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Making Music, part 2
Rob checks levels as Jesse strums my ukulele and Swinky vocalises in my bedroom. Months have elapsed in the quest to make a song for the World Hoop Day Dance project. Shortly after writing the previous post in mid-March, I gave up on the lyrics and turned to the music. Huw and I created…
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Out of my Closet
(Sorry, not that kind of out.) There is no good reason to have as many clothes as I own. Later this year I will be living out of a backpack while I travel for a month and I’m hoping to repeat the backpack era again at the beginning of next year, so the seasonal wardrobe…
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100 kids
Yesterday I participated in an event at the Sullivans School on Yokosuka Naval Base. It was a day of workshops and activities that focussed on multiple intelligences. You won’t be surprised that I was teaching a hoop dance workshop. In my 40 minute sessions, kids learned ten tricks and we strung them together into a…
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Unrelated thoughts
I keep having ideas for blog posts – topics meaty enough to be more than a tweet or status update on Facebook – but for whatever reason I talk myself out of writing up my thoughts. I’ve fallen out of the habit of blogging, and that’s a shame for me (maybe not such a big…
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Making Music, part 1
A couple of weeks ago I started casting around for someone to write me some music. I want an original tune for this year’s World Hoop Day Dance project and so I was telling to my musician friends about it. I never thought this would happen but my ukulele teacher, Huw, suggested that we work together to…
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Comic Hooping
Wednesday night at Hoop Lounge I did a first run of a new act that I plan to take up to Tohoku next month to entertain kids who were affected by last year’s earthquake and tsunami. I’ll be going up with Guy Totaro and the Smile Ambassador program, a part of the Tyler Foundation’s children’s…
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Celebrating my Progress
A friend wrote on Facebook today, “Be reflective and notice what you’ve learned and what you’ve accomplished this year. Celebrate your progress!” I think that’s a good idea. At first, I feel like I haven’t really done very much this year. And then I start looking at some of the things I made notes about…
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WHD Dance 2011
It’s done! It was a collaborative effort in 11 countries with 41 groups and 317 dancers performing for World Hoop Day on November 11. Such a thrill to see the project grow so big. 2010 saw 17 groups dancing. For 2012, I’d better pick a song that allows me to extend it easily. Organising the…
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Accidentally Topless
I brought tape but I forgot scissors so I couldn’t cover my nipples with makeshift pasties as I put on my costume for Sadistic Circus last night. It didn’t seem like a big issue; in rehearsals the snaps had been secure and I wasn’t worried about a wardrobe malfunction but we learn to be careful…
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The Epic Saturday
August 13th was definitely my biggest day of 2011. In the morning, I led a hoop workshop, Finding Flow, for seven delightful hoopers at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center. I loved teaching my first hoop workshop in the US. Before the hoopers turned up, my cousin Chris and his family appeared at the theatre. They…
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