Spin Matsuri
Today I had the pleasure of doing a school show at a charming 35 student Navy school that is being consolidated as their base closes. Our hour of performance and play time went in the blink of the eye. To all the Byrd Penguins, I hope you all enjoy becoming Ikego Fireflies next semester.
Check out the beautiful “Thank You Spin Matsuri” banner that one of the teachers created for the stage. I have never been so sweetly welcomed.
I took a trip down to Niijima this week. Ah, it is glorious – blue skies, blue water, green trees, grey stone – and from next week, so many hula hoops! If you haven’t made your plans for Guru-guru Camp, get your ferry tickets and camp gear today. You really won’t want to miss it.
Hoops, juggling, photography, music, video shoot, meditation, beach fun, yoga are on the schedule so far and more will come when you join in the fun.
All the necessary details: http://spinmatsuri.com/guru-guru-camp/
Want to come to Guru-guru Camp, but don’t have camping gear? Join in with the Tokyo Gaijins’ all-inclusive Niijima camping weekend from May 3-6! 28,500 yen includes ferry, tent and camp gear, and 6 meals. Come to the top of camp to do workshops and hang out in the “hoop camp” with us and enjoy your meals and party time around the lower camp at night. Perfect combination!
Nature! Hooping! Play! So much fun. Join us on Niijima during Golden Week.
Improve your balance, coordination and strength while enjoying circus arts like juggling, acrobatics and hooping. Workshops in March and April! Ticket here: http://ptix.co/1cPMOp4 Special Value: 1000 yen discount on two workshops!
On Saturday morning, nine Circus Fitness participants walked invisible tightropes, formed a human pyramid, juggled and balanced chocolates on their heads! NHK talent, Jason, joined us and wrote about it on his website, with some cute photos.
After a shared lunch, we were joined by a few extra hoopers and learned new tricks with Jo Mondy, visiting from the UK. I know that Japan’s hoopers will be mastering escalators and butterfly hinges in 2014. Thanks, Jo, for sharing your enthusiasm and ideas.
It’s time to edit all of our performances into one big video! Help me make the project compilation shine; send your video now. Instructions below.
It doesn’t matter whether your WHD Dance is perfect; I’ll do my best to use a flattering bit. Or tell me your favorite part: we rocked the kick line; our poses were cute; epic vertical moves in the first section; we started perfectly in sync. Whatever you like, I will try to make sure that ends up in the compilation.
Option 1 (recommended): the Cloud
Upload your unedited, high quality footage to a cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive. Please upload only one file per performance and name your file like this: WHD2013-LOCATION (i.e. WHD2013-Tokyo-JP.avi or WHD2013-Lancaster-PA-US.mv4). Use the city, state and country in the name. This will ensure I credit your location correctly and it doesn’t get lost in my filing system. Send the notification/invitation to connect to spinmatsuri@gmail.com
Option 2: Raw Footage on YouTube/Vimeo
Upload your unedited video (no titles, credits or transitions) at its highest resolution to YouTube or Vimeo. Please title it WHD Dance 2013 – LOCATION where ‘location’ is your city, state and country. This is how I will credit you in the compilation. Then send an e-mail with the link to spinmatsuri@gmail.com. I will then screen capture your video, so the quality will not be as good as option 1.
Option 3: Edited Footage on YouTube/Vimeo
Upload your finished video to YouTube or Vimeo. Please title it WHD Dance 2013 – LOCATION where location is your city, state and country. This is how I will credit you in the compilation. Then send an e-mail with the video link to spinmatsuri@gmail.com. I will screen capture your video, so the quality will not be as good as option 1. Edited footage is much harder to work into the compilation, but I will do my best.
* Submission deadline is October 13, but if you’re performing your dance after that, get in touch. I may be able to save you a place in the video. The compilation will be completed by the end of October.
Thank you to everyone who joined me for workshops at Flow Camp over the weekend. Hello Hoop Dance, Ideas for Group Choreo, Hajimete Hoop, and the WHD Dance workshop were well attended. I had a great time teaching and sharing all weekend.
Nine participants in the WHD Dance workshop performed the dance for an audience of about 100 people during the open stage on Sunday night. Four of those dancers had just started hooping that morning, so congratulations on your hoop dance debut!
Members of Tink’s palm candle workshop did a short fire performance at Hoopie Garden in Hakuba last weekend. Beautiful work with your new toys! (photo by Sareh)
On July 7, 9 people came to make hoops as part of the Intrepid Model Adventures charity event. Kids and adults displayed incredible creativity – a clock hoop, a perfectly taped flower-y hoop, and some terrific collages using lots of color and shine. After decorating time, we had a lesson and jam outside in the street. Thank you to everyone who participated; we raised 18,000 yen for the Takidashi Project and one hoop will go up to Fukushima with their next visit.