How to Hoop Dance (Keeping the hoop off of the ground!).

Have you done your warm up and stretching? This is very important because you don't want to injure yourself. With something that is so much fun, it's easy to get carried away.

Once you're ready, go ahead and step inside of the hoop. Make your feet about shoulder width apart, and while in this position place one foot in front of the other (but not so much that it looks like you're about to do a lunge). Keep your back straight and body/mind relaxed. The hoop is about feeling, not thinking, and it doesn't matter which foot you choose at first, cause you'll wanna end up learning with each so that you can eventually dance while hooping.

Hold the hoop in the horizontal plane with the opening in front of you so that the hoop is touching your back. Now give the hoop a spin around your waist in either direction and instead of trying to move your hips in a circle (chasing after the hoop), keep the hoops momentum and centrifugal force going by rocking your pelvis back and forth/forward and back.

If you hoop counter clockwise, you should feel the most pressure from the hoop rolling around your torso when you shift your pelvis forward and it rolls over you left hip, and again when you shift your pelvis back as it rolls over your lower back on the right (if you hoop clockwise you'll feel it most rolling around your right hip and lower back on the left). We will call these your front and back "power points" because that's where you're going to give the hoop most of its momentum. Your goal is to give the hoop enough energy so that you're confident it will roll around to the next power point with ease.

If it doesn't feel right to you, then try going the opposite direction and decide which one feels most natural. Once you get that hang of keeping the hoop off of the ground, you can tackle going the more difficult/opposite direction, which will help even out the tensity of your body and keep it in balance.

When you feel comfortable with keeping the hoop off of the ground going in both directions, switch to having your opposite foot in the front, and play with that for a while.

You can also keep the hoop off of the ground by using side-to-side power points. Make your feet should width apart, give your hoop a spin, and feel for those power points. Once you've got the hang of that, try walking. Now you're ready to start bustin' some dance moves!

Whenever you're through playing with your hoop, don't forget to stretch out to minimizes stiffness and soreness the morning after. Also, if you played for a long time and your hoop went over any bony bits, you may notice some bruising. But trust me, it's worth it. Happy Hooping!