Hula hoop

This article is about the hula-hoop toy. For the subculture, see Hooping. For the snack food, see Hula Hoops.

Video

Hula hoop at the Folsom Street Fair

World famous busker Emery Carl balancing a guitar & hula hoop at the Pike Place market in Seattle

A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. Although the exact origins of hula hoops are unknown, children and adults around the world have played with hoops, twirling, rolling and throwing them throughout history. Hula hoops for children generally measure approximately 28 inches in diameter, and those for adults around 40 inches. Traditional materials for hoops include willow, rattan (a flexible and strong vine), grapevines and stiff grasses. Today, they are usually made of plastic tubing.

World records

Duration

An early duration record for the hula hoop was set by 11-year-olds Paulette Robinson, Charles Beard and Patsy Jo Grigby in Jackson, Mississippi lasting 11 hours and 34 minutes (August, 1960). The event was sponsored by radio station WOKJ. 8-year-old Mary Jane Freeze, won a hooping endurance contest on 19 August 1976, by lasting 10 hours and 47 minutes. The current record is held by Roxann Rose of the United States, who went 90 hours between 2 April and 6 April 1987.

Most hula hoops twirled at once

The record for the most hoops twirled simultaneously is 132, set by Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair on November 11, 2009. The previous record was 107, set by Alesya Gouleviche of Belarus, on June 15, 2009.

Hoop running

Records for running while twirling a hula hoop around the waist are:

• 100 m: 13.84 seconds, by Roman Schedler of Austria on 16 July 1994
• 1 mile: 6:40, by Kris Slomin of United States on 20 October 2008
• 10 km, men: 1:06:35, by Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair, date unknown
• 10 km, women: 1:27:25, by Boo Crystal Chan of Australia, 12 March 2009

Other records

The largest hoop successfully twirled was 13.88 meters (45.55 ft) in circumference, by Ashrita Furman of the United States in September, 2005. The record for simultaneous hula hooping (minimum time: 2 minutes) is for 2,290 participants at Chung Cheng Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on 28 October 2000.

In 2000, Roman Schedler spun a 53-pound tractor tire for 71 seconds at the 5th Saxonia Record Festival in Bregenz, Austria.

In April 2008, Team Hooprama hula hooped the Music City Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) to raise awareness for Hooping for Hope.

In April 2009, 50 hoopers on Team Hooprama hula hooped the Music City Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) to raise awareness for Hooping for Hope.

In April 2010, 70 hoopers on Team Hooprama hula hooped the Music City Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) to raise awareness and funds for Hooping for Hope.

Modern hooping

Fire hooping

Main article: Hooping

The past few years have seen the re-emergence of hula hooping, generally referred to as either "hoopdance" or simply "hooping" to distinguish it from the children's playform. An International Holiday World Hoop Day has become the hula hoop holiday celebrating the circle around the world. Every year, in numerical sequence starting from 2007-07-07 and continuing through 2012-12-12 hoopers dance in every city and country to raise money and donate hoops to others who can't afford them. Modern hula hoopers can be found among fans of jambands like The String Cheese Incident and participants of Burning Man. Many modern hoopers make their own hoops out of polyethylene tubing. They are much larger and heavier than hoops of the 1950s. These hoops may be covered in a fabric or plastic tape to ease the amount of work in keeping a hoop twirling around the dancer, and can be very colorful. Some use glow-in-the dark, patterned, or sparkling tape, and others are produced with clear tubing and filled with plastic balls, glitter, or even water to produce visual or audio effects when used. LED technology has also been introduced in the past few years, allowing hoops to light up at the flick of a switch.

During the recent revitalization of the hula hoop, its uses have been extended to serve as an implement for fitness. A multitude of websites have been created as a result of this revival, many of which provide links to hooping clubs, online retailers from which to buy specialized hula hoops, and information on workout routines.

Within the past few years, some hoopers have taken up fire hooping, in which spokes are set into the outside of the hoop and tipped with kevlar wicks, which are soaked in fuel and lit on fire.

Some companies produce collapsible hula hoops for easy transport and versatility: each hoop breaks down into four or more pieces to later be reassembled. Other collapsible hoops are simply twisted down, and folded in half for easy travel.

Modern history

The hoop gained international popularity in the late 1950s when a plastic version was successfully marketed by California's Wham-O toy company. In 1957, Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, starting with the idea of Australian bamboo "exercise hoops", manufactured 42-inch hoops with Marlex plastic. With give-aways and national marketing and retailing, a fad was started in July, 1958; twenty-five million plastic hoops were sold in less than four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million units.

In popular culture

File:SmirkusHulaHoops.jpg

From Circus Smirkus performance 2006

• On September 6, 1958, singer Georgia Gibbs appeared on US TV's The Ed Sullivan Show to sing The Hula Hoop Song. Her last (US top-40) hit, it competed with four other songs created in the wake of the huge fad.
• The hoop emerged in the world of circus in the 1960s, with Russian and Chinese artists taking it to extremes. These influenced contemporary circus artists like Australian circus comedian and hula hoop historian Judith Lanigan, who performs the Dying Swan — "a tragedy with hula hoops" — using 30 hula hoops. The Cirque du Soleil shows Alegría, Quidam and Wintuk have presented hula hoop acts featuring contortionist and former rhythmic gymnast Elena Lev. The Cirque show Zumanity features hoop performer and aerialist Julia Kolosova.
• Hula hoops are referred to in the 1958 Alvin and the Chipmunks song, "Christmas Don't Be Late". Wayout Toys, under licence to Emson, introduced the Alvin Hula Hoop Doll, which dances with his hula hoop and sings the song based on wanting his hula hoop.
• Mat Plendl, an actor and skilled hula hooper, appeared three times on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. He has become a regular performer at the halftime shows of National Basketball Association games and is a regular cast member with Teatro ZinZanni.
• Dan Rodick, director of sports promotion at Wham-O, has said, "There is no other product that gives me as much fear and respect for the power of mass culture as the hula hoop."
• TV personality Art Linkletter was one of the original major investors in the hula hoop in the 1950s.
• The Coen brothers' comedy film The Hudsucker Proxy tells the story of a mail room clerk who is installed as president of a manufacturing company and invents the hula hoop.

External links

• Hooping.org: The Home Page for Hula Hoopers.
• Hula hoop on the Open Directory Project.