Hula Hoop - Background Information

Background Information

Native American Hoop Dance was and is a form of storytelling dance incorporating anywhere from one to 30 hoops as props, which are used to create both static and dynamic shapes, or formations, representing various animals, symbols, and storytelling elements. It is generally performed by a solo dancer with many hoops.

Hula hooping has been a type of exercise and play from as early as the 5th century in ancient Greece. Before it was known and recognized as the common colourful plastic toy (sometimes with water inside the actual hoop), it used to be made of dried up willow, rattan, grapevines, or stiff grasses. Even though the toy has existed for thousands of years, it is often misunderstood as being invented in the 1950s.

In the 13th century in Scotland, hoops were later extended to adult audiences and were popular for recreation and religious ceremonies. According to their medical records from that era, doctors treated and encouraged patients with dislocated backs and heart attack victims to use this winding exercise. Then in the early 19th century, the term “hula” was added to the toy name due to the experiences of some British soldiers who travelled to the Hawaiian Islands. During their stay, the soldiers noticed and realized the resemblance of the movement of the hips with the traditional hula dances to the movements of people that go hooping.

Read more about this topic:  Hula Hoop

Famous quotes containing the words background and/or information:

    Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    If you have any information or evidence regarding the O.J. Simpson case, press 2 now. If you are an expert in fields relating to the O.J. Simpson case and would like to offer your services, press 3 now. If you would like the address where you can send a letter of support to O.J. Simpson, press 1 now. If you are seeking legal representation from the law offices of Robert L. Shapiro, press 4 now.
    Advertisement. Aired August 8, 1994 by Tom Snyder on TV station CNBC. Chicago Sun Times, p. 11 (July 24, 1994)