Attention all hula hoopers: hooping luminary and hoopdance teacher extraordinaire Baxter is coming to Far Out West Texas to teach a weekend workshop in Alpine, at the Granada Theater, Friday, April 4 through Sunday, April 6.
This is the first time Baxter will be teaching in West Texas. This spring, he brings his “Puri*Fire” tour here, which is “about growing and feeding our creative fires for movement and hoop dance.”
Hooping since 2002, Jonathan Livingston Baxter is known for his signature rhythmic style, which evolved largely as he hooped alone, blindfolded, in his backyard in North Carolina. Responsible for pioneering several moves in hooping, the charismatic 40-year-old hoopdancer travels the U.S. and Canada teaching hooping workshops embued with his own hooping philosophy, the Hoop Path. For Baxter and his enthusiasts, hooping is more than just a way to exercise and have fun; it is also a means to living more consciously. For Baxter and his students, hooping is a practice.
While lots of hoop fitness and hoop dancing classes are now offered throughout much of the world, Baxter’s approach is unusual; rather than teach a series of hooping skills, routines, or tricks, per se, the inveterate hooper leads students, regardless of hooping skill level, through a series of exercises to help them tap more deeply into their own authentic ways of moving with the hoop—largely with the aid of a great variety of music.
“You don’t have to be a hoop master to come to this,” Baxter clarifies. “Everyone, regardless of skill, is equal at HoopPath. No one wants to intimidate or be intimidated by anyone. It’s all about moving past that stuff, and just dancing.”
The three-day Hoop Path “Puri*Fire” workshop in Alpine (“like a creative writing class for hoopers who wish to retune their hoop dance toward their own, unique creative voice,” reads his website) will span Friday evening, from 6-9:30 pm, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1-5 pm. Cost of the full three-day workshop, focusing on the Body, the Mind, and the Spirit, respectively, costs just $135; partial workshop packages are also available for less.
“This is the first big hooping workshop in the Big Bend,” notes local instigator Marlys Hersey, “and a tremendous opportunity for all of us hoopers in the region to come together to hoop, and to learn with Baxter, who is not only a great hoopdancer, but a magnanimous and devoted teacher. We’re really fortunate to get Baxter to come to us, and to be able to hoop in the sweet space of the Granada Theater.”
For more information or to sign up for Baxter’s Puri*Fire workshop, please visit: www.hooppath.com and select “workshops,” then “Alpine, TX.”
Photo courtesy of The Hoop Path.
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