Hooping is growing in popularity every day, with celebrities from the worlds of TV, movies, music, sports and politics getting into the mix? Who are your favorites? Let us know!

Shaq

Beyonce

Kathie Lee Gifford

Zooey Deschanel

Jason Mraz

Liv Tyler

Richard Simmons

Marisa Tomei

Selena Gomez

Miguel Cabrera

Michelle Obama

Spring is in full bloom, which means it’s hoop season and bicycle season. Unfortunately, cycling with you hoop can be cumbersome. Take a look at these creative techniques for biking with your hoop:

A man carrying many hoops on a moped

Handlebar-mounted hoop

Special rear wheel hoop mount

Elegant seat post mount

Classic shoulder technique

Hooping while riding

Don't forget to lock your hoop up!

Of course, the easiest way to carry a hoop on a bicycle is just to buy one of our collapsible hoops. Easy to put together and extremely portable, simplify your life and eliminate the hoopla!

Troo Hoops hoop bag

Eureka! We’ve done it. Finally, a collapsible hoop that fits in a 7″ by 7″ box! Our new 24-piece hoop is quite possibly the most collapsible hoop ever made! Why did we do this? Who knows, but it’s pretty cool, huh?

Combustion Driven Motor Dance Hoops start at just $250 each, tape not included. Click here to order.

Sometimes the best moments are the unplanned ones. And so it was on March 11, 2012, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Washington Square Park, NYC.
I headed to the park with my guitar and my two collapsible Troo Hoops. After some music, I dropped my belongings in front of the Washington Square Arch, put together my new 36″ dance hoop, and hooped it up for a minute. Then I took out my 39″ sport hoop for Brian Dubé, Troo Hoops founder and Washington Square habitué, to use:

Brian shows off his balancing skills. (Photo credit: Sandy Hechtman)

After some mutual spinning and trick sharing, Brian got the idea to try hooping with two of us in the hoop at one time. When that failed, he took both hoops and created a giant hoop, 76 inches in diameter. After some adjusting, it was ready:

I tested out this new creation. Although a tiny bit unstable, it definitely worked!

After Brian took his turn…

…the audience participation started.

At one point, which you can hear in the following video, one of the guys asked, “What are we doing?” to which Brian replied, “We don’t know!” Such was the spirit of the afternoon.

So when you combine friends, a nice park day, photographers, and a few collapsible Troo Hoops, this is basically what you get:

Enjoy the beautiful weather this week if you are in New York City, and wherever you are, send us pictures and videos of your wackiest hoop escapades!

All photos and video courtesy of Brian Dubé unless otherwise stated.

Hey hoopers, hoopettes, hoopies, and hooplahs! This time around we’re going to introduce you to all our various outlets where you can find hooping goodies and treats. In plain English, are you a part of the internet and its myriad of communities? Well, we are too! So come find us, hang out with us, and tell us,  nay show us your awesome hoop ideas, stories, videos and pictures!

For the Facebook Fanatics: Naturally you can find us on Facebook, as the phrase suggests. Our Facebook highlights some of our favorite videos, pictures and articles. We also encourage you to ask us questions and give us feedback. If you’re looking for an awesome source of hooping inspiration to add to your news feed, then give us a like!

For citizens of the Twitter-verse: We are tweeting up a storm and would love for you guys to join in on the conversation. @ us to your heart’s content and get in on our # love! We’re taking all things hoop and compacting it into 120 character gems for your experiential pleasure. Give us a follow and take the ride! @troohoops

Tune in on Youtube: Did you know that we give a 20% discount if you send us your hooping videos using our hoops? So get in on the action, snag some notoriety and save a pretty penny doing it! We especially love videos of hoopers taking our product into the world and hooping in unique and recognizable locations. Subscribe and Submit!

Fancy Yourself a Tumblr: Hooping is a constant state of exploration and discovery, and our Tumblr is all about that as well. Highlighting some of the best and most recent content from all over, you’re certain to discover something new. Tumble on down to our neck of the woods and follow our discoveries!

Have an Interest in Pinterest: The hot new kid on block is Pinterest, and we are on it! Come Pin with us and enjoy a wonderful world of  hooping pictures, videos, and ridiculous distractions. From our “Hooping Flavor of the Week” to incredible collections of LED Hoops, we’re curating an awesome gallery. Get your pin on and follow us!

Add One More with Google+: Finally an oasis of hoop love in the vast desert of Google+. Still very much in it’s infancy, we’d love to experiment with all the +hoopers out there! So give us a holler if you’re interested in a hangout, or +1 our posts if you like what you see! Better yet, add us to your circles!

Basically, as you can see we are really excited about getting to know you guys and having a conversation! If you’ve got any cool pictures, videos or suggestions, we’d love t0 hear them. And we’re always throwing ideas out there and need your help. So stop on by and give us a shout!

Humans, and to be more specific, hooper humans are quite inventive as it turns out. What once started off as a simple concept, a circular hoop, has recently been transformed into a number of odd, crazy, and even whimsical variations. Here’s a rundown of our favorite hoops that have moved beyond the simple circle:

The most recent departure for tradition comes to us from Steve Bags and his crew across the pond with what he calls a GyroDOOP. Part hoop, part gyroscope, he uses swivels and slightly smaller hoops inside larger ones to create a unique multi-dimensional visual experience. While it can sometimes come off as erratic, it’s always pretty entertaining.

Also, emerging around the same time as the GyroDOOP is a slightly amorphous hoop created by Caterina Sutton, which she has dubbed the “egg hoop”. Not much else to it really, though I’m not sure how it maintains it’s lack of shape.

Here are a couple more geometrically sound variations on the old circle. The first of which we’ve seen before, both in the daylight, and on fire! I give you the Squoop!

