Casandra Tanenbaum Hoop Class Review

Casandra of www.hoopsofly.com hoop dance instructor out of West Palm Beach, FL came out to Gainesville to check out Gainesville's community hoop classes. Here is an excerpt from her review about Jodi's Hoop and Health intermediate hoop dance class on Tuesdays (Thursdays are Jodi's Beginner's Hoop Dance Class):

Jodi: “THE GURU”
Class level: Intermediate
Tuesdays 6pm at Balanced Body

Warm-up: I only caught one warm up, was late the first time (DOH! Couldn’t find it!) Jodi puts her considerable background in physical therapy and pilates to great work in the warm-up, targeting and stretching all the little spots below and above the waist that we use so often, including the psoas. YAY! I now know how to stretch my psoas! To get our heartrate up, she distributes blindfolds and encourages us to focus on different parts of the body while we hoop on the core, blind. I am not at all surprised at this incorporation of Hoop Path technique: Jodi is legally blind herself, and this accounts for a large part of her own physical awareness. She REALLY feels movement, in a way we can only barely begin to while blindfolded. And her awareness shows in her hooping.

Instruction: Jodi provides impeccable attention to the detail of movement. She describes and demonstrates before inviting her students to begin. She provides expert one on one attention, and honors the input of other students. In her class, I finally learned how to pull my leg out, and replace it… with BOTH LEGS, and IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. In 15 minutes. WOW.

Class structure: tight! Hooray! Maybe I should be honest here- I am a STICKLER for STRUCTURE. I walked out of a ‘fusion dance class’ that had absolutely no structure to it, pissed as all get out. My background is dance (ballet, tap, jazz, modern, African), and all dance classes have STRUCTURE. After you take your first class in a new style you know EXACTLY what to expect in terms of the movement of the class. THANK YOU for your structure JODI! All classes progress like so: warm-up, instruction, practice, integration with other moves (combination building), hoop jam, cool down, closing meditation. Her structure is SO reminiscent of the Hoop Girl workout it is uncanny. I love it.

Class environment: Big, carpeted, space in a pilates studio (they move the pilates equiptment, which looks like it must be fun, too). Big mirror. I didn’t expect to like the carpet, but I did like it: it cushioned my jumps, and a hoop falling on carpet sounds very different than a hoop falling on wood or tile.

Class critique: Only one, and this is a kind of universal critique for all three classes. In each of the classes, you pick your spot in the room at the beginning of class, and you rarely MOVE from that general spot. So I’m not getting a different spatial recognition, I’m not trying out the moves in unfamiliar territory, until the Hoop Jam. Other than that, the class was JUST RIGHT!

A few closing comments: Jodi has a ton more teaching experience than Michal and Claudia put together, that’s just the way it is. Her lifestyle lends itself to specific, detailed verbal description, and since I am an auditory learner I found myself most comfortable with her style of instruction. All three are good teachers, and all three have students who like their classes very much. And ALL THREE play EXCELLENT MUSIC. This made me VERY HAPPY. I am so grateful for the opportunity to come and learn from each of them

excerpt from Casandra Tanenbaum review