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May, 2010:

New Major Lazer & Diplo mixtape (free download)

I’m downloading as we speak and can’t wait to hear these tracks. This is gonna have some amazing tracks guaranteed. I found out about this release originally from The Hype Machine.

LAZERPROOF TRACKLISTING
1. Bulletproof (Nacey Remix ft. Matt Hemerlein)
2. Colourless Artibella
3. I’m Not Your Lemonade + Heroes ‘N‘ Villains Remix ft. Gucci Mane
4. Independent Kill ft. Candi Redd
5. Keep It Fascinating
6. Magic (Falling Soldiers Dub)
7. In 4 The Kill Pon De Skream
8. Houstatlantavegas Pains ft Drake
9. Tigerlily (DYWHAP Blend) ft. Rusko
10. Can’t Stop Now (Armor Love Remix)
11. Quicksand (Mad Decent 2010 Rerub) ft. Amanda Blank
12. Cover My Eyes (Costra Nostra Edit)
13. I Said It (Major Lazer Dubplate) ft. Opal
14. Hold Yuh (Double Dubplate) ft. Gyptian

Download: http://sub.maddecent.com/lazerproof/

Spiral- Flow Show

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Spiral‘s recent piece for the Flowshow. The Flowshow, produced by Khan Wong, is an annual showcase of prop manipulators set in a formal dance theatre environment.

Spiral’s piece was of the highlights of the entire show. Consistently pushing the boundary of the art, she continues to develop and cross pollinate her hoop dance skills with formal circus training. And as always, her precision is unparalleled. She did trim about a minute of the most impressive portion of the piece.

Since we’ve been working so intensely on the DVD I was able to witness a lot of her process. I have yet to fully create a solo choreographed piece that I can run through over and over, dialing it in further wirth each pass. I don’t know of anyone who works harder and perfecting their performance as Spiral and it’s an inspiration for me to take my performance further.

Or… maybe not. I’ve seen what she put’s into her process. In order to take this as far as she does, you have to be fully committed, training hours everyday. It might not be for me. I always try and weigh the value of my performances as a contribution to my friends, my community and hooping as a whole. That needs to be compared to the value I create through blogging, diagramming, personal connections, etc. If I’m going to continue performing it’s important to me that I do it to the highest standard and maybe that’s too costly. This is something I continue to wrestle with.

spiraldancer — May 18, 2010 — http://www.spiralcircusarts.com
My hoop piece for the recent Flow Show. The last minute+ of this act is a work in progress so, in the interest of further development and creative preservation, I trimmed some of the transitions. I hope you enjoy. Thanks to Rich Porter for camera work & support.

Catching Up With Life

Life has been insane. I’m finally starting to feel as if I am leading my life again rather than my life leading me. It’s good to take control and with that I’m recommitting myself to Isopop.com. I have a back log of stories and inspiration that I want to share. In the last 6 weeks I taught a new workshop at Firedrums and Hoop Convergence 2010, merging Hoop Technique theory with an idea I’m calling “micro-accelerations”, I participated in a new FireDrums DVD, performed at the FlowShow, taught a weekend long Hoop Technique workshop, premiered the Hoop Technique Trailer at a Flowtoy’s party, all while holding down a 9-6 architecture job. During all of that craziness I’ve spent a lot of time at Flowtoys working in the editing room while watching some of the most talented spinners in the world geek out. It’s been intense to say the least; insane to be more accurate

The timeline is a bit blurred in my memory. Lack of sleep does that to me. It also tends to make me more emotional and handle life’s little bumps far less well. Luckily my friends and family have been patient with me, realizing that this madness will subside and normalcy will return. Thank you to each of you.

I guess I can start with the Flowshow. Neither Brecken nor I could fully commit to a detailed choreographed piece so we strategized for maximum impact and minimum investment of time. She’s been touring the country with Bax of the Hoop Path and her schedule has been packed. Coordinating was challenging. Our piece was basically a hip-hop style hoop battle. We got a kick out of the fact that she and I each won a Hoopie this year, male and female hooper’s of the year. We were hoping to hang our Hoopie’s on gold chains and drop them in a chalice at the beginning of the piece as a joke but decided against it (not to mention it hasn’t come in the mail yet, Philo ;)

It was great for me to rehearse with Brecken. She and I have spent hours talking about how we are to some extent opposite in our pursuits. She’s looking for fluid expression and dance. I’m usually trying to express precise platonic patterns. On top of that, it’s so different collaborating with her than with Spiral. Spiral and I share similar artistic visions. Brecken has a different approach and admirably hold’s true to her artistic vision. It’s a good exercise for me to be tested by someone I respect as much as her. The piece went well, not perfect, but respectable. I wrote a bit on that and you can see the video: here

I’ll continue to catch up with everything in the coming days. My blog topic to do list:
-Flowtoys
-Spiral’s Flowshow Piece
-Thomas Johansson
-The Glide-Cam (something I built)
-The Hoop Compass (a gizmo I built and was playing with at HoopCon)
-Hoop Convergence
-FireDrums
-DVD update
-Yuta
-Okotampe Contact Juggling
-Lightning In A Bottle

Check back soon!

Drink The Sea – Glitch Mob

Shakti Sunfire – Elephant Journal

Have I ever mentioned…. Shakti Sunfire is damn gorgeous and brilliant. If not, I should say it more often. She’s recently started writing for elephant journal and her post today was on, “what is hooping to me?” She’s doing a lot of things at the moment that I’m excited to see come to fruition. One of the statements in her post today that struck me most was her assessment of the process that many of us experience as we’re sucked into the hoop.

The pattern at-a-glance is this: discovery > unbridled joy > attention and affirmation of others (input) > community building via proliferation and sharing (output) > radical self-acceptance (centering) > inspiration > growth > input > output > growth > input > output > growth…and it spirals upward and onward…

More from Shati Sunfire on Elephant Journal: here

Firedrums 2010 – Lester and Rich

I’m excited that Lester is coming to Hoop Camp this year. Just home from Firedrums, and tired as hell. Hopefully I’ll find time to write more tomorrow.

Krazy Baldhead “The 4th Movement (The Glitch Mob Remix)”

I’m pretty sure this track, which was released today, is available through XLR8R exclusively. 9 Minutes long…. this song will take you through a spin. I’m bangin my head in the editing room lovin this track.

Download the track from XLR8R: here

Entertain – Barry J. Holmes

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Hahaha :) I love it! Barry J. Holmes, the amazing photographer who took the playa shot that won hooping.org’s image of the year is publishing a book. The shot will be included in the book. A bunch of A-list hollywood celebrities then us….

This is a collection of my favorite celebrity portraits I’ve shot over the last 8 years. Mostly shot on Location in the USA and the UK, you’ll find a great cross section of images from actors to directors.

You can purchase a copy of the new book : here