The wheel of fire

I’ve met a lot of interesting people through hula hooping. My instructor often invites her performance artist friends to come to class, and they bring varying levels of hoop skill, but what they really add to class is their incredible enthusiasm. They throw themselves into the hoop like I’ve never had the courage to do. One guy, I can’t even describe how he did it, but he leapt across the room doing aerial spins, swinging his sparkling hoop the whole way. I couldn’t imagine my body flying like that.

My hoop instructor, Mercedes, invited me to a full-moon ceremony on Sunday night. She said she’d be hooping with her fire hoop. A custom hula hoop is nothing like the flimsy, plastic store-bought ones. They’re made of plumber’s tubing to custom fit your size. They’re heavier and more sturdy, which actually makes them easier for adults to use. A fire hoop is like the custom hoop, except there are 12 inch prongs sticking off of it. Each prong ends in a poi, which is like a wick for a fire ball. Mercedes lit all 8 of her fire pois, and away she went, twirling, jumping, bending, twisting, and dancing.

There were many other fire performers that night also. It seemed like the point of the full moon ceremony was to give everyone a chance to drum in a group and to perform their fire dances. There were at least twelve drummers, probably more, and there were more fire performers than I could count. They each took turns, lighting off each other’s fire, and about three or four people performed at one time in the oval the spectators made.

As I watched, I kept thinking, “This is it. I’m leaving Chicago in three weeks. I may never see so many fire dancers at once ever again.” I keep saying I can’t wait to start my next new adventure, but it hurts to leave my home in Chicago too. I think it hurts more than I expected it to. I thought I was so eager to leave that I’d think wistfully for a moment then move on. It’s not happening that way at all.

I have to learn fire hooping to entertain myself. Insert smiley face, because I’m not really known for my expert coordination. Adding fire is just a disaster waiting to happen. But I think one day I’ll try anyway.