Spin Matsuri[polldaddy poll=5485443]
It’s time to start planning our schedule for next year; share your ideas and dreams for Spin Matsuri events in Japan. Do you dream of learning from a star teacher? What events would you love to attend? Do you want to teach? Perform? Share your hooping or flow talents? Tell us your dreams and let’s make them come true.
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.
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.
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.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfKrDsmMcDs]
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.
Fri 2 – Hoop Lounge. 7:30 pm @ Super Deluxe
Sat 10 – Hoop Fitness with Tink. 5:30 pm @ Hiroo Fitness.
Sun 25 – 4th Sunday Spin. 12:30 – sunset @ Yoyogi Park
Check in for more events and the World Hoop Day dance choreography soon.
I’ll be leading a session of the Finding Flow workshop outside Pittsburgh as part of Caroleeena’s three day workshop intensive August 19-21. Join me Sunday, August 21 from 10 – 12 to release into flow through technical and meditative hoop exercises.
Caroleeena’s lineup of classes looks spectacular and I am excited to be part of this event organized by Sirkel in Greensburg, PA.
Each two-hour workshop is $30, but if you register for four workshops during the weekend, the price drops to $25. Details and registration information for the weekend are available on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206076749428617 or contacting Lisa Ciarimboli by phone – 412-610-4639 or thru email at wastingawayingoodolpa@gmail.com.
Saturday 6
Edogawa Hanabi Hoop Picnic
Hoop dance, fireworks, picnic on the banks of the Edo river. Although the official fireworks display is canceled this year, let’s make our own with LED hoops and all of our glittery, sparkly electric toys! (And some fireworks, too, thanks to Tod.) All flow arts welcome and there’s no need to hoop. Bring your family & friends and a delicious picnic.
Where to meet:
Point 1: 5:30 pm. Iidabashi eki, Sobu platform, middle of the train.
Point 2: 6:05 pm. Koiwa Station.
Point 3: After 6:30. Edogawa Ground. Around the baseball grounds, north of the hospital, south of the bridges. MAP You can try to call me; no promises that I will be able to answer. 🙂 090-5439-0036
Saturday 13
Finding Flow workshop
The first Spin Matsuri workshop in the US! Discover the sweet surrender of hoop flow with Tink from Tokyo. Two hours of guided hooping at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center in PA will help you release into a blissful state of movement as we explore technical and meditative aspects of flow.
The doors open with music at 9:30 am; workshop begins at 10:00. Cost is $30 and includes class materials and a CD of music used in the workshop. Please bring your favorite hoop. Details and registration info at Whirligig Hoopers: http://whirligighoopers.com/?page_id=127
Sunday 28
4th Sunday Spin
The monthly Spin Matsuri hoop jam at Yoyogi Park. Free and open to all hoopers and flow artists. Starts at 12:30 on the Harajuku side of the park; ends at sunset or when we all get too tired to hoop any more. Every month there’s a surprise and even we don’t know what it is!
Also this month, check out Hooplovers’ Hoop Lounge at Super Deluxe in Roppongi. Friday August 12th from 7 – 11:30 pm. Stylish hoop dance party and performances. Free!
Flow is about surrendering your mind and your ego to the hoop and allowing your body to control your movement automatically. This workshop explores some of the barriers to flow and help you find ways to overcome them.
Smooth Transitions
Transitions are key to flow. Your mind (and the evil Inner Critic) turns back on instantly when you get stuck in a trick and don’t know how to flow into another move. “Hey, I’m doing this reverse weave thing really well…but, um, now what? Right, I suck.” In this workshop we’ll explore a variety of transitions, hand grips and sequences that you can play with. Train your muscles to do them without thinking and your flow will expand. We’ll tell the Inner Critic to shut up, too!
Connecting to Music
I like dubstep but it doesn’t induce good flow for me. I love to sing along with the latest pop tunes, but they don’t put me into a state of bliss while I’m hooping. Sometimes the music you like and the music you flow with are very different. In this workshop we’ll get a chance to dance to a wide range of musical styles – slow, fast, vocal,instrumental – and discover which ones you connect with. We’ll also play with dance moves to inspire your flow.
Letting Go for Flow
To connect to the body, we must learn to quiet our minds and our egos. This session borrows some meditative techniques from hoopers and others around the world, including visualizations (Caroleeena), blindfolded hooping (Baxter/Hoop Path), ecstatic dance (OSHO), and dervish whirling (Sufis). We’ll also hoop while pretending to be drunk (Brecken) which will put your ego in its place and get you laughing.
The workshop includes a 30 minute opening jam, warm up and cool down as well as the main topics. The workshop will be held in two locations:
Tokyo
Wednesday, July 27
7-9:30 pm. Yoyogi Park.
“Doors open” at 7 pm with music; workshop begins at 7:30. RSVP to info@spinmatsuri.com or on the Facebook event page. Please bring a hoop, if you can. Water to drink and bug spray recommended for the sultry summer nights.
Pennsylvania
Saturday, August 13
9:30 – noon. Ephrata Performing Arts Center.
Doors open at 9:30; workshop begins at 10. Hoop jam in the park afterward, weather permitting. Details and registration at http://whirligighoopers.com/?page_id=127
(P.S. Please ignore the dates on the flyer above; the series has been consolidated into one intensive session.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFXn4GjkeeE]
Naomi hoops for pleasure and comes to most of our hoop jams and events. During the week, she’s a doctor. On the weekend, she’s an adventurer and hula hooper. And she’s always a thoughtful and lovely woman.
I couldn’t guess what trick she was going to bring to the video.
Yoyogi Breeeze was named after we shot it at Yoyogi Park during 4th Sunday Spin in April, but I know Naomi figured out the elegant and graceful sequence in advance. It’s comprised of tricks we all know, but have you ever put them together like this? I know I haven’t. But I will now!
If you like Naomi’s trick, please consider donating to help the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami survivors.
Thanks to features on Hooping.org and Hoop City, the Japan Tricks Showcase has been viewed 569 times in 2 days. Welcome international hoopers, to Spin Matsuri.
I hope that the donations are following as swiftly as the view count increases, though I understand that statistically only 10% of the people who look at something are likely to act on it. So thank you to the 57 people who have donated! I am grateful that you are one of those people.
We’ll never know the amount the showcase raises for the charities because your donations go directly to them, but I know they will all appreciate whatever you give.
And to be honest, I must admit that I am in the 90% who has seen the video and not donated. I’ll be rectifying that with some donations today. 🙂
While we were at Guru-guru Camp, I put together six of my hoops into a cube. It was fun to play with and everyone was getting incredibly creative with it: Miki crawled through it a dozen different ways, Masa grappled with it and then…Paolo jumped into it. Not a little jump – a standing leap right into the middle.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NtAKSaV93U]
He revealed to us that he’d been a high jump champion way back when. He certainly still has the knack and a new trick was born – Dorobo (thief).
We all hope you like this trick and all the others. Please consider donating to help the people in Tokohu who struggling to recover from the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Details here.