This article is about the hula-hoop toy. Hoop cheese hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck.
They have been used by children and adults since at least 500 BC. The modern hula hoop was inspired by Australian bamboo hoops. The new plastic version was popularized in 1958 by the Wham-O toy company and became a fad. Native American Hoop Dance is a form of storytelling dance incorporating hoops as props.
These props are used to create both static and dynamic shapes, which represent various animals, symbols, and storytelling elements. The dance is generally performed by a solo dancer with multiple hoops. Though they have been in existence for thousands of years, it is often incorrectly believed that they were invented in the 1950s. Author Charles Panati records a “craze” with the usage of wooden and metal hoops in 14th-century England. He reports that doctors treated patients suffering from pain, dislocated backs, and even heart failure due to hooping.
The hula hoop gained international popularity in the late 1950s, when a plastic version was successfully marketed by California’s Wham-O toy company. In 1957 Joan Anderson brought back a bamboo “exercise hoop” from Australia, and came up with the name Hula Hoop at a dinner party. The hula hoop craze swept the world, dying out in the 1980s except in China and Russia, where hula hooping and hoop manipulation were adopted by traditional circuses and rhythmic gymnasts. The polyethylene hoops, and especially the polyvinyl chloride hoops, are much larger and heavier than hoops of the 1950s.
Modern hooping has created a wide range of tricks. Hooping now includes many ‘on body’ moves and many ‘off body’ moves. A few examples are breaks, isolations, leg hooping, and double hooping. Hooping is a popular fitness activity, with classes in many cities across the world. Fire hooping has been introduced, in which spokes are set into the outside of the hoop and tipped with kevlar wicks, which are soaked in fuel and ignited. Collapsible hula hoops have been developed for easy transport and versatility.
This article appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. On September 6, 1958, singer Georgia Gibbs appeared on US TV’s The Ed Sullivan Show to sing “The Hula Hoop Song”.
Her last US top-40 hit, it competed with four other songs created in the wake of the huge fad. Wayout Toys, under license to Emson, introduced the Alvin Hula Hoop Doll, which dances with his hula hoop and sings the song based on wanting his hula hoop. Hula Hoop is featured as an aerobics minigame in the Wii Fit game franchise. During the production of Pixar Animation Studios film WALL-E, Disney. Wall-E’s first encounter with a hula hoop, swinging it across its neck. Artist Keller Williams released a song “Hula Hoop to the Loop”, dedicated to the toy. H contains an episode titled “Who Knew?