Hoop Jam Tonight in Carrboro

HoopDrum JAM

CARRBORO CENTURY CENTER

Tonight!
7:30 - 9 pm

FREE, Open to all

Some drumming, Some Dj'd Tunes, Some Hoops Provided
(Bring your favorite if you have one!)
All Flow Toys Welcome

peace & flow

julia & scott

Winter Solstice Fashion Show, Hoop Jam & Craft Fair

You are invited to join us for a celebratory event the Carrboro Century Center featuring a fashion show of unique clothing designs & re-cycled garments, live music, craft fair and hoop-spin-dance jam.

WHEN: Winter Solstice
Sunday, Dec 21
6-9 pm
Fashion show @ 6:30
Live music and jam beginning immediately afterwards

WHERE: Carrboro Century Center

FREE and open to public. Fun for all ages.

Whether you want to spend an evening with the community, get your groove on or find some last minute unique local gifts, this should be an awesome time!

If you're interested in vending, you may secure a table space for $20.
Email Julia: hoopflow@gmail.com.

Also, let me know if you may be interested in modeling.

Dress funky, bring toys. Spread the word. All spinners welcome=)

In joy and peace

Hoop Convergence 2009 ~ Save the date ~ Spread the Word

Greetings hoopers~

I am psyched to announce the dates for Hoop Convergence 2009. Thanks for your patience and enthusiasm.

Friday, May 8 - Monday, May 11
Chestnut Ridge Retreat Center
Efland, & Carrboro, NC
The retreat center rests on nearly 400 acres of beautiful NC forest.

Price is $395

Your ticket includes:

3 nights, 4 days to deepen your hoop practice
meals - organic and mostly local
lodging
airport shuttle
incredible hoop workshops (a few amazing teachers already confirmed!)
multiple jams ~ live music!
endless inspiration
one afternoon in downtown Carrboro - Weaver St Market brunch and Town Commons classes
hoop bliss
and more hoop bliss

Hoop Convergence honors the many paths of hoop dancers. Whether hooping is your personal spiritual practice, livelihood (through teaching or performance), your vehicle for social outreach and community building or ALL of these things (as for many of us), this gathering will inspire and enrich your journey.

This years date happens to fall on Mother's Day. I hope that you hoopin' mamas may treat yourself to this magical experience to celebrate and commune with your hoop sisters and brothers.

Scott & I will be updating the Hoop Convergence website over the next few weeks. We will post teachers, information and payment procedures as details come together.

www.hoopconvergence.com

If you are interested in teaching, please send a proposal to hoopconvergence@gmail.com.

Video created by Kevin Co & Stefan from interviews during HC 2008
www.vimeo.com/1853860

Happy Thanksgiving!

In gratitude and joy,
Julia

Kevin Brock passes - his rhythm shall be missed

I'm stunned and deeply saddened to write these words. Kevin Brock, musician and friend, passed Sunday night in his sleep. While it seems to be a peaceful passing, it still feels untimely as he is so young and seemingly healthy. Thus far, the reason for his passing is a mystery. He will be missed tremendously in our community. As a teacher and performer, I know he's affected so many in profound ways. In honor of him, I am writing here to express impact he's made in my life.

If you've ever met Kevin, you've probably been moved by his incredible rhythmic artistry that combined a soulful lyricism with a fiery passionate percussion. His music ranged from world beat percussion to soundscape stories to gypsy jazz. Kevin was also a regular and primary piece of our local Paperhand Puppet Theatre's band. In addition to being a phenomenal musician, he was humble, genuine and kind - one of the most consistently kind beings I have known. He seemed to speak, live and play from his heart.

If you have visited Carrboro for Hoop Convergence or a Hoop Path Retreat, you have been moved by Kevin's beats. His ethereal and funky rhythms have been present at the jams at Beth's during the retreats and the Chestnut Ridge fire dance evening. He was always so grateful to be included in community events that inspired movement.

The first time I met Kevin, between 6-7 years ago, he and another local percussionist, Jill Baldwin, delivered me to a place I didn't know existed. As they played, two girlfriends, Kia and Rebecca, and I danced. Although I had danced to drums before, I had never had such a pure and transcendent experience with movement and rhythm. It was at a difficult time in my life. After the ceremony, I felt healed, exorcised -as in cleared of negative energies that were stuck within my body. I almost saw the spiritual passing of these demons as I embodied the pounding beats. I've always been grateful. Every note seemed to be played or not played with such a spiritual understanding. I'm grateful for Kevin for the healing, for influencing my understanding of the healing power of the drum, and igniting the passion for marrying the dance with the drums beat. Obviously, this has greatly influenced my current path with my rhythmic partner.

