Category: Spin Matsuri Retreat

300 A6 sized flyers arrived at my door today and I am quite happy with the way they turned out.  There is something magical about holding printed matter that you have only seen on your computer screen in many iterations over several weeks of design and editing. I always experience a moment of breath-holding as I open the package, look at the pretty colors, and check for mistakes I might have missed.

Here is what they look like on screen (Japanese on one side, English on the other). If you are at any hooping or spinning events in Japan in the near future, you are likely to see them in person.

The bulk of our instructors are on board now and today Deanne put their bios and session descriptions online. We have quite a lineup!

Beth Lavinder Williams, who lived in Japan for five years before returning to the US, is going to teach Hoop Path techniques – hooping blindfolded to focus your senses on the hoop and its movement. Hoop Path is booming in the US right now, but the style hasn’t been taught in Japan before; this is really exciting!

Bunny Hoop Star, Deanne’s mentor, will be visiting from Australia to do a workshop on circus/dance fusion with multiple hoops.I can do two hoops rather wonkily at the moment, so I am thrilled to get more instruction from such an expert.

Miss Rosie will be teaching us dance fundamentals and showing how we can incorporate them into our hoop dance.  And also in the dance realm, our own StinaSparkle will be guide us into hoop group choreography. My paltry dance background needs some shoring up and I am looking forward to both of these sessions.

We have poi on the menu, too. Tokyo’s own world-famous poi sensei Yuta will guide us through body movements and core spinning techniques. (If you want to experience Yuta before Spin Matsuri, sign up for the July 25-26 Dance, Move, Play workshops at Hooplovers.) Rainbow Michael, a fire performer from the US, will lead us in a spiritual journey with Poi and Yoga. I’ve only recently started spinning poi and I love how I can turn off my brain while I spin.

And of course Deanne is teaching a session, too, but she hasn’t quite decided what it will be yet. Check the website in a few weeks to find out.

To make this event the most fun it can possibly be, we encourage you to find a friend to come along. You’ll get a 4,000 yen discount off the single ticket price if you bring one friend, and 5,000 yen off if you bring two or more friends!

Spin Matsuri tickets went on sale this morning and we are already fielding inquiries for nearly a third of the available tickets. So don’t wait too long before you book yours.

All the details you’ll need are on the Spin Tickets page.

A task that I truly enjoy is developing logos. There is something magical and stimulating in abstracting a concept into visual elements and then putting them together to form a concrete and memorable icon.

The Spin Matsuri logo started as a doodle in my sketchbook. I was contemplating the way hoops interact and drawing shapes based on their movement.  I didn’t intend for this little sketch to become our logo, yet it fit just right. Depending on how you pull it apart, it has elements of connection between solitary and multiple circles, a sense of motion, a circle of hoopers, a Japanese flower motif, and even a moon. By coloring it with a traditional Japanese autumn palette, I put it in context with our October event.

The logo text was trickier. With round elements in the logo, I wanted to find a typeface that had rather circular curves – especially for the capital S . I searched high and low but souldn’t find what I wanted. I played with creating my own type for this logo, but my trials didn’t fare well. In the end, I opted for an old workhorse, Helvetica Neue, with a small modification to the i.  It didn’t nail the look I was going for but it didn’t make me cringe, either. I count it an acceptable compromise.

So that is the story of our logo. I am happy with it and hope that it will capture people’s attention and help them fix Spin Matsuri in their minds.

Last month we brainstormed a list of possible instructors for Spin Matsuri. It included our local colleagues and friends in the spinning world, plus a double handful of international hoopers who inspire and amaze us. We might be dreaming that instructors would come from overseas for a weekend, but it never hurts to ask, right? So the invitations went out.

５月にはスピン祭のために可能な先生を考えました 。これは日本の同僚やスピンする友人と国際フーパーも含まれています。おそらく誰もが週末に海外から来るだろうけど、夢を見ていた。招待状を送った。

Now the responses and class proposals are arriving.  I am so excited and honored when someone says “Yes” that I squeal and jump around in my chair while I read their e-mail – and so far there have been a lot of bouncy chair dances. The quality of teachers for Spin Matsuri is going to be absolutely top notch.

今ではレスポンスとクラスの提案到着している。”はい” のメールを読んだとき椅子で踊ります！、これまでは元気の椅子の踊りをたくさんされている。スピン祭りクラス優れているとしています。

I am thrilled and very humbled that people are as excited about Spin Matsuri as I am.

私は、人々に興奮しています喜んでスピン祭りです。

— Kristen クリ