If you attended last weekend’s Sacred Quilt Festival or the Green Man Festival last month, I bet you noticed – and couldn’t take your eyes off – the expert hoop-dancing of Shannon Bishop, a sampling of which I captured in this video.

When Shannon returned for more Greenbelt hooping (the word “hula” being sooo last century), this time with a slew of extra hoops and a former student helping us beginners learn to at least keep the damn thing going, I jumped at the chance to interview her about this fascinating new practice (or sport?  What the heck do I call it?)

Asked how I could learn to get better at hooping, Shannon recommended taking one of her classes.  I learned that she teaches in Takoma Park, where she lives and where I first saw her perform at the grand opening of a recording studio.   Turns out, most of her students are women in their 50s (go, Boomers!) who are doing it because it’s fun, especially more fun than the average aerobic exercise.  (Amen to that.)  Information about her next series of classes will be posted on her website and on her Shapeshifter Facebook page.

Shannon started hooping about five years ago, when she  grabbed a hoop and some other play items for a party, loved using it, and was told that there’s way more to hooping than she’d ever dreamed.  Since then she’s studied, primarily with her “mentor” Hoopalicious, and become certified as a hoop instructor.

Besides teaching, Shannon’s awesome hooping skills have led to being hired to perform in a music video, at the National Theater, and at private parties (usually combined with teaching the guests).

In addition to hooping, Shannon is a singer-songwriter. She still has a day job, but in the future, who knows?

I perused the hooping links on her website’s sidebar and learned these tidbits about the world of hooping:

• They make their own.  Serious hoopers don’t just walk into Toys R Us and buy any old hoop, ya know.
• There are whole retreats for hooping and other “flow arts”.  Yet another term I’d never heard.
• Hooping can be a meditative practice.   Beats sitting on a cushion in my book.
• Hooping can cause bruises.  Even using the super-lightweight type she’s holding in this photo.