Kevin was also my first drum teacher. We exchanged drum and hoop lessons to explore and experience the magic from the other side. We both felt a little stuck in our comfort zone, he afraid to move, and me afraid to create rhythm or express my voice in sound. I remember him offering me my own advice, to play. I was very comforted by his patience and his encouragement. He was so clearly not there to judge my playing. By the end of our trade, we each spun a hoop while shaking, clacking, stomping with bells and tapping cow bell. Kevin also enriched my love of the drum kit and taught me to read music. I'll forever remember, honor and play - loudly - hearing his words of wisdom. It is a rare gift to be both a talented performer and an incredible teacher.

Last night, as Scott & I sad silently between disbelief and despair, I watched my memories of Kevin float by my mind's eye.. Each memory I have seems as powerful as the first. I feel so blessed to have embodied his passionate playing on so many occasions. While our coming together was always centered in music and dance, I also feel blessed to have shared a heartfelt conversation every time. He was so open to hearing the dancers' reflections and desires. If someone knows the power of the dance, she knows the gift of the musician. The last time we shared a song, I bowed at his humble feet. Every experience has been divine---- I am so grateful for his gifts to this world and community.

Sending love to all of Kevin's friends, family, Casey. I can't imagine how great is her pain.

Dancing in honor of your spirit, Kevin.

Julia

To hear a bit of Kevin's work...
kevinbrockdrums.com/home.html

Say No to Sarah Palin

This week I've received plenty of emails expressing opposition to Sarah Palin for VP. I figured this is one of the best places to fwd on. Below you'll find an open letter from Eve Ensler, the author of "The Vagina Monologues" and an email sent to me that includes a place where you can send your own comments/ thoughts/outrage to add to a blog, "Women Against Sarah Palin." It only takes a minute and it is helpful to articulate why you may personally be opposed to a candidate for office.

Vote. Vote wisely. Vote heartfully. We cannot afford to lose more lives, species, freedoms. We must protect rather than ravage....

Peace,
julia



Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce-on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate-that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we've so demonstrably benefited from.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.

Therefore, we invite you to reply here <mailto:womensaynopalin@gmail.com> with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.

Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

We will post your responses on a blog called 'Women Against Sarah Palin,' which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply at your earliest convenience-the greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.

Thank you for your time and action.

VIVA!

Sincerely,

Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York , NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com

"Drill, Drill, Drill

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States . She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S. , but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?"

Eve Ensler

September 5, 2008

Harbin Hoop Jam, Harbin, CA

Hey hoopers!

Do y'all know about the Harbin Hoop Jam happening at the end of September? It is being sponsored by Patrick (aka Merlin) of PSI Hoops and the lovely Nayeli, one of the Convergers. I hear Harbin Hot Springs is BEAUTIFUL! It sounds like a great retreat without specific instruction, but a cooperative and open space to jam with other hoopers.

It will be a 5 day jam right after the Santa Cruz Hoop Camp.

Date: Monday- Friday, September 29 to October 3rd, 2008

Place: Harbin Hot Springs, Middletown, California

Website: www.playahoop.com

(The following is copied from an invite from Patrick & Nayeli.)

The idea is to have a safe and beautiful space where advanced practitioners can come and jam together. We can dig into the physics of the hoop, deepen into our spiral practice, play together, inspire and support each other, form community, invite the emergence of ….the magic of the living hoop…..

The conference center at Harbin is an ideal location. 2600 sq ft wooden floor, high cathedral ceilings, a great sound system, 2 large private hot pools (room to soak, play, dance and swim and we have had over 40 people in one of them!), 3 healthy and delicious meals a day, all in a gorgeous setting way out in nature. It's a treat.

The facilitators of the jam, Nayeli and Merlin, are not intending to make a financial profit from this. Harbin itself is not cheap and we are charging you a few dollars a day on top of their fee so we can cover expenses for the jam. Merlin is up at Harbin at the moment, emailing you this from there, feeling the vibe and knowing it's the perfect spot.

(The following is an excerpt from the website.)

