Now a mathematical word problem. If five people work for 3 hours and make 15 hoops, how many people are needed to make 65 hoops in 7 hours? Whatever the answer is, that’s the number of people we’ll need to finish the hoops in the next two Hoop Factory sessions on 1/27 and 2/4. Hope to see you there.

I’m pleased to see Tokyo represented twice in the nominations. In the Solo Video of the Year category, Roon Roon’s Hooping in Tunisia video is up for an award. It features Roon Roon’s fluid sustained spinning and if you haven’t seen it yet, have a look:

And Tokyo, Japan is nominated for Hoop Community of the Year. That’s you! Us! I’m very happy for this recognition , especially when we consider all the amazing things we did together in 2011.

You have only until Thursday, January 19th to cast your votes in all categories, so don’t wait too long to decide who to vote for – whether it’s our Japan-based nominees or any of the other amazing hoopers who are in the running.

With a goal of creating 80 hoops before 14 February, I am reaching out for your help. Would you like to learn how to make hoops? Play with tools and tape? Spend a few hours to bring some smiles to Tohoku next month?

Three “Hoop Factory @ Tink’s” events are scheduled and you’re welcome to attend one or all three – drop in after work or pop over on the Saturday. You don’t have to be here the whole time, but plan on staying at least an hour.

Tuesday, January 17. 6pm – 10pm
Friday, January 27. 6pm – 10pm
Saturday, February 4. 1pm – 6pm

What happens in the hoop factory? First we measure and cut pipe, then we prepare connectors and form the pipe into hoops. Then we decorate the blank hoops with tape.

The hoops we make in these sessions will travel with me to Tohoku for a week in mid-February, where I will be participating in the Smile Ambassador program in local schools. Each group will receive a gift of hoops, so the more hoops, the better.

If you can attend any of these sessions, please contact me via e-mail for details and directions, or RSVP on Facebook.

Meet the hoop pipe that your World Hoop Day donations purchased. We have enough to make about 80 hoops right here. Connectors are coming in the next few days. Let the hoop-making begin!

This batch of hoops will be going up to Tohoku for the kids in schools where there’s not a lot of room to play outdoors. I’ll be delivering them in February along with Guy Totaro  and Keiko Fukumoto as part of Tyler Foundation’s Smile Ambassador program.

I’m excited and honored to be doing this work to spread hoop joy to people who really, truly need it. Thank you to everyone who donated to make this happen – and to everyone who’s going to help me get these hoops made!

The common wisdom advises beginning hoopers to choose a hoop that reaches from the ground to their navel or higher. But does that rule of thumb make sense? Hoops are more often around our  waists than standing at our legs.

We also know that the bigger the hoop is, the longer it takes to rotate all the way around on your waist, so you can push bigger hoops at a slower rhythm. This is true, but really what’s happening here is not about the size of the hoop, it’s the ratio of the hoop to the hooper. For example, my husband and I have the same length legs and are of similar height, but I have a smaller waist than he does.  When he uses my hoop, it’s pretty fast paced for him. If he uses a bigger hoop, we easily can dance to the same beat.

So maybe we ought to be using waist measurement to determine hoop size, not leg length, for our on-body hoops.

Of course we don’t only hoop on our waists. There are off-body tricks, mini hoops and more. Still, the idea of using our own bodies to figure out hoop size works in most cases.

I’ve devised some new metrics for hoop sizing for a few different kinds of hoops and hooping styles. They use your own body as the seed for measurements, so your hoops will always fit you well. If you are buying your hoop from a shop, rather than making your own, use your measurements as a guide to find the closest size available.

How to Fit Your Hoop

On-Body Hoop: Measure your waist (in centimeters, inches, or whatever you like). Then multiply by the magic number* below depending on your preferred hoop rhythm:

Slow: 1.4
Medium:  1.27
Fast: 1.13

This is just a rule of thumb. People who are extra tall or extra short, very stout or  thin might need adjustments. The average American 6 year old has a 22 inch waist and is about 47″ tall. A slow 33″ hoop could be a bit much for her to handle.

Also, hoop rhythm is subjective. Your fast rhythm might be faster than mine, or maybe it’s slower. It depends on your level of fitness, your creaky joints, how much caffeine you had today, your mood… Use these numbers as a guideline to build your hoop wardrobe and please share your feedback in the comments.

Twin Hoops: With your hand held comfortably at your side, measure from your fingertips to the floor, and subtract an inch (or 3 cm). Use this measurement as your hoop diameter.  This makes hoops that are easy to swing in poi style moves without hitting the ground.

