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Hulagans are on a roll

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Local hoop group puts a new spin on a childhood favorite

Story by CLAIRE CONSTANTPhotos by KERRI REYNOLDS

Lois Bennett twirls her homemade hula hoop at Stephens Lake Park. “Me and a few of the original

Hulagans went to a music festival at the fair grounds about two years ago, and there were three girls there that hooped,” Bennett says. “And that’s

when we decided that we were going to do it.”

ON AN UNSEASONABLY WARM OCTOBER DAY IN 2008, Lois Bennett and friends Lisa Capestro and Ashley Weiland gathered in Bennett’s backyard. They had one mission and one mission only: to master the art of hula hooping.

Dressed in jeans and T-shirts and equipped with their first set of beautifully disastrous homemade hoops, the women spread out in the backyard. They strategically placed themselves in front of the windows on the back side of the house so they would be able to see themselves hooping. What they saw was not pretty.

“When I am trying to teach someone things that are so easy for me, I have to think back to that day,” Bennett says with a reminiscent grin. “I really don’t remember many days after that, but I remember that day. Just the three of us in the backyard and how awful we were.”

Laughing uncontrollably, the women struggled clumsily to keep their new hula hoops around their waists. They tried walking while hooping, lassoing the hoops above their head and even hooping with two hula hoops simultaneously. It was at this moment, this brilliant exhibit of awkward

facial expressions and contorted body movements, that the 20-somethings fell in love. That’s when they realized they had to spread the joys of hooping through Missouri and into other people’s lives.

The Hulagans are a group of hula hoopers based out of Jefferson City who began as a group of six women trying hula hooping for a new, challenging hobby. It led them to performances, fundraising and self-discovery.

“The six of us original hooligans were friends before we were Hulagans,” Capestro, nicknamed “Sunshine,” says of the group. “We decided us girls needed a hobby. Hooping just happened to be that perfect hobby.”

The hula hoops are made with three-quarter- or half-inch piping and are big enough around to fit at least two people inside. The Hulagans spin and manipulate their bodies in outrageous ways. Over-the-head tosses, knee hooping, shoulder hooping, chest hooping — there aren’t many body parts that these women can’t spin a hula hoop around. And while these hoops are orbiting their cores, the hoopers are dancing. This is multi-tasking at its finest.

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“It really does make you feel better about the world in general. You get into your hoop, and you are taken away. All your stress is gone. You are just inside your hoop. I know it is so cheesy ... I think every man, woman and child should own a hula hoop.”LOIS “FOOLISH” BENNETT

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Now, after perfecting their art, the Hulagans have begun to spread knowledge and appreciation of hooping through mid-Missouri. With performances, workshops and the sale of beautifully crafted, homemade hula hoops made from 100 PSI tubing and decorative tapes, these women are taking part in an activity that is crossing the globe. The popular hooping website hoopcity.ca lists events taking place in several countries and continents across the world.

It was Oct. 18, 2008, when Bennett, “Foolish” to her hoop group and her fans, saw her first set of hoop dancers. She had heard about them from friends, but she had never experienced the free-flowing motion of the hoop encircling the performers. It wasn’t the typical swaying of the hips and awkward thrusting motion that she had known before. The big, beautiful hoops consumed the performers in a vortex of color. She was inspired and intrigued.

“There were three girls doing it,” Bennett says. “They had these big crazy hoops and beautiful costumes, and when it got dark, they had LED hoops. I was absolutely amazed.”

The next day, Bennett searched the web for the tools she needed to make her own hoop, and with Capestro and Weiland, nicknamed “Sugaree,” in tow, she set out to make their hula hoop dreams into a reality.

Beginning with that first day in Bennett’s backyard, the women made their first hoops and began practicing. The three continued hooping through the winter months as much as they could. When spring finally came, they were ready to jump into hooping with gusto. Then they started to bring in the recruits.

It didn’t take long for the three original members’ passions to rub off on their close friends. Hesitant at first,

Amanda “Red” Frevert and Christa “Ceesta Revolution” Jeffries soon took to the hoop. Next came Callie “Callifornia” Job, who Bennett says was a natural.

