Hoop / Lyra
Improver Hoop 
/ with Polina Shapkina (2025)
Skilled Hoop Lab
/ with Polina Shapkina (2025)
Evoke your essence on the aerial hoop
A workshop for the curious.
For those who love beautiful shapes and slick choreography but are ready to reach beyond it. Let’s explore the alchemy of expression. What is it you want to say? How do want to say it? If making work for an audience, what do you want them to feel?
In the lab, I invite you to:
Play with impulses and see where they take you.
Look at exercises to uncover different flavours of movement to your favourite hoop choreo.
Experiment with embodiment of character archetypes, opening the door for aerial storytelling.
This exploration is perfect for:
Those who feel they have a fluent grasp of their apparatus, a broad vocabulary of sequences but crave discovery of their personal style.
Those who feel confident in their personal style but want to discover other personalities.
Those who are excited to dedicate time developing and/or enhancing their performance and aerial theatre skills.
Please bring a notebook and if you have in ear headphones they’re great too! If you are taking the class and don’t have in-ear headphones let me know asap I might have a set or two spare.
The prerequisites are:
A broad vocabulary of hoop repertoire.
A strong confidence on the apparatus.
Hold stamina to execute at least 3 minutes of material in the air.
Looking forward to exploring together!
Skilled Hoop
/ with Chrissie Ardill (2025)
Lock-in spin technique, work on crafty, tricksy spin entries, alternative grips/body parts and weavy, dancey sequences.
We will focus on creatively sharing the space with your hoop and explore the possibilities of having a heavy steel dance partner.
Pre-requisites: invert without spotting, pull up from dead hang, experience with hoop, no puking. Bring socks & long sleeves.
Dynamic Hoop
/ with Jenna Ciotta (2025)
Static Hoop: Snaking, Rolling, and Dropping Like It’s Hot
This course is ideal for anyone with bar experience (hoop or trapeze) who has focused on shapes and spin but has shied away from dynamic skills. We will discuss the basics of generating and utilizing momentum from a variety of positions in order to create the potential for safe, consistent release skills, and dynamic movement. We will work progressions for skills such as: elbow circles, pop to back balance, penny drops (knee beat release to standing), and more upon request and based on collective skill level. We’ll also explore snaking/sneaking/rolling pathways on the hoop- pathways that encourage constant, circular movement of the body around a static hoop. Not every student will be offered the opportunity to try every skill, but everyone will walk away with a clear, progressive training path towards any of the skills we train.
In the interest of safety, you will not be allowed to participate in this course without the following prerequisites:
- feel comfortable in single knee hangs on both sides
- be able to invert under the bar multiple times in a row without tagging feet
- hang comfortably from one arm for ~10 seconds on each side
Hoop Choreo
/ with Jenna Ciotta (2025)
Often described as “snakey” Jenna’s hoop choreography is actually rooted in a deep spin intolerance and high levels of motion sickness. This lab, for intermediate and advanced hoop artists, will explore “snakey” hoop movement. We’ll cover various rolls and unique pathways and transitions between belly and back and top and bottom bar. Not all choreography needs to be static, but we will explore some dynamic skills integrated into choreography, and consider how to create satisfying sequences that don’t rely on spin for visual interest.
Hoop Act Mentoring
/ with Aisling Ní Cheallaigh (2025)
Would you like to create a hoop act? Are you working on one and would like some help or feedback? This class will be a mixture of creative exercises led by Aisling and time to work by yourself on your act with 1:1 mentorship. On the final day you will have the opportunity to share your work with the rest or the class and receive feedback if you would like it.
Note: This is a larger class compared to other Act Mentoring classes and won’t follow the same format.
Spinning Choreo
/ with Aisling Ní Cheallaigh (2025)
Are you ready to spin like a tornado in this spinning choreography class? Please have your anti-emetics at the ready (crystallised ginger is my favourite!) as we explore the world of spinning choreography including flares, isolations and juicy transitions.
Group Hoop (2 weeks – Perform July 26th)
/ with Rachel Strickland (2025)
“Taking up hoop together is good for the soul!” We will conceptualize, choreograph, and create a group hoop piece together over the two weeks to likely show on the final night. If you’ve been itching to create in a collaborative environment with other like minded hoopers, you’ve come to the right place.
While you will certainly learn from the choreographies of your peers in this class, learning tricks is not the focus of this session. Rather we’ll be exercising our muscles of creativity and collaboration, benefitting from the whole group’s brains as we create a piece of work together from the viscera of our lizard brains.
Video submissions are required for admission. Participants should be at a high level, and be comfortable with fast spins, flares, single knee hangs, and be able to do 3 pull ups from a dead hang without riding the struggle bus. This is not because I need you to do lavishly difficult choreography (I don’t), but to ensure all participants are at a similar strength level so all can operate together safely.
Note: This is not a technique class, Rachel will not be getting on a hoop. Two week class, you must attend both weeks. The group will ~probably~ perform on Saturday 26th.