The Hoop Path

Baxter’s first hoop video (2006):

I had been hooping for a while at that point, but I had never posted anything.  If you’ve taken a workshop with me, this is the “Patch” hoop space in my backyard that I was talking about..  I hooped in that circle every single day for many years.  The principle technique explored here is current changes.  The style is early “Warrior Style.”

 Baxter’s first “Touch” technique video (2006):

 Pretty boring, right?  But things were growing.

Baxter demos Warrior Style (2007):

 This video was an early example of Warrior Style.  Warrior Style, back then and even now, involved a lot of current changes and lifts and drop-ins.  As the time went by, WS opened up to more and more off body techniques.  Yet, more than anything, WS was an attitude.  It was a strong style meant to emphasize control and force.

 Baxter revisits “Touch” technique (2008):

This video was one of the first of mine that I thought captured “Touch” techniques in Flow.  I broke my own rule about long hoop videos with this one.  Yet, of all my videos this one has the longest “Audience Attention” mark.  This video was my biggest hit until…

Baxter demos his Core skills (2008):

I posted both of the above videos within two days.  The view counts between the two would bounce back and forth, until this one started to pull away.  One reason I think that people like this video is that it isn’t frilly and the techniques displayed are still relevant.  While the world of off-body techniques continues to diverge, core techniques are still underdeveloped in my opinion.  This video seemed to, even in 2008, seem like a throw back to the early waist only days of Hooping.

Warrior Style begins to slow up (Dec. 2009):

 I was nervous about posting this video, because it was so slow.  But, many of my students are well into their 40’s and 50’s and while we love to throw it down, there are also times we enjoy slowing it down so that our bodies can catch that second, third, or fourth wind.

Keeping the “dance” in Hoop Dance (Dec. 2009):

 After I got off my ‘patch’, I spent a lot of time over the next years trying to open up my hoop dance to more footwork and freedom of movement.  In the old school days of hoop dance, hoopers were primarily concerned with dance.  It was considered a compliment if someone were to say to you, “I didn’t realize you were hooping until I got closer.”  This video was put up as a kind of PSA for core hooping.

Flowing it together-Touch and Core as one (8/2010):

As my Practice has gone over the last year and a half, I have become obsessed with trying to be as seamless as I can in my transitions from Core to Touch. When I look at this video, I think it captures, in some part, this pursuit. I should point out that HP hooping is generally performed with a hoop size that allows for both Core and Touch. The hoop I’m using in this video is/was a prototype made of a very hard, clear plastic. It is still in development and is not available for sale.