Moment: Hula hooping comes full circle

Thick summer night falls and insects begin to sing as a dizzying display of lights emanates from the backyard of a Missionary Ridge neighborhood. With bare toes digging into soft grass, nearly half a dozen members of the Chattanooga Hoop Group find their rhythm spinning in circles to music from a boom box, some practicing for an upcoming performance and others just having fun.

Dancing in the center of the group is Jess Boyangiu, a 36-year-old software consultant who recently moved to the Chattanooga area.

Boyangiu first hula hooped as a child but was reintroduced to the plastic ring while living in Brooklyn, N.Y. After relocating to the South two years ago, Boyangiu missed her hooping community and social interaction, so she decided to post a listing on a website called Meetup.com. In a matter of days she had a weekly group where people of all ages and skill levels congregate to learn new tricks and share their skills with one another.

"Experiencing the group resonance by being around other dancers and experiencing their flow is what it's all about," Boyangiu explained. "It is an addiction - it is the addiction, no drugs involved."

Hoop dancing has ebbed and flowed over the decades and dates back to ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures. In the 1950s it found a resurgence, and seems as if it may do so again using modified styles and new technology.

There are many different forms of hooping now including flow, fitness, performance and dance. All of these involve specific parts of the body having the option to use multiple hoops at the same time, and dancers even perform at night using fire rings and hoops with embedded LED lights.

The actual hoops used are also quite different from one you would find in the toy aisle of a local superstore. The first thing most people notice is that they are larger in diameter, heavier and much more durable, being made of polyethylene. From there the modifications are endless: personalizing them with ribbon, a lining of grip tape, sequential LEDs that create colored patterns, and prices ranging up to hundreds of dollars.

One flow artist who joined the group when it first started and now excels at all of these forms of hooping is Shawnee Crumley. The 25-year-old unexpectedly fell in love with hooping and is now addicted.

"The first time I saw it I kinda made fun of it, I thought they were showing off," Crumley said. "But you don't care once you're in it, you're so all about it that it doesn't matter what other people think."

Emily Averitt, an employee of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and fellow Hoop Group member, reasserted Crumley's feelings.

"I truly believe no one can get inside a hoop and not have a big cheesy grin on their face. Everyone should try it," she said.

Moment is a weekly column by the Times Free Press photo staff that explores the seldom-told stories of our region.

photo Sara Jane Fry practices for an upcoming performance with other members of the Chattanooga Hoop Group on Aug. 28, 2014. The group can be found on Meetup.com and welcomes beginners/newcomers at their weekly gathering.

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