The second geometric variation seems to follow the same line of thought. The thing is, I’m just not sure how comfortable it really is to hoop with. It’s the aptly named Triangle Hoop.

Let’s head back to the rounded realm, but this time we’ll be taking on some attractive qualities. Oh dear, I crack myself up. Here is something Laura Scarborough created, hoops with magnetic sections, which she calls Maghoops.

And finally we end with everyone’s favorite eccentric hooper, all alone in his iso-hooping world, Nicholas Longuechaud. This is actually the earliest of all the videos in this post. He has created some interesting hoops within hoops, which he isolates individually. There are some crazy patterns that come about as a result.

If you guys have any crazy and awesome hoops which defy tradition send us some pictures or videos! You can tweet us @troohoops, and include the hashtag #OddHoops, or post to our facebook wall at facebook.com/troohoops

-Photo by Amy Snyder

Living, working and hooping in the Big Apple makes for terrific research opportunities in the field of hooping in public. So, with the help of other hoopers’ submissions to Hooper Problems, we’re going to offer our insights into the sometimes treacherous, but oftentimes rewarding world of taking your hoop to the streets!

Transporting Hoops:

In order to bring our hooping to the masses we have to, well, bring our hoops to the masses! And let me tell you that if you live in a large city and use public transportation, transporting more than 2 or 3 hoops can be difficult. Not only do you have to carry all those hoops, but you also have to make sure there’s enough space on the subway, bus, trolley, carriage, etc.

The one thing you can do to make this a little easier is bring your friends. Make it an outing for everyone! That way you can spread the burden out.

Also, when riding public transportation, try to be conscious of others around you. You’re not going to make any friends if you’re smacking everyone around you with your hoops. And when entering the station, be aware that those turnstyles can, and will catch the back end of your hoops. If this happens, kindly ask the next patron to use your turnstyle, and your hoops will come free.

Shameless Tip: Our Collapsible Hoops are great for transportation!

A Confused Public:

From the moment you step out your front door, you’re going to get quite a few awkward looks. And that’s because you’ve made a spectacle of yourself, whether or not you like it. Simply ignore the looks and act as if this is something you’ve been doing for years.

Eventually you’ll be able to laugh at all the crazy looks you’re getting. But at first, the shy hoopers among us can be quite put off by all this unwanted attention. Just think of all those onlookers as muggles (harry potter term meaning “non-magic folk”). It’s kind of like seeing everyone naked, but with less nudity.

And if those awkward looks turn into something less friendly, be aware of your surroundings and don’t hesitate to move on to greener pastures. There are some creepy folks out there, so keep an eye out.

My Bad: 

This is one of those moments that can potentially destroy any flow, and cause you to quietly run away with your tail between your legs. But there’s no need to feel like you’ve killed someone’s baby polar bear.

We all make mistakes, especially when learning new tricks. And that means the hoop will go flying from time to time. This happened to me in a big way a couple years ago in Union Square, and let’s just say the victim wasn’t ecstatic. But instead of playing it off (because EVERYONE will know it’s you as they’ve been secretly watching you), simply pick the hoop back up and offer a heartfelt apology. Most times, people will understand, and sometimes even offer a friendly chuckle to reassure you. This moment can be your worst nightmare, or you can turn it into an opportunity to make a new friend.

People are Oblivious:

There is no excuse for other people’s stupidity. And this will probably happen to you more often than you can imagine, and in situations you can’t understand. But the good news is we can laugh about this later!

But seriously, people are going to walk into you while on their phones, tablets, or simply daydreaming. Just remember that it’s not you, it’s them, and try not to let it kill your flow. Just brush them off, pick your hoop up, and get back to being awesome.

The scariest aspect of this is when people walk into you while fire hooping. Not that fire hooping in public is a good idea, but it happens, and people are still completely blind. I mean how do you not see my flaming giant hoop?!

Learn to Say No: 

This one is pretty self-explanatory. People will want to use your LED hoop. And people will not understand exactly how expensive your LED hoop is. And you will constantly be shooting down their dreams.

Firstly, they will ask where they can buy an LED hoop (at which point send them our way!), and how much it costs. Then they will be in disbelief at the price. Silly muggles!

Second, they might ask to borrow your LED hoop. Unless your an extremely generous person, you’ll probably have to put them down gently. This is clearly the most difficult when a wide-eyed child approaches you with this request. It might be hard, but do not relinquish your hoop. Stay strong!

A Confidence Builder: 

Now this is the reason we schlep all those hoops out to the park. And honestly, this is the response you’re going to get more often than not. And it feels great to be appreciated!

You must learn to take all this praise with grace and modesty. After you are done, it is not a terrible thing to take a quick bow for your adoring fans, and to thank them for their praise.

People will also come up to your afterwards to tell you how awesome you are. So be prepared to interact with others, and try to present a positive face. At this point you’re representing hoopers everywhere.

Those are just a few of the peculiarities associated with hooping in public. Feel free to share your stories and experiences with us either in the comments section, or on our Facebook Page. And much thanks to the Hooper Problems Tumblr for assembling these great Perks and Problems!

Here’s an example of what our video responses look like. This one was an impromptu response to a post by Kelly Kerner on Hoop City. You can check out the original post here: http://www.hoopcity.ca/forum/topics/mini-hoop-meltdown

As you can tell, we tried to both display the move in question and attempt to explain any subtleties about the move that we thought would be useful. Obviously, if this project progresses, we would love your input as to how we can make the responses more useful and instructive.

So is this something ya’ll would be interested in seeing? Let us know! Send us questions about anything hooping related, including moves, tubing, and general suggestions. We’ll get those videos out as soon as we can!

-Photo by Angélicaâ Diaz