The people of Hoop Camp - where to begin? There were 250 people at Hoop Camp this year - five times as many as 2008. Maybe an outline of the group attending.
We were a diverse crowd. Our ages skewed towards the middle thirties judging from visible crows' feet. I expected the crowd to be more youthful and was delighted to learn that Marjorie, one of the instructors, celebrated her 60th birthday during camp. Most of the hoopers were women, but there was a good handful of men, too. Sexual, political, and religious preferences covered the spectrum, as did skin tone.
Hair color, too, was widely varied. Natural and bleached ponytails, chocolate hued dreadlocks, black pixie cuts, and more than one brightly colored head. Let's not even start talking about the hoop fashions...frock watching galore!
Our skills and experience dotted the map. Mixed together were A-list hoopers, second tier spinners, hobbyists, the foreign component, people who came alone and unknown, those who arrived with a posse. There were buskers, go-go hoopers, circus trained spinners, festival hoopers, hoopdance legends, innovators, theorists, and and at least one person who wasn't a hooper at all.
There were several opportunities for all of us to hoop together and I took a few moments to step out of the flow and just watch the motion of so many people doing their thing with dance. It was amazing and mesmerizing.
250 was too many people to get to know in a weekend and I barely scratched the surface. I think, thanks to my pink hair and World Hoop Day dance performance, many more people knew me than vice versa. Still, I have a handful of lovely new hooping friends and next year, I'll make more.
In the meantime, Facebook.
This Hoopcamp was my first...and also my first-ever live hooping class! It was a little intense and challenging, but in a good and growing kind of way. And the people...I'm so glad I got to meet you all!
=) miss ya!