Dance your own dance

Have you ever noticed that when a group of people learn a prop together they seem to all end up with a similar style of using that prop. I noticed it when I would go to big poi gatherings. You could pick out the people who practised a lot together, or who followed one of the poi websites over another, as their styles of spinning were very similar.

The same is true of hooping. There are lot of videos on line, which you try to learn from and inevitably you do end up copying other peoples styles of doing moves when you are going through the learning process. Even when you watch some of the best hoopers, the people you look up to as innovators, you can get that feeling of, oh (s)he does that move the same way as him/her. It just seems to happen. There are moments in this video that nod towards many other hoopers styles, but then there are many more moments of just pure Malcolm Stuart style.




I guess what I'm saying here is, try to dance your own dance and use your prop in your own way. Try not to doggedly copy someone else's style as you learn. Take the move, learn how it works and then adapt it to have your own slant.