Nick Guzzardo being epic at Hoop Convergence!
No words really, it’s just an incredible performance all around!
UKHG summer hoop weekenders!
Come and play at one of our two legendary UKHG summer hoop weekend retreats in the beautiful Shropshire countryside this summer!
Weekend One – Friday 16th – Sunday 18th August 2013
Hoop workshops with:
Nick Broyd, UK
Sharna Rose, Inner Spin, UK
Jo Mondy, Live:Love:Hoop, UK
Zoe Delilah Disgrace, Hoop Burlesque, UK
Reni Hardmeier, HulaHooop, Switzerland
Weekend Two – Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th August 2013
Hoop workshops with:
Sharna Rose, Inner Spin, UK
Gail O’Brien, HoopSpin, UK
Karin De Wit, Movin’ Circle, Holland
Zoe Delilah Disgrace, Hop Burlesque, UK
Reni Hardmeier, HulaHooop, Switzerland
Both events feature amazing hoop workshops from leading hoop artists from the UK and Europe, a hilarious Friday night quiz night and UV wonderland, super fun Saturday night renegade show, bonfire, stunning countryside to explore, communal living in either dormitory-style rooms or camping space, delicious and healthy food and snacks all weekend long from Natu
re Cater, fire-hooping workshops and fire-spinning, morning yoga/meditation, paddling in the Borle brook, our Swedish sauna, an energetic 5 Rhythms dance class and much, much more!
Tickets are only £150, all inclusive – to purchase, please follow this link:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/312577
**Flexible payment plans available on request for a small extra fee – please email info@ukhoopgathering.com!**
Come and join the UKHG family…everyone welcome, from beginner hoopers to professionals!! Each event is multi-ability…
Check out the retreat location here
Any questions please contact info@ukhoopgathering.com or check out our website www.ukhoopgathering.com
Much love,
Gems xxx
(About UKHG – In 2013 we are in our… Continue reading
Just so fresh and clean!
A very satisfying new video from Gayle Francis – the way she moves with the hoops always makes such utter sense, as if everyone has been doing it since round things were invented, but of course she’s bringing some crisp and well-honed technique to the mix here. Enjoy!
Cyr Wheel is Awesome!
So as you may have noticed I have posted quite a bit about these giant hoops known as Cyr Wheels (A.K.A. Roue Cyr, Mono Wheel, Simple Wheel or Acro Wheel). I have fallen in love with this discipline, invested in my own wheel that was custom built for me in Canada (the size is dependant on your height) and I had it coloured purple (well I had to pick a colour that went well with my hair!). I’ve hardly touched my hula hoops since my wheel arrived, because it is really fun and really quite addictive! When I am training I really don’t want to stop, even when my shoulders are aching, and my hands are covered in blisters!
I am now on my way to France as I was accepted on an Intensive Cyr Wheel Training Course at The Generating Company this coming weekend. Jo Moss will be teaching, and I am really excited to meet him and all the other spinners who will also be attending. Plus I will also be hanging out and training with the very lovely Mat Manamat again, when I meet him in Paris later today!
So I thought I would post a few videos of my favourite Cyr Wheel artists who inspire me…
Angelica Bongiovonni
Hugo Noel
Sam Tribble
Valerie Inertie
Alexandre Lane
Billy George
Cirque du Soleil
Ethan Law
Robert Maaser
CASTLE EXTRAVAGANZA!!!
So as per usual I nearly had a heart attack in the lead up to the convention and then at the last possible moment . . . it was all fine and turned into an amazing weekend, full of new friends, new tricks, giggles, LEDs, fire, yummy food and lots of fun : )
Impermanence and the hoop
I sit here on a Kathmandu rooftop in Nepal, writing this by candlelight. I’ve been out of the UK now for 6 months, firstly hoop- trekking in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, teaching hoop, yoga and yoga theory classes in Goa, India and now I have come full circle back to where I started in the vibrant city of Kathmandu. I’ve been on a winter journey of self-discovery and understanding. 
To be very honest with you all, I had hoped that this time would re-ignite my personal passion for hooping, which I feel that I lost a long time ago. I have been travelling with an enormous hoop bag filled with thin hoops for splits training, poly-pro doubles for tricks, heavier hoops for hoop-dance/movement practice as well as fire and LED equipment – in the hope that I would train every day, learn everything I cannot yet do and raise my personal bar. I have not managed to re-ignite the specific passion I held for hooping over 3 years ago, but I have learnt some very important lessons along this journey which on reflection seem actually far more valuable to me than physical tricks or techniques I might have learnt with the hoops themselves.
I am starting to understand the true nature of impermanence in life, and this makes my current feelings for my own hooping completely acceptable and even beneficial!
