Hooping… Architecture… Whatnot…
Khan and Isa found this contest where people photoshopped the image of Spiral and I on the playa. WTF?! This is awesome, and totally confusing. People put some serious time into this and I have no idea who they are. Gotta love the internet. The original photo is by our friend Barry J Holmes.
Follow this link to Fark for more. There are 32 different versions.
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!
I’m all excited. I just learned a new skill. I can now draw animated diagrams for future Isopop posts and primarily for the DVD. You can learn more about creating animations in Photoshop: here. We had wanted to incorporate moving diagrams since the inception of the project. I had been imagining dry illustrator type graphics which would have been very clean and modern, but really wouldn’t add life to the project.
Well my dear friend Ariane Conrad, co-author of The Hooping Book, is currently working on the written version of The Story of Stuff. The Story of Stuff was a video by Annie Leonard which has been viewed millions of times, has brilliant ideas and employs nicely done animated graphics. These little graphics give the video life while concisely sharing more complicated ideas. If you haven’t seen the video, it’s a must, recently falling under attack by the likes of Glenn Beck.
Back to my story… Lauren saw The Story of Stuff and recognized the opportunity for me to sieze upon my hand drawing skills. Given the white background we were imagining for the DVD, the pieces all seemed to fit. Tonight I created my first little test animation. Many more to come.
Late one night at the Flow Toys space, Spiral and I decided to take a break from shooting the Hoop Technique DVD and jam out. The dance floor has amazing lighting that transforms the space in an instant and was even more dramatic on the enormous backdrop we had setup. We kept the cameras rolling. Here’s a clip from that night.
This is an original track by Janaka Selekta & Madhu Rose. I’ve been in love with this track for months and am honored that they have allowed us to use it here and on the DVD. Madhu & Janaka have been working on this track for 3 years. The DVD will feature a recently remastered version with new vocals from Madhu.
view the clip on YouTube: here
Scarlet Harlot, Fire Shoot from Robb Pope on Vimeo.
This is some footage shot and edited by our friend Robb Pope, of Dijjital Productions. Robb will be editing the Hoop Technique DVD for Spiral and I. I’m actually upstairs in Spiral’s room right now while she’s downstairs in the Flow Toys dance studio rehearsing lines. I better get back before she realizes I’m up here screwing off.
Angel Leopold and Michael Tam Wood spin fire for the cameras at Abundant Sugar, LA.
Cinematography by Yoni Sandler, Robb Pope, and John Schaller
Editing and motion graphics by Robb Pope
Directed by Angel Leopold and Robb Pope
All footage shot at 720p at 60fps
Scarlet Harlot, Silks Dance pt1 from Robb Pope on Vimeo.
Last night Spiral, Lauren and I headed over to Brecken’s new place at the Vulcan to video her demo footage for the Hoop technique DVD. Brecken is loving the Vulcan so far and the place seems to fit her well. She has put a lot of work into polishing up her private space, even installing a brand new hardwood floor and giving it a slick new paint job. It’s great that we have another hooper immersed in the depth of the Vulcan tech approach to object manipulation.
While sitting in one of the Vulcan courtyards, we were talking to Sidecar Tommy of Beat’s Antique. I mentioned digging the “53 – Sidecar” track that he had posted on Soundcloud. (http://soundcloud.com/tracks/search?q=53+-+sidecar ) He asked which version I was talking about, his version or MiMosa’s. Although I posted the track here a week or two ago, I hadn’t realized that there are two versions of the song. This morning I looked it up and here they are. I appreciate being able to see the track in progress. Can’t wait to buy a copy once it is actually released.
At the moment, I think I dig Tommy’s version just a bit more than MiMosa’s but both are killer. They describe it nicely, the track is “pretty and dirty.”
MiMosa’s Version
53 – Sidecar T0MMY n’ Tigran MiM0SA by TigranMiMoSA
Tommy’s Version
53 – sidecar by sidecartommy
Spiral introduced me to this video the other night while we were taking a break from scripting the Hoop Technique DVD (which is an incredible amount of work BTW). This is stolen right from her favorites. This guy is amazing. He moves in such a strange, almost alien-like way and the style is so original. A new favorite for sure.
Speaking of Poki… hey man, are you back from your european tour or are you still out wandering the ethos?
Ember & Poki perform The Crank at Oregon Country Fair 2009 as part of Splice.
Last Wednesday, Spiral and I had a thrilling opportunity. We got to shoot video footage with a 3d stop motion camera. This is essentially the same setup used for the Matrix when Trinity jumps in the air, freezing in position while the camera rotates around. We’re very excited and curious to see what the footage looks like. Although it might be challenging to edit it into the Hoop Technique DVD, we’re hoping that the footage will be usable. If not, we’re going to have some dope YouTube clips :)
The setup consisted of 1 Canon 5d Mark II shooting video footage and 36 Canon Rebels mounted on an 18ft semi circle, each shooting a still image simultaneously. The team working on the footage has created software that automatically combines all the still images into a video clip. This clip can then be edited in with the footage from the 5d.
The effect that can theoretically be achieved is like this scene from the Matrix. Skip to :44 to see the jump.
What may be very interesting about the footage is that both fire and led leave tracers in an image. You can see the persistent image of an antispin flower in the image below. All of the Canon Rebel still cameras were set to 1 sec exposure meaning we were leaving a lot of trails. If all goes as planed we will appear to freeze in a 3d cloud of tracers as the camera rotates around us.
The entire setup is still pretty experimental so no one really knows if we got anything usable. We’re crossing our fingers that everything went as planned. I’m sure whatever comes of it will be very interesting.
Sending a big thanks to Dai for the images and Tuana for the unbelievable opportunity to shoot with this camera setup.
It has now been officially announced and I am stoked! Spiral and I are making an instructional DVD together. I could not be happier with who I am working with. I have such a deep admiration for Spiral’s skills as a performer, technician, and instructor. All modesty aside, this will be a groundbreaking project.
This project started strangely enough on Jewel’s and Scotts front porch during the Hoop Path Retreat. After a few drinks sitting with just Spiral and I, Scott suggested we make a DVD together. I glanced up at Spiral mildly inquisitive and there was a glimmer of possibility in her eye. A few weeks later I gave her a call and here we are today.
Months of planning have gone into the DVD already and we have been dumping our whole into the project since our first shoot at Burning Man. I can tell you, making a DVD is no small or inexpensive task. With me working a full time job and Spiral continuing with her intense performance and training schedule, it has definitely been a lot of work.
The heat really turned up right before HoopCamp. I spent a week getting up at sunrise to shoot through the golden hour of light at sunrise, rushing to work at nine, working a full day, then rushing directly from work to shoot video through the golden hour of light at sunset. Combine that with prepping for my workshop, isopop.com, and other projects as well, it was intense.
The website is now up. I just updated it with screenshots from Shakti Sunfire’s performance, view that here. Shakti is one of the featured performers on the DVD. More exciting updates to come as time permits.
This Thursday evening, Spiral, Lauren and I are having dinner with one of the musicians providing some of the soundtrack. We have high hopes for the DVD soundtrack and are really excited to be working with some very talented artist. If you made it to The Spin Cycle jam you’ve had a taste of what may be to come. More in store…