Day 233 - Twin Love

Right after my reverse three beat weave success I decided to try and tackle the Fountain.  It is another two hoop move that involves moving from a forwards double weave, to a backwards double weave, to a windmill overhead and back into a forwards one.  Three beats are spent in each move to create a fluid motion where the hoops travel across the body and overhead in a circular motion, all the while spinning on the hands.  I must admit this move looked easier than it actually was.

The first tutorial I watched to try and figure it out was by Caroleena, but I didn't find it helpful at all.  In fact I found it really confusing.  So I looked for another one and ended up finding one that was long, but that broke it down in a way that made a bit more sense.  I can't remember who made the tutorial.  The girl explained what each hand had to do individually and that really helped, but I was still really struggling with figuring it out just by watching the tutorial.

The following day I decided to just go outside and work it out for myself.  I took it one step at a time, first teaching myself how to move from the forwards weave into the backwards one.  I tried it one hand at a time, then with both.  That section wasn't too difficult to figure out once I got the hand switches down.  Figuring out how to move from the backwards weave into the windmill was trickier.  The right hand was no problem as no surface switches were necessary, but my left hand kept getting tangled somewhere.  I had to really think about where my hand needed to get to in order to start the windmill portion.

After keeping at it for awhile it finally clicked initially, and I was able to begin to put all the moves together, surface switches and all.  It still took quite a bit more practice to get it right consistently though.  My hands kept tangling up and my hooping kept knocking each other all over the place.  Quite often I'd get the correct switch from one hand but not the other hand, which would cause me to knock my hoops and drop them.  This move took a lot of concentration and coordination.

But finally, FINALLY, I got it!  It started coming more consistently.  It's a funny move though, because I would get on a roll and do it smoothly for a few minutes, then I'd stop and when I started again I wouldn't be able to do it.  It was somewhat frustrating!  Now after a few days of drilling it, I can do it quite fluidly.  I do find one part still a bit tricky, it is the part I had a hard time figuring out where my left hand needs to move through the backwards weave and into the windmill.  I'm working on my wrists but the hoop still goes a bit wonky.  Still I am getting it which is awesome!  This move does take a lot of concentration though to keep up with all the turning and the surfaces switches going on at the same time.

The Fountain is a really cool move.  I have to say it looks just awesome.  I love that I can incorporate it into my twin flow.

I am really addicted to my twin hoops right now.  Now that I'm learning more of these types of moves, I am finding a lot more flow with the twins and am finally starting to feel like I can dance with them more.

Here are some double/twin videos I've taken recently.  One is from a few weeks ago with my minis, and the other is from the other day after I learned the Fountain and started using it in my dance.