Heather’s hoop path began in the middle of a Coconut tree plantation on the tropical island of Jamaica. Here as young girl growing up in a foreign culture she entertained the swinging palms with her hoop dance spending hours immersed in swaying and spinning in the warm breezes. She knew that here was her magical space and center and it would take over 30 years for the hoop to come full circle and propel her back into the spin.

The dance of the islands was part of her earliest movement memories as she studied African inspired drumming and dance lessons with the Jamaica National Dance Company in Port Antonio, Jamaica. From her humble roots as a daughter of expatriate artists in a beautiful tourist town in the turbulent late 60’s and 70’s, she landed back in Florida and then New Jersey where she took the prerequisite ballet class and danced in a few high school musicals choreographed by her older sister. Once arriving in California at the beautiful UC Santa Barbara, she studied Cultural Anthropology where she focused on cross-cultural expressions of dance, music and art. From there she worked and traveled and ended up in Santa Cruz. Feeling like a fish out of water, she jumped into the turquoise waters of the UCSC pool and swam in the Masters Swim Program for over 6 years while challenging her body with local triathlons. Through-out her training she balanced the endurance with a daily stretching program that incorporated stability ball stretches, Yamuna body rolling and her own version of Water Yoga. Eventually she went on to get Certified Massage Therapy license from Monterey Peninsula College. For many years she worked her body and spirit hard as an on and off-site Caterer and Wedding/Event Coordinator. It wasn’t until she took a break to do a Yoga retreat in Hawaii that she even saw the new hoops or a hoop dancer. Serendipitously, a friend connected her to a local teacher allowing her to finally spin back into her center of passion again, rekindling her love of dance, music and rhythm. Her path now is one of daily hoop practice combined with teaching and spreading the word about the amazing benefits and joys of hoop dance. She wants to inspire you move into the hoop with MOVEHOOPS!

Heather’s joyful, poetic teaching style leaves you feeling energized, refreshed and renewed. She provides a full-circle class that starts with her gentle circle movement warm-up, leads into an aerobic movement segment, continues with the hoop movement instruction, leads into a group exercise, a hoop dance jam and a yoga-hoop inspired stretch and cool down. During her hoop movement instruction, moves are broken down into simple steps with detailed body and hand positioning tips along with repetition of the moves progression in both fast and slow execution. Tips are given for move transitions and dance flow to awaken each student’s creative hoop dance expression. Time is allowed for both group and individual instruction with attention given to each student’s unique learning process. Her teaching assistant, Joanie, contributes her hoop dance enthusiasm and extensive dance background to provide easy instruction, positive encouragement and abundant energy to each student in every class.
We both welcome you to challenge and strengthen your body, free your mind and express yourself as you MOVE INTO THE HOOP!