Meet One Tribe Hooping Ambassador Brandy Kimbrell
The move shown here is an easy illusion. The hoop looks as if it's making a complete spin in your hand but in fact it's just a flick of the wrist. Start the hoop by spinning it like a lasso above your head. Once the hoop lands in your hand, grab it and as you make that circle around your head, you'll slowly turn your wrist down then back up. You have to focus on keeping the hoop in that same horizontal plane. Make sure your moves are fast(er) and tight!
Interview with Brandy Kimbrell
One Tribe Apparel: Hi Brandy, it's great having you on the One Tribe team as our hooping ambassador. Could you give us a quick introduction like where you're from, what you're into, how you discovered hooping?
Brandy: I'm from Jacksonville, Florida and was lucky enough to stumble into the scene almost 4 years ago. It started as a simple way for my to get off the couch and move. I never expected it to turn into more but the hoop taught me to go with the flow, so I have. I never fought the urge to take it with me everywhere and it's finally paid off in a thousand ways.

One Tribe Apparel: When you started hooping, how long did it take til you felt you were making serious progress and could perform some of the more advanced techniques?
Brandy: It was honestly over a year before anyone ever muttered the word flow to me. I had been working on back rolls for months. A trick that seemed to be one of the hardest possible at the time.. So in my head- I was already killing it. I never looked for the approval of others. They didn't have to put the effort and time into my practice like I had, so how could they judge where I was in my dance? Thankfully my willingness to connect with every single soul I can, has fast forwarded me into this position where I'm lucky enough to reach out to HOOPERS all over the planet.
One Tribe Apparel: How often do you practice?
Brandy: I started out practicing 30 min to an hour a day for years. Some days more and every now and then I'd miss a day. Now that I've gotten further in my practice I've been able to flow more and have structured practice less. That doesn't exactly move my skills forward but it's why I started this whole thing in the first place. To disconnect and just dance.
For people new to the hooping community, can you give us an overview on what the vie is like. Are there competitions and meetups, how much of it is a part of festival culture? The hooping community is huge and ever growing! If you look, you're more than likely to find a local meet up or fitness class at a local gym. Aside from that you'll be sure to find a hooper in every single corner of every single music festival. It's where my passion was first ignited and will always be refilled. As far as competitions- hooping.org holds a hooping idol every year. Similar to American idol, you create videos to coincide with the weeks theme. With the use of social media there is no excuse to not feel somewhat connected to millions of hoopers.
Brandy: Tutorials on YouTube alongside flow videos is where I spent hours of my time and tons of my thought space. The best is just to get out there with your hoop, turn on your favorite tunes and just spin! There's no right or wrong way to do it. It's just a hula hoop!
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