Handmade Hoops by Peachysteve

Waist To Neck

Taken from Chapter 2 of
"Hooping"
An Instructional DVD by Peachysteve

Taking the hoop from the waist up to the neck is one of the classic hooping moves.

I remember the first time I saw this move, it made me want to try hooping.
I asked the hooper how she did it and got a "just wiggle" in reply.
Well, you can wiggle all you want but you may never get the hoop up.

Fortunately there is a simple technique involved in getting the hoop to move up your body.
It doesn't involve standing on tip toes or thinking upward thoughts.
You simply need to start making large complete circles with your hips.

In order to move a hoop up against gravity you need to make larger circles under the hoop than above it.
As the hoop moves upward, the large circular motion also needs to move up your body.

It's worth practising making large circles with your hips without the hoop.
You can stand in the centre of your hoop and try to push out with hip, bum, hip, belly in a circle that goes over the edge of the hoop on the floor.
Or you can imagine having a pencil attached to your hip which you draw large circles with.

Imagine a cone where your hips draw out the base and your head stays at the tip. As you make larger circles, the hoop's pull will draw the hoop up your body.

You must make sure to push against the hoop all the way round.

At the sides...
At the front and especially the back...

Because we can't see what's happening at the back it tends to be our weakest area.
You really need to make sure that you are pushing out at the back.

The hoop will tend to follow the natural shape of your body as it travels upward.

Starting by moving up the lower back...
Then over the lower ribcage...
And finally over the shoulderblades...

Slowly build up the size of your circles until the hoop starts to rise.
As the hoop moves upward you'll need to stop making those large hip circles and start making circles with your chest.

When the hoop gets up to chest level it will tend to drop back down again as you are working against your body shape.
If you already have good chest control then this won't be a problem but you can learn this without having that control.
In order to take the hoop all the way, you need to anticipate the hoop's rise.
Then as the hoop comes toward Arm One, drop your arm down lowering your shoulder into the hoop.
Straighten up as the hoop comes around onto your neck.
This will help the hoop move smoothly through the last part of the lift.

Drop Arm One and shoulder down into the hoop
Bring your shoulders up level to go into neck hooping.