Christabel Zamor, founder of HoopGirl, didn’t grow up hoola hooping. In fact, when she took her first hooping workshop years ago, she could barely keep up. But as it goes with challenges and women, this inspired only her to do better. In 2001, she went to Los Angeles to take another hooping class and became fascinated by those who could incorporate dance into their hooping. Back in Santa Barbara after the class, she went to the park by herself in order to have some “me” time with her hoop and a boom box. When a newspaper reporter showed up and saw her hooping, he did a story on her.
Weeks later, one hundred more people showed up to learn her talent, which turned Christabel into HoopGirl, leader of the hoop dance movement and a natural role for a woman who was already pursuing an advanced degree. But Christabel soon realized that she loved the way the hoop felt on her body and noticed she was also able to increase her heart rate while strengthening her muscles. Hoop dance stimulated her body (which, at its heaviest, was 182 pounds) in a manner she wasn’t accustomed to.
On this particular weeknight, HoopGirl twisted her torso and fanned her arms all while she kept her hoop spinning in her Level 2 Hoop dance class at Dance Ground Keriac, a dance and yoga studio in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. I had done my own share of hooping before and had picked up some minor moves in the past, but I basically made a ruckus when my hoop hit the floor. Words of encouragement flowed from our teacher. “Celebrate your hoop-dropping,” HoopGirl said as a smile accompanied a flash of her blue eyes.
The other students worked on their Level 2 moves by jumping through their hoops and then swinging them around their hands and around each shoulder. “Breathing hard into your belly, travel across the room,” the six women, ranging in their twenties to their fifties, walk around the room with their hoops still circling their torsos. “Make eye contact to keep it flirty. Feel the hoop energizing your thighs, your torso, your eyes, all while observing where you are moving in the room.” I decided to sit this one out and took note of the smiles around the room.
“We’re going to take responsibility for our own sweat, which means the ability to respond to the music.” The music of choice here is dance music, which provides a heavy beat to keep your hoops spinning over the length of the track. When I couldn’t sit out from the music’s beat any longer, I ran into the corner with my hoop. The class was now moving the hoop up and down their bodies. I attempted to move the hoop from my waist to swing it up around my upper arms. Another woman in the class was having trouble like me, so she skipped over to work it out. “Let’s try together!” All of a sudden, I felt like I could do it. HoopGirl came over and demonstrated. “Your arms and hands want to move up and away from your legs, don’t let them. Hold them on your legs like they are suction cups.” Within minutes of concentration, I started hooping around my arms.
When the sweat glistens from everyone’s bodies and the music has taken a slower beat, HoopGirl has everyone circle up for the final exercise. One by one, each student has their time in the center of the “Performance Jam Circle” to strut their stuff. The seasoned hoopers use their eyes and bodies to communicate through their dance. I try a couple of solid moves that are easy and then dance through to do the hip bump I have perfected in class. My hands are behind my head. I lean my pelvis up and swing the hoop around my hips doing pelvic thrusts. The women hoot and holler to encourage my bold move. Am I a hoop dancer?
HoopGirl chatted with me after class to explain where this is all going. Her company has expanded to include other teachers, as well as teacher trainings, which exist all over the world. HoopGirl herself is on her way to a sold-out training in the UK. She performs monthly with a hoop dance troupe called The HoopGirl All Stars, in and around California, and she’s made two instructional DVDs. She mentioned that although this first started as dance, performance, and art, she now recognizes the need to serve others and their health.
“I’m noticing that a lot of Americans are stressed out. A lot of people are not eating right. A lot of people are not feeling good about their bodies. So now I’m weaving the cocoon of being an artist and a performer into focusing on wellness. I see myself as part of the ‘Wellness Revolution’ regarding preventative medicine. I believe that hooping is preventative movement medicine. Through gyrokinectic movement, we’re able to flood our body with good sensations and feelings and release energy that is pent-up. My vision is that I can be the leading pioneer in bringing hooping as a body, mind, and spirit practice to the world.”
Her eyes actually shimmered. In fact, they always do.
“Another thing that is really important in my work is women, because I am focused on women, and that’s why it’s called HoopGirl. I really want my work to speak to women’s empowerment and women’s feelings of worthiness, well-being, abundance, sensuality, and just joyousness. I feel like the hoop movements call you to be feminine and call you to be in your body and celebrate your body as a temple. It’s about feeling good about your body, feeling beautiful, like you can access joy and happiness as you need to and express that through dancing. HoopGirl is really about embracing the beauty of being female and the feminine energy.”
She was right, I noticed how good my body felt, and how I had awakened my inner feminine, so I thanked her and took one of her DVDs to start practicing back at home.
Related Story: Dance Your Way to Happiness