Note that the Hoop Jam is limited to 30 participants because we want enough space to be able to hoop freely. As space is limited, we cannot guarantee that there will be a place for you, so its advisable to register as early as possible. This is not said as a promotional ploy. If you are really excited by this jam, we would like to have you there!

If you get stoked by this, tell Merlin I sent ya!

Peace and hoop bliss to ya!
Jewels

Knoxville Area Hoop Dance Workshops & Fire Performance

I am excited to be invited to Knoxville, TN to teach hoop dance classes and offer an evening performance. If you are in or around the Knoxville area and want to make a weekend of it, you could come take Sat & Sun workshops (which will progress) and come out Saturday night for live music, belly dancing and fire performances.

Workshops:
Saturday, May 3rd @ 1:00
and Sunday, May 4th @ 11:00
Both days at The Shed in Maryville, TN
$45 per day or $75 for both.

Saturday Night at The Shed
Belly dance and fire hoop show

Featuring Belly Dance by Ananda
Lisa Zahiya ("Belly dancer of the Universe" winner)
Jen Amann (Asheville, NC)
and Jewels (Carrboro, NC)
all performing to the music of the Wondering Circus.

starts around 6:00 pm

To Register for workshops, Contact Jaia:
jaiamara@bellsouth.net

The Story Of Stuff

Please carve out 20 minutes to watch this video.

www.storyofstuff.com/

Moving, Afterschool, Haiti, Convergence, Peace & Gratitude

This may be the most *all over the place* blog I ever write. But here goes....

MOVING
I am moving....AGAIN...Sunday
For 7 years I *nested* in a townhouse in Carrboro, but now I am on my fourth move in 3 years. My second move in 3 months! For some reason, the owner of the kickass apartment we moved to selectively dismissed the info we discussed about Scott being a professional drummer and me being a professional dancer - the whole conversation about our lives revolving around and to music. Understandably, none of us would anticipate the enormous 3 car garage underneath our place filled with antique automobiles vibrating so violently and amplifying the sounds of the drumset, as if the drums were being played in a giant bass drum. Basically, the drums can hardly be heard on the other side of the apartment, but sing/pound (depending upon your perspective) through the hood and most disturbingly through the walls of the closest home filled with an anxiety ridden set of twins. Two approx 45-50 year old ladies, twin sisters, moved in next door who seem to hate - well, a lot of things. I was EXTREMELY angry at first when our landlord said "there can be no drums here. PERIOD". But now, I suppose I'm relieved that we don't have to live next door to these two as I'm sure they will find more to complain about. I can make a pretty safe guess that outdoor hip hop on the Ion will NOT go over well.

CONVERGENCE
This wouldn't be AS BIG of a deal if it weren't for the Convergence in April. I've never spent so much time, energy and thought on one project in my entire life. I've learned so much about planning, interpersonal dynamics, excel, google docs, legalities and organizing - everything going on in my mind. That is HUGE for me! I wish the move didn't have to be before the Convergence, but 'tis what is. So, I continue to ride and try to maintain peace despite the bumpiness. Really, its all wonderful. Everything is coming together beautifully and my "to do" list doesn't feel that crazy. I mean, geez, I'm sitting her writing the first blog entry in forever when I've hardly been able to hang on tribe lately. There are beautiful individuals taking on various pieces of the project and its going to be a blast. I am grateful for the opportunity to get together with everyone and trust it will be an incredibly fun and enlightening time.

PANIC
I started to "panic" about packing this morning, but then I remembered that "this too shall pass" and went to pick up the new keys with gratitude and excitement. It is a sweet place that has been renovated with someone with GREEN consciousness. It is already efficiently insulated and painted with low VOC paint and has other environmentally and health conscious details. No vaulted ceilings, but a huge yard, a nice porch, ample space, a good view, option to buy and AURAL FREEDOM for jams (including hoop jams for several outdoors!)

SURRENDER

AFTER-SCHOOL
With my re-discovered good attitude and sense of surrender to the flow of the universe, I drove a few minutes from the new home to the afterschool program I visit once per week. My friend Natalie hooked the principal up with a hoop. She fell in love and decided it would be great for the kids there to have a hoop group. Natalie passed on my name and I have been going there since last spring. (Thanks Nat) I have been taking my system out to the school grounds for jam time and just hangin' and hooping. I feel for them b/c they have pretty rigorous days of sitting and studying and then go straight to doing homework. By the time I get there, they often run for the outdoors like a race has begun.