Performing was the last thing on this hoop group’s mind. Its first goal was to keep the hoop up around the members’ waists. After lots of practice, the women began to do tricks and learn from one another. The revolving door (moving your body through a vertical hoop), the vortex (swirling the hoop around your torso as it moves up and down), knee hooping, chest hooping — all foreign terms to them — seemed to become a new language. These tricks came with patience, more practice and a lot of cursing.

“When we started, we were the only ones doing it,” Bennett says. “We had to be self-taught, so we learned by trial and error, teaching each other and YouTube. YouTube is your friend.”

The difference between hula hooping and hoop dancing really has to do with the tricks. Hoop dancing begins with the regular hula hoop motion. The hoop spins around the waist as the dancer sways back and forth. Keeping the hoop at a steady pace and rhythm, the hoopers begin to manipulate the hoop. With every rotation, the hoop will move a little more toward the knees, or the hoop will spring up around the hooper’s neck and onto an arm that will twirl above the head. The women like to experiment with new and unusual moves.

Although the women had a great time perfecting their tricks, they also made time for some crazy stunts outside the hoop. Bennett thinks back on a winter night when the Hulagans decided to get together and transform the streets of Jefferson City into a huge Pac-Man game board. The Hulagans, bundled up and loaded with sidewalk chalk, took to the life-size grid created by the perpendicular streets and

Heaven Montecino, 12, a Hulagan-in-training, twirls a hoop around her legs at Stephens Lake Park during Columbia’s weekly drum circle. “We have newborns to 80-year-olds come out here,” organizer Jim Peckham says.

Becoming a HulaganHula hooping is an excellent way to gain confidence and seek out your inner performer. But you can’t begin to wow your friends with hooping tricks until you have found the right hoop for you. Here are some steps to help master the plastic circle.

Health? Pleasure? Or both?First things first: You must decide what size hoop is right for you. When a hoop is an appropriate diameter, the top of the hoop should hit you between your belly button and the middle of your chest while it is standing up. The size of the piping depends on your hoop experience level and the purpose of your hoop.

For beginners, the bigger the hoop, the better. Hoops with larger widths are easier to handle than their skinny counterparts. Bennett and her friends began with three-quarter-inch piping for their hoops. Some of them have gradually moved down to half-inch piping as they have gotten better over time. As your skills improve and your tricks become more complicated, your hoop will need to be smaller so that it can move faster around your body.

For those hoopers interested in twirling their tummies away, the 1-inch piping is for you. The hoop is heavier, and it burns more calories as you rotate it around your body.

Where to find a hoopFor serious hoopers, the cheap, flimsy hoops found in the kids’ section at Walmart and Toys “R” Us aren’t going to cut it. The first option is to use the Internet to find someone who makes hula hoops. For example, Bennett has a Facebook and a MySpace page under the name “Little Miss Hoops-A-Lot” through which she sells homemade hoops. They can also be ordered online from hula hooping company sites such as yourhoop.com and hoopgirl.com.

Another option is to make the hoops yourself. All the materials needed to make an excellent hoop can be found at your local hardware store. All you need is 100 PSI irrigation tubing (choose desired size — three-quarter-inch, half-inch, etc.), pipe cutters, connectors that fit your tubing and electrical tape to decorate your hoop.

How to joinTo become part of the hoop group, e-mail the Hulagans at hulagans@live.com.

With these helpful tips in mind, beginning your journey to hoop dancing stardom should be a cinch.

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designed a Pac-Man board, which included Ms. Pac-Man and circular, white dots for the whole town to enjoy. For seven blocks, the women expanded their board and waited for people to enjoy their creation on their way to work. Unfortunately for the Hulagans, the weather forecast was not so enthusiastic, and Pac-Man was swept away by a rain shower.

Bennett says it was a bonding experience for the women, as well as something fun to do on a Sunday night. With their love of hooping, the Hulagans are rarely bored.