Let me explain. Forgive me if me linking ideas on impermanence and hooping seems tenuous at this… Continue reading
5 reasons why snowboarding is like hula hooping
Andy and I hoopboarding in Val Cenis
I recently returned from a week learning to snowboard in the French Alps and I am addicted! It was a joy to be a complete beginner at something, to be taught instead of being a teacher, and to be outdoors in the sunshine everyday (it was warmer in the mountains than at home in Brighton…seriously England?). And as I progressed and spent more time actually standing up on my board than on my ass, I realised I was drawing comparisons between boarding and the other love in my life…hooping (sorry Andy).
And yes, I know you can probably make most of the same links between hooping and a lot of other hobbies/experiences/sports – this actually supports my overall belief that hooping is a metaphor for life (although I try not to get started on that one with non-hoopers, they tend to look at me like I’m slightly crazy). So I’m going to start small and stick with snowboarding for now.
1) Finding your flow
That delicious feeling, where your mind and body are as one, where you’re completely in the moment, where one move syncs perfectly into the next, where time disappears, where you’re breathless and euphoric and excited all at once? That’s flow. And, as I discovered, I can find that feeling not just in my hooping life, but on my board too. In between the constant thoughts (‘what am I doing’, ‘whoah that hill is high’,… Continue reading
Synergetic Circus Intensive Weekend – The Instructors…
Duncan has been a full-time circus professional for the last 5 years, teaching and performing all over the UK. While specialising in acrobalance, doubles trapeze and juggling, Duncan teaches a wide range of disciplines in both adult and youth workshops. Highlights include graduating from the Circus in Performance Course at Greentop in Sheffield, working for Swamp Circus as performer/tutor, co-founding NottCircus in Nottingham, and completing a social circus training course with Cirque du Soleil at Circus Space. Duncan takes learning seriously, and so has gained formal teaching, British Gymnastics coaching and fitness industry qualifications. Combined with his background in biomedical and neuroscience, this gives him an insight into the learning process few tutors can claim.
Charlie has been teaching hula hoop and circus arts for the past 5 years, also a qualified fitness instructor, she has taught many hula hoop workshops and classes across Europe. In 2009 she completed the Circus in Performance course at Greentop Circus, where she mainly focussed her training on tightwire, aerial silks and hula hoop. Charlie’s passion for hula hoop has its roots in both circus and fitness. However admiring the technical skill of the more traditional circus style hula hoop artists; this has been her main area of focus in hooping. You may also occasionally catch her with an isolation hoop, however more recently she has become slightly addicted to learning how to spin in a giant hoop – also known as the roue cyr.
In his Acrobalance workshops, Duncan will begin by covering… Continue reading
3 tickets left for our June Spanish Hoop Holiday!
Our amazing Spanish Hoop Holiday happens once a year in Banyoles, Spain June 1-8th 2013 – and we have 3 last tickets left!
We bring you a whole week of this amazingness……: 
Luxury mansion living
Hoop classes from Nick Broyd, Jo Mondy, Steve Bags, Anna the Hulagan, Gems UKHG and Livi Little
Swimming pool fun
Parties
Yoga and meditation
Dance classes with Fiona Ring
Pool-side pole dancing classes with Eleanor Graham
Delicious food all week long
Eco-lake excursion
Movie nights and much more!
Check out the line up here. Check out pictures from our 2012 holiday here.
The 3 last tickets are £450 inclusive of all of the above (excluding alcohol, transfers and flights).
The holiday is suitable for beginners up to professional level hoopers! COME AND PLAY!
Please email info@ukhoopgathering.com for more information or to book one of our last spaces!
Audience Gratification
If you’re ever up in front of a crowd hula hooping, you’ll know the value of recognising those moments where everyone gets excited about what you’re doing. It’s normal to want good feedback, and knowing you’ve done a good job of entertaining your audiences makes you more confident and get more opportunities to perform. I should say now, I generally perform circus hooping as opposed to hoop dance – but I’m hopeful this will be useful to anyone who hoops in a performing capacity.
For regular performers, it’s a kind of research, finding out what audiences like to see you do on stage. It’s also a very individual thing – what works for another hooper won’t neccesarily be your performing jackpot.
So how can you find the golden moments in your repertoire?
Applause/Cheering/Screaming your name in joy
Somewhat obviously, audiences will show you when they really like something you’ve done. If they don’t clap at the end, they pretty reliably didn’t like it, or weren’t paying attention. If they make spontaneous noises of excitement when you do a particular trick, that is clearly a handy clue.
However, audiences are made of individuals, and what one person likes someone else might feel apathetic about. Especially if no one else is cheering, you might not get the response you wanted but still have made a positive impact. Most of the time, demanding clapping and cheering will reverse engineer the audience into having a better experience and liking what you do more. So it’s not the most reliable way of knowing how it went and which aspects to keep. However, any trick that makes people give out involuntary squeals of admiration is something you’re going to want to keep doing.
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