LOLPS Students Hoop It Up

Nov 30, 2016

Meghan Robinson, a local artist and dancer, along with storyteller and musician Laurie Clark, gave kids at Land O'Lakes Public School (LOLPS) a fun and musical introduction to hula hooping on Monday morning.

Robinson, who lives in Clarendon, taught students the basics of “hooping” while Clark, who lives in McDonald's Corners, played a wide range of instruments, creating different soundscapes for Robinson to interpret with her hula hoop.

Robinson started the workshop by dancing while Clark told an Algonquin tale, with musical interludes, that got the kids excited to try the hooping themselves.

The students really took to the lessons and were dancing around the gym in no time, spinning the hoops around their arms, hips, and necks and laughing out loud, all the while trying to impress the teachers by their newfound dance skills.

started hooping 4.5 years ago and has since started offering courses in the area. A couple of teachers from LOLPs took Robinson's course and thought it would be a great idea to bring her to the school to workshop the dancing with the students.

This hooping workshop was part of Blue Skies In The Community, an outreach program that has been fostering the arts, artists, and musicians in the area since 1988.

Blue Skies In The Community has been responsible for Sheesham and Lotus, Craig Cardiff, and ukelele master James Hill visiting LOLPS in the past and performing for the kids.

Thanks to guest photographer Tyson Ross for taking some of the photos for the article.