Category Archives: WHD Dance

11 countries. 41 groups. 317 dancers.

The WHD Dance 2011 video is so full of life, enthusiasm,  groovy moves and cool costumes that I am entirely overwhelmed. It was thrilling to see so many hoop dancers – some who I know in person, some who I worship from afar, and plenty of new faces – enjoying themselves with a project I coordinated. Thank you for dedicating time to learn the dance, for performing on World Hoop Day and for sending in your video.

Editing the video was an interesting challenge. The song is only 34 measures, and I received 41 videos. I decided to create an “extended mix” to accomodate each group for a full eight counts on the screen. Even so, I had to make some difficult choices about what section of each dance to use. In too many cases, I had to miss a wonderful moment, a sweet move, or I couldn’t fit an entire group on the screen at once. If you danced but can’t find yourself in the compilation video, accept my sincere apologies. Compromises are never ideal.

I learned a lot during this year’s project, especially relating to teaching dance and to music selection and choreographing for easy editing. I hope to put my new knowledge into practice for our WHD Dance 2012. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. See you for a new dance next year!

For more information about World Hoop Day, visit worldhoopday.org

CREDITS
Choreography: Tomomi Ara & Tink (Kristen McQuillin)
Music: Safety Dance by Men Without Hats
Editing: Tink

LOCATIONS
::: Australia: Melbourne, Mystery Bay, Sydney
::: Brazil: Porte Allegro
::: Canada : Lake Ida Ann, Ottawa
::: Finland: Helsinki, Tampere
::: France: Paris
::: Japan : Tokyo (Fab), Tokyo (JHIC), Tokyo (Spin Matsuri), Tottori
::: Mexico : Mexico City
::: Netherlands: Amsterdam
::: New Zealand: Dunedin
::: UK: Brighton, London
::: USA : Bath, ME; Carrboro, NC; Hillsborough, NJ; Lynn, MA; Madison, WI (Team Wisconsin); Madison, WI (HulaHoopla); Marietta, GA (Alphabet Hoops); Marietta, GA (MCAA Rockets); Mississippi Gulf Coast; Oakland, CA; Ohio; Old Town Spring, TX; Portland, OR; Raleigh, NC; Reno, NV; Salem, MA; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; Seattle, OR; Springfield, NJ

Here’s the Tokyo version of the WHD Dance. It is one of 32 videos that I’ve received so far for the WHD Dance compilation video.

Our World Hoop Day event on Saturday raised over 55,000 yen (about $720) to send hoops to kids in Tohoku and on the Peace Boat, and we also decorated and donated 25 hoops that day. I wil be shipping those hoops up to our partners in Tohoku later this week. Thank you everyone for your generosity!

Some highlights of the day, from my perspective:

• Hooping with a blind woman and her guide
• Surprise appearance by John Politowski
• Naomi’s beautiful sign explaining our charity project
• The park cops shutting us down for having a sign and an amp (stupid rules!); sad faces and no music for ten minutes, then it was back to normal…without the sign.
• Flowers from my “video crew” from the Welcome to Tokyo video
• Giving a club of Lomographers something to film with our hooping
• The sun shining after a day of hard rain – teru teru bozu power
• Giving and receiving dozens of hugs and kisses
• Busting out the tandem hoop and finally figuring out how to make it work every time with new partners
• Meeting photographer Robert Stacy of Visualwhiplash.com, who shot these great photos of our dance:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mediatinker/sets/72157628009045523/

View from the front seat towards the back.

Usually I take the train to our hoop jams but for World Hoop Day I brought more than the usual number of hoops to Yoyogi Park. I hailed one of Tokyo’s convenient taxis and proceded to stuff 52 hoops into it, along with myself, two hooping friends, and a trunk full of miscellany. It was packed floor to ceiling with hoops on the 25 minute drive across town.

I am sure that this is the most hoops a Tokyo taxi has ever seen.

My view from the back seat looking forward.

Yesterday in rehearsal at the park with 8 awesome and enthusiastic dancers, we had a revelation. Our WHD Dance is going to be performed in a circle. Everyone faces in toward the center. We’ll position a camera on the inside and one on the outside. This makes the dance look and feel great.
The one tricky bit is that you have to remember which direction to move (grapevine left, pivot right) or risk running into someone coming the other way. The backwards steps for the weave increase the size of the circle and the forward steps return everyone to place.
I can’t wait to try this with the larger group. If there are enough dancers, we might even have concentric circles.

I had the pleasure of teaching the WHD dance to a group of Tokyo-based hoop teachers (train the trainer!) last weekend and we brainstormed some of the tricky bits. Our practice video shows what we ended up with:

• The pivot turns work well if you count them out as slow – slow – slow- fast-fast. That means the first three are 2 counts and the last two are one count each. Visually great, too.
• The big circles end on the lyric “everybody look at your hands.”
• For the solo sections, we will get everyone moving in a circle, dancing by the camera. We expect to have a rather large group dancing for the video, so proper solos are a challenge.
• At the end, it is helpful to have someone or something for everyone to gather in towards for the pose. Shouting a prompt helps get everyone moving in the right direction, too.
• On the day we film, we’ll assign partners and groups by handing out stickers – heart and star, maybe. Depending on the number of people dancing, I’ll figure out the starting arrangement Grid? Concentric circles? We’ll see. For our six-person dance, two lines worked nicely.
• The camera has to be pretty far away from the action to ensure everyone doesn’t grapevine off screen. We will use two cameras, just in case.
• To help raise money for the WHD charity, I will donate my fees from classes where I teach the dance. It’s only two classes scheduled at this point, but that might total $100. Fingers crossed.

How are you rehearsals and practices going? Have you figured out any great tips you can share?

The World Hoop Day dance choreography video on YouTube’s been viewed over 1300 times now and a few people have asked for a version they can watch offline and use in their rehearsal spaces.  Here’s a link to an MP4 version. WHDance2011-choreo-.mp4 (18.7MB).

If you prefer not to download the file or need a different format, you can also grab the video from YouTube using screen capture programs like SnapzPro. There are few online services, too. Google for “save YouTube video” to find the most current ones that will work with your system.

Thank you to everyone who danced and filmed the WHD Dance! I am so thrilled to see your interpretations of the choreography. So many different flavours and styles; they are all terrific.  Check out the growing playlist on YouTube.

HOW TO SEND YOUR WHD DANCE VIDEO

Raw Footage

Please send the video, unedited and at full resolution, via YouSendIt, RapidShare or a similar service. We will accept videos through 11/25. The e-mail address to use is spinmatsuri@gmail.com; please include your hoop troupe name and location for the video credits. 

YouTube

If you post your video on YouTube, please name or tag your video with ” WHD Dance 2011″. Don’t forget to include your hoop troupe name and location for the video credits. And drop a PM to mediatinker or mail spinmatsuri@gmail.com to make sure it’s added to the playlist and the compilation. We will accept videos through 11/25.

Continue reading →

World Hoop Day is November 11th, just over 2 months away. This year’s WHD Dance choreography is almost ready to share. Tink gives you a sneak preview and information on how the project works.