Hula Hoop - Modern Hooping

Modern Hooping

The past few years have seen the re-emergence of hula hooping, generally referred either "hoopdance" or simply "hooping" to distinguish it from the children's playform. An International Holiday World Hoop Day has become the hula hoop holiday celebrating the circle around the world. Every year, in numerical sequence starting from 2007-07-07 and continuing through 2012-12-12 hoopers dance in every city and country to raise money and donate hoops to others who can't afford them. Modern hula hoopers can be found among fans of jambands like The String Cheese Incident, Disco Biscuits, Phish and participants of Burning Man and more recently at other music festivals like Bonnaroo, Camp Bisco, The Gathering of the Vibes, All Good, Coachella, etc.

Many modern hoopers make their own hoops out of polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, high-density polypropylene, or polypropylene tubing. The polyethylene hoops, and especially the polyvinyl chloride hoops, are much larger and heavier than hoops of the 1950s. The size and the weight of the hoop affects style of the hooper. Heavier, larger hoops are more often used for slow hooping and body tricks while lighter, thinner tubing is used for quick hand tricks. These hoops may be covered in a fabric or plastic tape to ease the amount of work in keeping a hoop twirling around the dancer, and can be very colorful. Some use glow-in-the dark, patterned, or sparkling tape, and others are produced with clear tubing and filled with plastic balls, glitter, or even water to produce visual or audio effects when used. LED technology has also been introduced in the past few years, allowing hoops to light up at the flick of a switch.

The hooping movement vocabulary now includes many core or 'on body' moves, many 'off body' moves and a multitude of transitions creating the possibility for endless permutations and combinations. When a hoop dancer improvises combinations of movements (usually to music) he or she can get into a 'flow' state where the moves seem almost to direct themselves. The mind detaches from planning or judging the dance and exists in a state of blissful awareness. In order to get to a place of flow more easily and frequently it is advised that one should have a steady practice - daily, if possible. It takes a certain amount of drill to get comfortable enough to get to the flow. Both drill and flow count towards 'flight time' - the actual amount of time in the hoop that is logged.

During the recent revitalization of the hula hoop, its uses have been extended to serve as an implement for fitness. A multitude of websites have been created as a result of this revival, many of which provide links to hooping clubs, online retailers from which to buy specialized hula hoops, and information on workout routines. Hula hooping in recent years has become a more social activity than it may have been in the fifties.

Within the past few years, some hoopers have taken up fire hooping, in which spokes are set into the outside of the hoop and tipped with kevlar wicks, which are soaked in fuel and lit on fire.

Some companies produce collapsible hula hoops for easy transport and versatility: each hoop breaks down into four or more pieces to later be reassembled. Other collapsible hoops are simply twisted down, and folded in half for easy storage.