Horning's Hideout
The String Cheese Incident
The Big She-Bang
July 28, 2007
Horning's was such a rich and fun
experience. Looking back after a week, some of
the sparkle has faded, but all of the fun and
connecting times are still being absorbed.
I went not really knowing what to expect, and found
myself smiling at what I received while there.
First there were the peacocks wandering the land,
looking beautiful and sounding like cats crying in
the night, then there were smiling people, bodies of
water, and open air.
We spent the first day at a brief rehearsal, getting
the gist of how things would go down. It was
exciting to learn of all the things they planned to
unveil on Saturday evening for the big
She-Bang! I realized then that we were part of
something larger, a vision that was way beyond
anything us whirlies could do on our own. We
have all yearned for co-creations like this, and here
we were doing it!
The second day's rehearsal was more involved.
We worked out the kinks in the technical aspects of
our show, which required a little skill. We had
to push buttons on a dangling rope of lights, while
hooping and looking graceful. It seemed like an
easy task, but we soon discovered we had to put our
minds to it to make it work. We were roaring in
laughter much of the time as each of us tried to
navigate into the arena of grace. For a while
we were stuck in awkwardness. That's one of the
things that is so great about the whirlyGirlz - all
the laughter!!! We have plenty of that!
Then that night we ate, rested, and started to get
ready. Glitter, hair, makeup - this is one of
our favorite parts. Getting ready with
girlfriends for a show is such fun! There is a
quiet that descends as we focus, and then there are
little bursts - do you have eyelash glue? how
does this look? where's my water?, and on like
that. It is somehow very comforting and
exciting at the same time.
We headed down to the venue, which was rocking with
thousands of people by that point. We went
backstage and got our bearings, and not too long
afterwards we heard "it's time to go
whirlyGirlz!" Then we rushed out onto the field
with our hoops unlit, feeling the largeness of the
space, the energy of the crowd. I think we all
love the hugeness of a crowds like this. In
many ways it's easier than a crowd of 20. We
grabbed the light ropes after some struggle with the
wind, and lit everything up and hooped away. It
was a rush of fun and exhilaration as the hoops spun
around. We were only out for a couple of
minutes, then the crowd was let in to dance amongst
all of us performers. We put our hoops away and
became part of the crowd, dancing hard and long to
some really great music.
Whew!!! Then we just couldn't go to bed, so
went all around the hideout hooping it up. We
had some memorable moments that night, and the next
day as well. That was our workshop, which was
so well attended we ran out of hoops. There
were probably about 50 or 60 people there. How
fantastic to have so many hoopers in one place, all
absorbing and learning new things. That was one
of the high points - sharing the love of hoop with
others. It somehow brought performing into
balance by being of service to the community. I
found that very fulfilling, and hope to do it again
at another festival.
Jasmine