I am just back from Priceless campout! Priceless is a wonderful once-a-year campout hosted by False Profit, located several hours north of San Francisco. While there, I got to connect with wonderful old friends and make new ones... it had beautiful, artfully created movement spaces and lighting in meadows, leaf-covered camping and an awesome river to float in while listening to tunes. In addition to the great connections, inspiring goddess presence, beautiful mountains, Prisna's flow wand workshop and performance by Lulacruz what I think I enjoyed most was hooping under the sun and stars!

Particularly fun was my hoop set friday night while playing on the side of the dancefloor alone and with Jesse and my hoop practice time on Sunday morning on the side of the dancefloor, while facing the river. Jesse is a BLAST to hoop with! In addition to being my chiropractor, he is an awesome flow artist who brings much dance to his whirling. We played with passes and improvisational dance while spinning. Then, the next morning while facing the river... I lost myself while practicing Pointe.

I have been practicing the Pointe technique which I learned from Baxter for a while, but have not truly "felt the force" until this past weekend. Watching the staff spinners balance their flow tools with such dexterity clicked on an "a-ha" and Prisna's workshop downloaded some realizations. In her shop, she suggested using the palm of the hand to push in the direction we seek a dynamic stall in to enhance the punctuation of the movement. She also used the word Jedi a bit, which I hear is common in the poi and staff community. This all got me thinking and moving in new ways.

What I discovered is that I can "draw" and "push" the hoop more easily by imagining energy -- the mystical Force, if you will -- emanating out of the palm of my hand and controlling the opposite side of my hoop. This visualization allows me to move more fluidly, with less wobble, faster and further out to each side. I will continue to practice this daily to see how it evolves...

I know this technique is not "new" in the hoop community, but I am delighted that mastery of it is new to my body and providing exhilarating sensations. It is one thing to watch and be mesmerized... but quite another to feel and move magnetic power through balance and the will. Love it!

BTW, I included a neat picture of Yoda which I found online where he is actually using his palm in the same way I use my palm while moving the hoop. Only difference is that my fingers tend to be closer together... Kind of interesting that the flow of energy through the palm of the hand is such a universal principle across thousands of years of healing and medical traditions, mythologies and cultures...

Can you please spread the word to those who you think may be interested? I am looking for someone fantastic to hire for my hooping team! You can read the job posting here!

Thanks!
Christabel

Our class posse: Danielle from Colorado, Courtney from Canada, Estafania from Ecuador, Chantel from Ohio, Julie from Palo Alto, Julie from Utah, Morgan from Nevada, and Jessica from Mill Valley along with JennaLuna and Jenny assisting from the Allstars. A diverse mix of interests, abilities and dance styles!

The training took place at HoopGirl's new Mill Valley Studio... the Masonic Lodge. An amazing space for hooping and performance with great wood floors and a fantastic stage with a shining disco ball to boot!

The first day held lots of excitement and elation for all as the girls took the stage in front of an audience at least 4 times for performances which challenged them to pay increasing attention to certain key stage skills, after which we provided feedback and guidance. They were constantly challenged to step up to the art of improvisation by dancing to music which they were not accustomed to and learning new skills on the spot.

The second day, the energy soared even higher as each woman came into her own and honed her own skills with poise, presence and increasing precision. Again, each woman took the stage many times, focusing on more and more skills at once while dancing to new songs. We also had a 2 hour make-up workshop and later, a trunk show at my house by Annieland which turned into a little dance party! SO much fun.

Day three was emotional, as awareness of having to return home to "reality" happened and group work was introduced which suddenly created a new dynamic of negotiation and co-operation which brought up challenges. All sense of time seemed to disappear and suddenly it was time to go home when it felt like we could go on for days more.

A few especially fun exercises from the training included applying the Mayan concept of natural time to picking up the hoop when it fell, stepping into various emotional states while performing and embodying the message in a randomly drawn tarot card in a stage performance.

We all got to witness the performance style of each dancer evolve and become more confident and powerful. Each one began taking risks, making more profound statements through their hoopdance and interacting with the audience more and more.

I feel inspired to add to the 70 page manual even further with additional topics of interest which arose during the training. So much to share in such a small amount of time! I am also motivated to re-shape the schedule so that the whole focus of the performance training is solo skills. While it was amazing to watch the girls produce group shows with cohesion in a two hour focus shop Sunday, I realize after the fact that it took the personal growth and transformative focus which we had been building outside of each girl and introduced new dynamics which are way too complex to address in such a short time. In short, group performance needs to be an entirely different training on an as requested basis.

I'm also inspired to refine the method by which even more articulate feedback will emerge from each attendee so each performer can receive the maximum information about their shows. There is a fine line between speaking in a fluffy and universally nice, "ra-ra everyone's great" way, and a direct and precise way which clearly says what didn't work, and then balancing that with the personal growth which is also happening. A wonderful opportunity to make a good training even greater!

I am filled with awe and inspiration. I literally had a hard time getting to sleep Saturday night because I was so excited for Sunday! And Sunday night all I could do was think about how the event went and how to make it even better... So grateful to all the women who attended! And I am super excited to share the training again in it's next evolved state!

Do you live in San Francisco and want to join in on some fun? Here is a note from the producers of ABC's "View From the Bay" show inviting YOU to join the studio audience!! I hope you can come... it will be sweet to look out and see your smile. See you there~ xoxo

"I would like to extend a special invitation to Christabel Zamor's friends, family and colleagues to be in our studio audience the day that she will be appearing on “The View From The Bay” August 21st, 2009.

*Please note that all seats must be reserved in advance. Tickets that have been requested will be sent via an email confirmation with detailed instruction on where and when to arrive at the ABC studio. Also note that audience members come in a separate entrance and time than guests appearing on the show. If you are a guest on the show and you will be bringing your guests with you they will need to check in with me (Rachel Wyatt) by 2:30pm to be seated in the audience."