Dreaming Circles in Nicaragua

Watch our Nicaragua Hooping Video HERE.

The combination of traveling somewhere new, an obsession with hooping and hanging out with someone whom I respect, admire and inspires me has done amazing things to my brain. I am absolutely buzzing! The thoughts, the words, the ideas, the poetry - it's all racing through me. Gotta get it all out. That's what this blog is good for...

I just got back from an exciting adventure in Central America with Bags! He is currently living in Nicaragua for three months and working with Performers Without Borders. PWB's main goal is to "teach performing arts to vulnerable children in countries of high child poverty." I got to see firsthand how amazing this project is! It seems to be truly effective and I hope to work on a project like it one day.

Cutie at the Barrileta School

During the first two days of my trip, I went to the Barrileta School where they've been teaching hoop, poi, juggling, music, stilt walking, diablo, staff spinning, acro, etc. for about a month and a half. The students performed 2 shows for an audience including other students, the PWB team, teachers and parents of the community. The first show included some traditional Nicaraguan dances as well as clowning acts and circus arts they've learned from PWB. What a fun, funny and vibrant culture they have! 

The next day they performed only the various circus skills they've learned while working with PWB. I was completely impressed! Stilt walking and juggling/hooping at the same time?! Full-on 6 person balanced pyramids with someone standing on top juggling?! Epicness. They seemed really happy, confident and stoked to be building these skills. One of the teenagers read aloud a letter she had written (in English) to the team, expressing their gratitude for the time spent teaching them such amazingly empowering hobbies. It was extremely touching and meaningful! 

Bags hoopin' at the cool park we found in Matagalpa 

I had fun on the second day during the free-time just hooping, dancing and playing with the kids. They were so excited to see the team everyday, running up, hugging and jumping on the team members. The kids had so much love to give. Even though I couldn't communicate with them very much because my Spanish is basically non-existent, I could still interact with them through body language, facial expression and play. This type of interaction helped me realize the universality of human nature. We are just people. We're all humans. We all want the same things in life. We all just want to love and be loved. Somehow my brief interactions with these kids exposed me to this realization in a whole new way.

After that project was complete, we headed to Matagalpa, a mountain town in central Nicaragua. We wandered through the town, soaking it all in...exploring the parks, the cathedral and the shops. We drank cold Tonas everyday, the Nicaraguan beer. Ate the standard meal of beans and rice with plantains at the "comedors" (dining room) - which literally felt like you were eating in someone's living room. There was usually a mom-like character cooking your food for you (delicious!), possibly some bookshelves with family pictures on them, a TV on in the corner and a few tables with modest table clothes covering them. We drank coffee locally grown in that region and ate frozen bananas covered in chocolate. YUM!  

One of my favorites days was when we hiked to the top of a mountain overlooking the city. I felt like we were super resourceful travelers! Bags had done some research in an outdated guidebook which mentioned a Centre that provided hike outlines. We could have hired a guide to take us but what's the fun in that? Through asking various people and looking at a map, we happened to find the Centre with the brochures and picked out a few hikes we wanted to do. The brochures were in broken English with instructions like: "When you get to the water pump, go under the roof covering the pump, find the side of the pump the handle is on and then go through an opening in the fence on that side." Huh? We were sure to get lost but we were up to the challenge and getting lost is half the fun anyway! 

On our hike

And we did. We got lost, had to backtrack, had to ask locals in broken Spanish which way to go, accidentally walked through people's property with angry dogs barking at us, laughed at the blank stares coming from village children as we walked by in crazy circus clothes and hoops strapped to our backpack....the usual :) But what an adventure! We romped through mountains, forests and villages. I saw a snake! We saw huge beautiful multicolored butterflies and all kinds of lovely trees. There were farm animals in the villages - chickens, cows, donkeys, horses, dogs and cats everywhere. When we made it to the top, it was so worth it! We went straight up to the viewing tower, cracked open a bottle of wine I brought from home and ate some much needed snacks. The view was spectacular! 

We made it to the top!

We had super intense and wildly satisfying hoop sessions as well. Before coming to visit, Bags told me he had 12 pages of new hoop material he had thought up! 12 pages! Swoon :) We only touched on a fraction of the material but still covered many epic partner moves that came from that brilliant brain of his. When we juggle-partner poi-hoop together, it makes me feel like I can do anything! Like I am an invincible super hero....a hooper hero! It is a feeling like none I have ever experienced and I actually remember feeling it the first time I met him in San Diego years ago. We went to the grass in OB to have a play b/c he was in town to teach workshops. Without actually explaining his partner Z-Spin sequence to me, he just started doing it with me and it was like I already knew the moves and their order even though I had never done them before. I remember being stupefied by this. You can imagine how this synergy has been intensified by the month we spent playing together in England and the countless hours I have spent practicing while away from him. I have to say I am proud of my progression. When we came back to play in Nicaragua, it was like we never left each other. I have never met someone who makes me want to practice so much! He really makes me want to get better and I feel like I am instantly better just from sharing the same airspace as him :)

View of Matagalpa

We shot some video in another beautiful scenic location overlooking Matagalpa - HERE it is. We are trying to create awareness and interest in our cross country US Workshop tour from June - September this summer! Woohoo! I will be focusing on that project now that the Burlesque Circus show is over. Oh and how could I forget to mention...The Burlesque Circus was an EPIC display of beautifully crafted performance art expressing endless passion for the fusion of sideshow and strip tease! We sold out both nights, rocked the house with inspiring performance, raised money for the US tour and created rippling feelings of empowerment for everyone involved. Thank you for coming if you were able to make it! Some of my favorite feedback includes:

The Burlesque Circus

"...this show was so amazing!!!! By far the best $20 I've probably ever spent. All of the performances were so detailed, emotional, sexy, powerful! I was especially inspired by seeing all the beautiful body types being so clearly valued in burlesque. I'm a bit closer to getting on stage myself because of what I saw at your show! Thank you!" - Keli Lalita

"Thank you for putting on such an amazing, sold out show last night! All of the performers gave me a new definition of what is possible in the arena of dance, movement, and expression. I was frequently at a loss for words. Can't wait for the next show!" - Daniel Walsh

Needless to say it was a success and I can't wait for the next one! Mark your calendars for the weekend of June 14th-15th!

What's coming up this month? Anah Hoopalicious is coming down to SD THIS weekend to teach 2 days of workshops! 

THIS Saturday night is Breaking The Chains: A burlesque Benefit for Autism at Sunset Temple. 

Saturday, March 16th is Bobby Burlesque's Fantasy: Masquerade Show in LA! BUY your tickets asap!

April has all kinds of goodies as well! Stayed connected to know about all of it.