It's been interesting to understand my role as a hoop teacher in this context. I am finding that each age group, each individual and developmental stage has a different need for hooping. I teach a group of four & five year olds who are discovering their hips and building coordination with the help of the hoops. I bet they are the most "hip aware" group of youngsters around. You'd think the middle schoolers would be ready for choreographed pieces and basketball game appearances, and it could be that way if maybe I were more demanding. I have taught middle school classes during the school day where they learned a lot of moves, concepts and choreographed pieces. But, in this context, I have found that what they seem to desire the most is the release from structure, a time for embodiment, play and occasionally some good one on one.

AUTISM?
There is a girl who is - I'm not quite sure, but I think -high functioning autistic. Last Spring and Fall, she seemed so scared and was definitely uncoordinated. One day, early on she hugged and thanked me for spending time with her breaking down a cartwheel. I remember a lot shifting that day for me. Today, i was struck by how different she is now. She is perhaps the best hooper of all the kids. She is lifting the hoop and linking moves and jumping. It's pretty remarkable, especially considering how hesitant she was about any movement just a few months ago. She refused to even try hooping on the core for quite some time. Now, I truly think she's talking more articulately, confidently and expressively. I'm amazed and wish I knew more about her history & her special education to know how much/ if any impact the hoop is having. I have really appreciated the days I've gotten to spend some one on one time with her. I know she doesn't have a lot of friends. She says I'm her favorite teacher.

I have found my role at this after school program to be a counselor through movement, which I embrace with openness. For the past two years, in an attempt to supplement the unstable hoop income and deepen my understanding of movement through various stages of development, I have worked at after school programs, designed home school programs, camps etc. This has give me an opportunity to be around kids; lead them through the natural world; teach them various movement arts; learn from their insightful simplicity and astute observations; remember how to play; attempt to communicate more clearly; respond to "situations" or conflicts when they arise; and offer an ear or conversation when needed. I enjoy that when you're "playing" with someone, they are more likely to open up about whatever they need to express/process. There's no pressure, so things just happen naturally and there's an established trust through shared play and movement. Today, while we hooped, my autistic friend/student talked about witches, magic, healing, properties of peppermint, her desire to have a job and her worry about moving away this summer. She expressed being sad b/c she wants to keep hooping with me. She says I'm like a sister and she's sad to not see me anymore. I wanted to cry...want to cry. She lamented how hard it is/will be to make friends. I suppose I must just be grateful that we have touched one another; that the hoop has facilitated a relationship and possibly something therapeutic for her. I will send her off with a hoop and the knowledge to make more. Who knows what doors the hoop will open for her in her new home and social situation. It may be much needed companion, or the unique thing that helps her make new friends.

HAITI
Not much before that, Kathie - my friend who is the Director of Family Health Ministries, the org who sponsors the orphanage I visited in Haiti - came to pick up her son who was also hooping with us. She told me she has just returned from Haiti and had visited the orphanage in Fondwa. According to her, the kids pulled out the hoops and really impressed her with their skills. They asked her when i would return to dance. I can't wait to go back and visit.

GRATITUDE
I have such deep gratitude for these experiences, connections and relationships. I have such gratitude for the hoop and the other individuals who helped to facilitate the experiences. So many folks helped me to get to Haiti so I'd like to share that warmth with them as well. The entire community - local businesses, friends, family, local and global hoopers, spinners, hoop pathers - came together to send me and a stack of hoops to Haiti. Many thanks.

PEACE

OK...I've wandered through this blog for quite a while now. Luckily, I've been told that "all who wander are not lost."
Maybe just tired...

GOOD NIGHT

Hoopie Award Nominations: Gratitude

PIcture from Weaver St Market, 2004

I just found out about these nominations and feel honored to have been nominated for Fire Hooper of the Year. Also, "Hoops for Haiti" was nominated for "Event that introduced hooping to the largest audience".

I am honored that an evening of playful filming with Scott on drums "Friday night date" was the video that introduced me as a fire hooper to the youtube & hooping.org community. AND that an event that was very significant for me, the local community and a group of Haitian orphans (who had never seen hooping before) was recognized as well.

Thanks for the nominations.

Since I never posted this fire hoop video on tribe and have found a recent fire video from a holiday performance, I thought I'd post them.

Fire Hoop Drum (this is the very simply revised video from the original that was linked to hooping.org.)
www.youtube.com/watch

Dec. 1 performance with A Full Circle~
www.youtube.com/watch

In gratitude & revolving joy