“Pretty much anytime that we do anything together or are hooping together, something crazy or ridiculous happens because hooping in itself is kind of crazy and ridiculous but amazing at the same time,” Job says.

As the women became more of a group, they discovered that hooping was beneficial to them as individuals as well.

“Everybody has their own interests with it,” Bennett says. “Lisa and I are both really interested in teaching people. Ashley and I both like to make and sell the hoops. We all like to perform. I mean, that’s just fun. Hooping can be a really private thing. We do get together, and we love to go out and perform like that, but every single hooper you see spends a lot of time at home learning about herself and her hoop.”

While the women hooped, they found that this circle that many regard as a child’s play thing did more for them than they imagined. It was building their self-confidence. It was an escape from the trials of real life. It was a way to disappear inside their hoops to meditate.

“Whether I am stressed out, upset, sad or whatever negative mood I am in, if I pick up a hoop for about 10 minutes or so, my outlook on life completely changes,”

Capestro says. “Hooping makes me laugh. It makes me smile. It makes me active. It challenges me.”

Frevert, the shyest member of the group, has used the hoop to tap into her more confident side. Bennett never thought Frevert would step out of her box and become an extrovert, but she says Frevert becomes a different person inside her hoop.

“The best part of hooping for me is the connection I have with myself and others,” Frevert says. “I get approached all the time while I am hooping, so I have gotten over a lot of my shyness.”

Hula hooping not only builds self-confidence, but it also has a lot of health benefits. The force it takes to propel a hoop around the body makes it a good form of exercise. Job lost 43 pounds the summer she began hardcore hooping. But the Hulagans believe that hooping is good for the body and the soul. They don’t care whether you are trying to achieve a sense of spirituality or a smaller waist, they just want you to enjoy hooping.

“It really does just make you feel better about the world in general,” Bennett says. “You get into your hoop and you are taken away. All your stress is gone, and all your worries are gone. You are just inside your hoop. I know it is so cheesy. Hooping is hard. It’s hard work. It ain’t easy. It takes a lot of time. I don’t care why you do it. I think every man, woman and child should own a hula hoop.”

With this notion in mind, the Hulagans recently decided to open their hoop group to others in the area. According to Bennett, the Hulagans did not want to be six snobby hoopers. Now the Hulagans are a regional hoop group with more than 20 members, and the group is continuing to grow.

As the group grows, so does the world’s obsession with the long-lost childhood toy people remember so well. Hoopers are appearing on The Today Show and showing their skills on America’s Got Talent. People are hooping for exercise, and attending classes and hoop jams. The best part is that anyone can do it. The Hulagans’ No. 1 piece of advice for beginners is to find a proper hoop. Job says that once you find one, you just have to try.

“You kind of look ridiculous when you first start, but you’ll get past that,” Job says. “Just keep trying until it happens, and then once it happens you’ll get really excited and want to continue to learn. When you start, you do look really ridiculous, but it makes you so much more comfortable with yourself once you get past that ridiculous feeling.”

The Hulagans have come a long way from that first day in Bennett’s backyard. They have grown as individuals and as a group. The cycle of hooping continues to spin as the Hulagans spread the word to others. They have mastered their tricks, they have established their clan, and they have performed and raised money in the name of hooping at events such as World Hoop Day, which gives hula hoops to impoverished children. Now all that is left is to continue to spread the love, and they plan on doing that one rotation at a time. V

The Hulagans can be seen swirling hoops most Thursdays at the Columbia drum circles held in Stephens Park at 6 p.m. The Hulagans will also perform this year at Earthdance in Columbia on Sept. 25, as well as at a multicultural festival in Jefferson City on Oct. 16.

Lois Bennett (pink shirt) greets Lauralee Sparling with a hug as Brittany Fuelmmeler (front) and December Montecino (back) hula hoop at Stephens Lake Park. “Anyone can learn to hoop,” Bennett says. “It just takes dedication.” Bennett, one of the original six members of the Hulagans, says the group is open to new members.