When you're four years old and your mom"s in the circus, Hoola Hooping is just a natural part of life. The best way to relay the conversation I had with Ocean Chandler-Thornton is verbatim.
Kait: "How long have you been Hoola-Hooping?”
Ocean: “Since I was four.”
Kait: “How old are you now?”
Ocean: “Four”
Kait: “What’s the trick? Is it all in the knees?”
Ocean: “I don’t know.”
Kait: “What’s the most you’ve ever done?”
Ocean: “I can’t remember. Wanna go pick some blackberries?”
Despite the dynamic conversation I’d started with Ocean and loads of plump juicy blackberries hanging off the bushes right behind us, I thought it best to get more information from mom, Willow. It turns out Ocean has hoola hoop’ed seven at once and these aren’t ordinary hoolas. They’re weighed down with water which makes them easier to spin and they’re sized for adult performers.
“The hoops weigh as much as her,” says Willow, beaming with pride.
Anyone can learn some circus tricks at Ignited Passion’s weekly circus night. It’s every Tuesday in the Lion’s Pavillion in Maffeo-Sutton Park from 7:30pn until whenever.
Published in the Nanaimo Daily News on August 14, 2004. Copyright (c) Kait Light, kaitsquirks.com, Nanaimo, BC, Canada. All Rights Reserved.
