This performance was amazing. Just watching it makes me realize how I need to break my bubble and explore moving in new ways. Malcolm does things I’d never give myself permission to do and he does it so smooth. This is a testament to freeing ourselves from the limitations of what we expect to look good or right or cool or whatever other judgement we might place on movement. Malcolm is a master of the highest degree. So thankful for his footage on the Hoop technique DVD. His Demo in our inspirational footage is mind blowing. I can’t wait to share that. I shot this footage on our Canon 7d but the conditions were challenging.

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This is awesome! Thank you Philo. Another one of these shorts about Burning Man is linked below. If you’d like to make your own, visit xtranormal

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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ::: Mark Twain

I yanked that quote and photo from Sara’s family website which I would encourage you to check out: here

I’m overwhelmed and grateful for the opportunities in my life right now. I’m just back from teaching a workshop in Boulder. The class was enthusiastic, committed, and skilled. Boulder has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. Now I have one day to shift gears and hop on a plane to Fiji to help design GaiaTree. Wow. Life is exploding. The video below is also from Sarah and the Happy Janssens :)

Rich Porter – Hoop Technique Workshop from Sara Janssen on Vimeo.

i have so much more to write and so little time. About to head to bed. Time to make my insane to-do list for tomorrow, the last day in the US prior to Fiji. On top of that I return and go straight to the Burn. Wow. Thank you universe.

PS. Danielle is the best host ever. She and Nick are some pf the best fire hoopers I’ve ever seen. Also, Mary and Cat’s trek from Iowa for our workshop help inspire me to keep doing this. So many more.

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Alright, check this :) I love Jessica Wagstrom. Get to 1:25 in this vid. This is the very first time I have ever seen a partner three beat with hoops. Hell yeah! There is so much further that this can be taken and it’s so exciting. The poi world is all-about partner patterns; we’ll be there soon.

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I can’t even find a copy of this track online to link to but the track is sick. And Bax is tearing it up. We’ve got a new sweet vid from Brecken a few days ago and now something tight, flowing and innovative from Bax?! This is gonna be a good Burn.

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Damn. This is maybe the best hooping video I can remember. At the very least, it’s the most original. The editing is artistic and carries her point across. This is about the process and the freedom to explore. Brecken isn’t trying to hoop like anyone but herself and she doesn’t limit what that might look like.

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I love to say, “I have a lot of ideas. Most are bad.” No one seems to enjoy me saying that as much as I enjoy hearing myself say it but whatev :) It’s my way of brainstorming out-loud all the time. It relieves me of owning the ideas that I come up with. Some are great, some suck, but the more I put out there, the more likely I’ll come up with something brilliant.

Fundraising for Africa has been close to my heart for years. In college I felt like the only ethical path was to make as much money as possible here in the US and ship every penny to Africa. I lost that youthful idealism in the grind of my day-to-day desk job over the last five years. The job is gone now and I want a healthy dose of idealism back in my life. Hoop Technique is awesome! I love what I share with so many with the hoop but how can I make it mean something more on a global scale? How can I contribute to humanity as whole? How can I regain the optimism I had in college that I had the ability to end some amount of suffering in the world?

Four days ago at Floydfest I had an idea. Hoop Technique is going to start working with African aide organization. Lauren and I had worked with Asante Africa in the past so as soon as I returned to SF, I called a friend to find the phone number of Erna Grasz, President of the Asante Africa Organization.

Yesterday Erna and I met to brainstorm collaborative ideas. I’m excited to say we’ll be collaborating in the near future, Hoop Technique will be doing a West Coast Tour fundraiser for the organization. This is a trial run of something potentially larger but we have to see how it all works out. We’ll be raising funds for 2 main purposes: bringing hoops to Africa and contributing to the construction of wells.

I love the idea of bringing hoops to Africa, they have no toys and the experience of joy, accomplishment and flow is a powerfully transformative experience. So some of our fundraising will be going to that end but that rings a bit hollow for me without also contributing at the sustenance level in area of the world that severely needs help. Building wells in Africa is something I’ve wanted to do since college. The return on investment, through increased health, and increased opportunity, is huge. Asante is a perfect partner to help us make something like this happen. Though our financial model may change, the current idea is that 50% of our fundraising will go to hoops and 50% will be going to well construction.

To top this all off… through hearing my story a few years back… Erna is now a hooper and teaches classes to the elderly, inspiring them to get back in their bodies and exercise. She’s found and shares the joy and power of the hoop. Now we can spread that joy on a global level. We all can.

What is the ethos of our community? How can we direct it? We’re in an infantile state of a growing community that is wrapping the world. What impact will we as a whole have on the history of humanity? We get to decide that everyday. I’m excited.

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I love graphic representations of information. This poster by Flint Hahn about Burning Man really gives you a sense of how the event has changed over the years while giving a snapshot of last year, all while being visually appealing.

His resume reads:

Information Designer
I take complex systems and make the process of using those systems simple and enjoyable through the application of appealing design and common sense.

I love it. Find more from Flint Hahn: here

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I was able to hop on stage twice at Floydfest with these amazing women. I’m actrually still here and writing from a little internet kiosk. Leah and Chloe are sisters, amazingly talented lyricists and musicians, and on top of that, they spin fire. On top of that, they might join us for the burn. We’ll see.

Grab there album on iTunes: here

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So SaFire hit me up precompression and said she’d been playing with partner hoop stuff. We gotta get on this folks. There is so much unexplored ground here. My mind hesitates to imagine a four beat partner pattern with hoops but I can’t wait to try it.

there
is
always
something
new
to
be
discovered

And that’s the truth.

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