves the joy of play and limitless expression in a world where distractions and responsibilities seem to take over our lives. Come back with me to the time when we lived for the moment, when we didn’t know what it was to be anything other than ourselves. Be yourself. Free the child in you and be one who knows no fear. Dance with me. Be happy. Be free.