Mini Hoops: With your arm held out to the side, measure from your wrist to just before your armpit. Alternately, for buxom hoopers, hold your arm straight out in front of you and measure from the inside of your wrist to just before the bustpoint. Either way, this produces mini hoops that you can isolate and spin along the inside of your arm without snagging. Smaller is fine, too.

Yoga hoop: Measure your inseam, from crotch to ankle. This allows you to use your hoop as a yoga prop and to do inverted walking meditations without catching on your torso.

Tandem/meditation hoop: Waist measurement multiplied by 2 is a good place to start exploring these ultra-big hoops. This produces a hoop large enough for two to hoop in pretty easily, or an extremely slow rhythm for a solo hooper.

About Weight

Whether you want a weighted hoop or one that is ultra-light is up to you.

Heavier hoops are great for toning muscles and weight adds stability, but they can leave bruises and are sometimes too heavy for faster hoop tricks or tosses. Lightweight hoops are wonderful for long sessions of hand hooping and fast tricks, but they are harder to control because they tend to fly around.

If you have a hoop that is too light, you can add tape to it to make it heavier. If you have a hoop that is too heavy, you can give it to a friend who likes heavy hoops.

All hoops are good hoops for something! Even the much derided “kiddie hoops from the dollar store” can be fun to play with and make fine hoops for off-body hooping – no bruises – or a good challenge for waist hooping.

* How did I come up with these multipliers?

I did it partially by observation during my hooping experience, and a large part by math.

I calculated some examples of hoop to hooper ratio. I used common hoop sizes as my base, and a range of US dress sizes for my waist measurements. I rounded to two decimal places and averaged the results to get the final magic number.  The larger the number, the slower the rhythm. The hoop size is inner diameter of the hoop, the size of the surface that touches your body.

42″ 105 cm Hoop example (slow)
35″ waist (US dress size 40) 42/35 =  1.20
33″ waist (US dress size 16): 42/33 = 1.27
30″ waist (US dress size 12): 42/30 = 1.40
28″ waist (US dress size 10):   42/28 = 1.50
25.5″ waist (US dress size 4): 42/25.5 = 1.65
Average: 1.40

38″ 95 cm Hoop example (medium)
35″ waist (US dress size 40) 38/35 = 1.09
33″ waist (US dress size 16): 38/33 = 1.15
30″ waist (US dress size 12): 38/30 = 1.27
28″ waist (US dress size 10):   38/28 = 1.36
25.5″ waist (US dress size 4): 38/25.5 = 1.49
Average:  1.27

34″ 85 cm Hoop example (fast)
35″ waist (US dress size 40) 34/35 = 0.97
33″ waist (US dress size 16): 34/33 = 1.03
30″ waist (US dress size 12): 34/30 = 1.13
28″ waist (US dress size 10):   34/28 = 1.21
25.5″ waist (US dress size 4): 34/25.5 = 1.33
Average:  1.13

As an aside, examine the lists to see some interesting connections. For example,  a 42″ hoop on a size 40 hooper has about the same ratio (1.20) as a 34″ hoop on a size 10 hooper.  Hmmm, no wonder so many new hoopers are confused about hoop size and how fast we should be moving.

1. January: hoopy new year lunch
2.  February: getting inspired at circus training
3. March: circus-style hoop drills, 4th Sunday Spin charity food drive
4. April: hoop making, 4th Sunday Spin, Guru-guru Camp
5. May: Japan Tricks Showcase charity video, hoop hospital, robot video shoot, 4th Sunday Spin
6. June: 4th Sunday Spin
7. July: hoop hospital, Kamakura beach jam, 4th Sunday Spin, Finding Flow workshop
8. August: charity hoop making, Edogawa hanabi hoop picnic, Finding Flow  (US workshops), 4th Sunday Spin
9. September: 4th Sunday Spin
10. October: Japan Hoop Instructors Conference, 4th Sunday Spin
11. November: Amazing Hoop Race, hoop hospital, World Hoop Day, WHD Dance, 4th Sunday Spin
12. December: z-axis workshop, hoop brunch

And that is only what Spin Matsuri organised. There were also classes with Hooplovers and Hoop Tokyo, volunteering in Tohoku, performances at Hoop Lounge and beyond. Tokyo had a great hooping year. Let’s keep the momentum going in 2012.

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

During the most recent Spin Matsuri 4th Sunday Spin hoop jam, we snapped a photo every 5 seconds. 1699 frames later, we edited together this video of the action.

Check for the tandem hoop, the glitter litter hoop, our hoop dance dedication line dance, lots of hugs, cute children, proud moms, visitors, and all our favorite Tokyo hoopers.

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/

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.