Performance and Performativity

How might hula hooping be performative? In ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: an essay in phenomenology and feminist theory’, Judith Butler describes performativity to be the mundane, stylised behaviour enacted by individuals subconsciously every day. She understands behaviour to be “historically constitutive” in that the actions that one takes often come from a path of actions that have been repeated throughout history.

Byrne (2000) uses Butler’s work to examine how racialised bodies work in a similar way to gender to bodies in that ethnicity can be performed. As a basic example, I might perform my ethnicity by drinking tea to subscribe to a sense of British identity and indicate to others that I am British.

How, then, might the contemporary fitness and art form of hula hooping be understood as performative? Although it is a literal performance there are many codes in the ways that performers and non-performers carry themselves when they pick up a hoop. Without even taking to the stage, a hula hooper enacts certain behaviours and traits as they move using hoop dance as a form of expression. Experiences that have influenced the life of the person whose hula hooping can shape their style as a hoop dancer and this can be something that is taken to the stage during a literal performance.

The hula hoop brings with them a set of preconceived values to their practice that often have been acted out long before them. A student of contemporary dance or ballet might move with the hoop in ways that they’ve learned from this exterior practice: they might extend through the fingertips or point their toes as they spin hoop.

Having a background in gymnastics or circus practice could mean that the hula Hooper is able to spin hoop in conjunction with flexing their body in preconditioned ways and achieve impressive positions, such as the splits or a back bend, and sustaining a hoop trick.

A person who has practised yoga might find themselves in the flow of hoop dance but moving according to their knowledge that they have cultivated on the mat. They might execute a hula hoop trick synchronising with the breath, or lunging in a way reminiscent of warrior one, both practices and poses performed by many people in the heritage of yoga long before them.

Somebody who might have had training in martial arts might pick up the hoop in a completely different way. They might see the hula hoop as a prop in the same way that they see ‘bo’ or nunchucks in their martial arts class: like a weapon. Flow arts has long been compared to martial arts in ways that see the prop that creates the flow (in this case the hoop) as an extension of the body enabling the protection of the self.

In this way, cultural practices of the individual inform their experience of hoop dance as the person brings into their practice kinds of movement that are already familiar and sometimes from long cultural histories.

Sources:
Butler, J. (1988) 'Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: an essay in phenomenology and feminist theory', in Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No.4, pp. 519 - 531.
Byrne, B. (2000) 'Troubling race. Using Judith Butler's work to think about racialised bodies and selves', in Paper for Queering Development, IDS Seminar Series.

Critiquing Capitalism

A critique of capitalism that I have is that space, among many other things, becomes commodified and so there's less urban space to explore that's not just shops and bars and restaurants: commodified space where you need to sit down and purchase something to be able to feel like you can use that space. I like being able to go out into the streets and enjoy public space without feeling like I have to spend money. Being a student on a budget has encouraged me to explore new ways to enjoy myself in the city that's not primarily going clubbing or shopping, and hula hooping has certainly been a highlight of this. All I need is my hoop (a speaker and sometimes a camera is great too) and I can wonder around town and find spots in the street to jam.

But... we live in a post-industrial age. Capitalism, the system and ideology of accumulation, and more specifically neo-liberalism endorses a free market ideology in that everyone is free to set up their own business and stick out for themselves. This fosters a competitive business environment as companies compete for customer appraisal. Consumer desire is put at the forefront of concern in ways that portray that shoppers have power (or agency), for example explained in Russell Keat's book, The Authority of The Consumer. 

Capitalism creates competition between individuals in the same way that there is competition between businesses, and this is another critique that I have of the system that governs us today. Being a hoop performer is usually quite niche. Coming up against other hoop performers can turn into something quite stand-offish when you are all looking for work. This isn't the general feel for hooping for recreation, for example I went to the UK Hoop Gathering Spanish holiday 2013 and this was a wonderful as we all enjoyed hula hooping for our personal benefit on mutual grounds.

It is not the same for when you are trying to sell your act, however, and I feel like wider socio-economic processes influence attitudes between performers. Although it may be hard to overcome, I personally like to see other artists as potential collaborators and hope to foster cooperative relationships rather than competition.

Finally, from a Mark and Engels perspective, I am interested in this division of physical and mental labour that occurs in capitalist society and the idea that if you fail school which is mental labour then you proceed to physical labour which is seen as less worthy. Physical labour is definitely not less worthy. I like the idea of being able to have a duality and even multiplicity of labour in your life, both physical and mental and wherever in between. For example I'm currently studying in my final year of uni which is a lot of mental work to achieve a qualification, but at the same time I'm doing physical work performing around between cities in the UK.

Introduction: Uses of Urban Space and Hoop Dance

Why urban hoop dance and not rural hoop dance? How does the city create a certain dynamic in the world of hula hooping? In the most basic way, thinking back to the beginnings of my interest in the city, when I was a kid I got sick of making hoop videos on grass. I hooped on the street and the most exciting things would happen when I took my hoops into the city, rather than out in the fields on my own. I enjoy systems and architecture, so I was drawn to studying city space. By my final year of Media and Cultural Studies, I have found that the city brings with it lots of possibilities as a condensed and complex social space.

Hula hooping outside my house in Cambridge as a kid, I enjoyed the feeling of concrete under my feet in the summer and, with neighbourhood friends, we claimed the streets we lived on just by being present in them: filling them with play and music. By the time I reached college my personal 'flow journey' of hula hooping become very solitary: I longed for an inclusive space where newbies could learn to hula hoop side by side. I learned all my skills through YouTube between my bedroom and my street. I dropped GCSE dance. I never got on well with contemporary or ballet, even though in my final prop-based dance assessment I got a distinction for my hoop routine... I was never suited to dance in a class-room environment. I entered and won two local talent competitions as a solo act. But, a few years later in Brighton, I realised hooping doesn't have to be so lonely: because of groups like the Sussex Circus Society at my university and also because I took to the streets again, in a new way, to utilise and be part of a plethora of arts.

I'd like to say that I envision myself enacting my own personal phenomena with street hooping. This is because I haven't yet seen anyone hooping out in the street in quite the same way I do, as of yet. What I enjoy these days is finding brightly coloured graffiti and setting up my camera in front of it to jam out my tricks. Not only is this good practice for me, and a place to flow outdoors and by street art, but I also come into contact with members of the public and it can sort of become like a mini street show. Hooping while hanging with artists in the street is fun, although I mostly film when I go alone. Despite spending more time with people while hooping in Brighton, I still don't see any hula hoopers in the streets doing the same as me. Nonetheless, by doing my own thing, I imagine that I am part of the array of art in Brighton, like on the walls, and sometimes if I'm lucky and find a decent geometric-looking Sprayups piece with some colourful circles I feel like I'm a part of the wall.

It's great finding out about the artists behind the pieces. I love booming my own tunes in front of them, although I'm aware I'm going to need a bigger sound system! I am really looking forward to my module week in Performing the Urban on sound as a disruptive mode: I want to know more about bass culture and how it emerged on the UK scene. I will be developing this blog alongside my studies and later I aim to combine it with my auto-ethnographic accounts on street-hooping in my Cultural Studies module.