ABOUT BETTY CONTINUED...

Before founding Betty Hoops Dance Therapy® in 1998, Betty trained as a professional chef at the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating, she moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1991, where she was a chef at Pinons restaurant. She fell in love with the mountains and all outdoor sports. She did a lot of long distance running and summited a number of 14 thousand foot peaks. She also loves to snowboard, cross country ski and snow shoe in the winters. Her passion for rock climbing has brought her up a first ascent in Zion National Park and many multi pitch routes throughout Colorado, Utah and the Pacific Northwest.

WHY I HOOPI never thought that I’d love to dance as much as I do. My thoughts, sports and actions have always been extreme. Dancing connects me to a more feminine side. Once I step into my hoop, no matter how tired and stressed out I am, I feel like everything is going to be okay. My mind forgets to worry and the stiffness in my body is turned into fluidity from the hoop’s rotation. Without even trying I feel successful, seductive and playful. That feeling stays with me all day and strengthens every time I hoop. Mindfulness in motion can create a fuller quality of life. We can talk for years about what we want to release and manifest but true cultivation and growth toward abundance happens when we awaken to these energies through intentional dance. To place ourselves in a spinning vortex with the intention to heal will increase the momentum of that goal. Our body stores centuries of pain and power. Just like the Earth, we are our biggest resource which becomes depleted as we try to grow. By exhaling toxins and inhaling new life we start to align ourselves with our internal healing resources.
HOW IT ALL STARTED In 1998, I was at a music festival in Colorado and was enticed by a swarm of people trying their shot at the larger hoops. I was horrible, self conscious, physically rigid & barely patient. I kept trying though, because I was intrigued by it’s hypnotic movement. I remember in the early 90’s when I was asked to leave a step aerobics class. I was told that my lack of rhythm was endangering others as I flailed about trying to keep in step with the silly Rockets like routine. My options were now the treadmill or the stationary bike. I wished that there would be some other form of exercise that would be easy & fun, especially for the motivationally & rhythmically challenged. I am still recovering from ‘The Excuse Syndrome’. You may be familiar with it. “No, I couldn’t do that”, “I’m too fat”, “I’m too old”, “I have no rhythm”, “They’re all gonna laugh at me!” Eventually, I progressed from dangerously bad to embarrassing to “This is changing my life, I need to share this with everyone!”
HOOPING WITH INTENTION In 1998 I lived at Liberty Advance, a small yoga retreat near San Diego. I studied Sufism, Whirling Dervish Dance, Tibetan, Tao and Kundalini Yoga. I quickly saw the similarities that Dervish Dance & Hoop Dance shared. I started filling my hoops with the sand, sage and crystals that I found on the land around the retreat center. I bent schedule 40 PVC from a rigid line into a circle, connected both ends & then primed & painted the hoop. I would then sit inside the hoop & write the entire Prajnaparamita, (The Heart Sutra) with permanent ink, on each and every hoop.
PIONEERING MY PROGRAM I started documenting people that I taught. I built a language around hoop techniques found a way to teach anybody in less than 5 minutes. It was obvious that most adults had little patience & confidence but lots of interest in learning. This was due to adults using the toy store hoops which are too small & light. I then targeted about 10 common mistakes that everyone unknowingly did. These quickly corrected poor posture, past injuries & how the body had adapted to them. I developed techniques to release physical & emotional tensions. I brought my findings to physical therapists, dance movement therapists, yoga teachers & energy workers. They offered their time in testing my program. They gave me the scientific & metaphysical validation that my program works on all levels.
THE HEART OF IT In 2001, I decided to move to California to teach my program. The location and weather were great for lots of outdoor and indoor classes as well as the great media exposure. Then my friend called me on September 11th and cried out “Turn on the TV now! On September 12th I decided to move to NYC. I felt that NY was geographically the place where people needed the most healing, laughter and connection to the earth.

I hooped with firemen and policemen who had lost their children, inner city kids who had lost parents and middle aged people who lost their faith. People on Wall Street would grab the hoops slung around my shoulder and asked if they could try them. Construction workers even came down from scaffolding to give it a shot. My hoops brought smiles, laughs and a peaceful feeling to all who tried and watched.

After 10 days of freaking out because there was literally a bomb threat on every bridge that I needed to drive across, I unpacked my duffle & got to work. I offered free workshops at Central Park, Dance Studios, and around Time Square. I went to Brooklyn a lot and taught at random block parties. The hoops brought smiles, laughs & a peaceful feeling to all who tried & watched. Now I just had to figure out how get paid. After about 4 months, some schools & gyms hired me to teach. Bally Total Fitness hired me to teach throughout the tri state area.

THE POWER OF THE MOUNTAINSAlthough I love New Yorkers and my business was growing, I missed the mountains too much. I moved to Boulder, CO in 2003. I taught Hoop
Dance through the Contemplative Psychology Department at Naropa Institute as well as hosted workshops and classes in schools and yoga centers. My return to the mountains gave me new inspiration. I incorporated my love for hooping with snowboarding. And on a friend’s suggestion, I tried hoop running for the Guinness Book in 2005. I now live back in Aspen, CO.