Right place, right time – a passion that changed my life
My love and fascination began in August 2014 when I attended a music festival in Hungary. I watched the people and between the masses, I could see a girl dancing with a hula hoop. I was blown away immediately. Until that day, I didn’t even know that it’s possible to dance with a hula hoop. I had no experience with the hula hoop, not even as a child. But a month later I had my 1st Hula Hoop in my hands and from that moment on, everything changed.
I practiced day and night with the help of Youtube videos. In slow steps, I learned the first Basic On-Body tricks (Waist, Hip, Shoulder, Chest, …) and visited the few workshops that were offered in Graz. There I also got to know the wonderful community for the first time and the incredible support among each other. Unfortunately, there were very few workshops in Graz and so I had to dodge partially white to other states. But every trip was worth it. Whether to Vienna or Linz. My hula hoops and I were ready for anything. So I also visited the Austrian Hula Hoop Convention 2015 to gain more experience and to expand my skills. I met many new wonderful people who support me on my way. I found love, freedom, and happiness in my tire.
In 2016 I started organizing Free Jams to expand the Hula Hoop Community in Graz. I wanted to create a place where all hula hoopers could meet and exchange. My jams became more and more popular and so I started to offer special jams eg LED jams, indoor jams, etc. In 2017 I moved a jam to the Grazer Augartenfest and was there for the first time to get a taste of the stage. In addition to dancing, I also found a passion for building Hula Hoops. With special tools and hula hoop accessories, my first hula hoops were created. With this start, my label “HoopFairy” was born.
2018 was my best year so far! At the beginning of the year I organized my first 5-week course and to my surprise, it was fully booked. That spurred me on and so I decided to save my money and complete a trainer’s training by Hooplovers’ incredible Deanne Love. In addition to the jams and classes, I also discovered my joy in live performances. More and more often I overcame my fear and danced in front of an audience with my hula hoop. I visited the Lendwirbel in Graz and in September 2018 I got the incredible chance to run a Hula Hoop Stand (including workshops) at the Psy Island Festival in the Czech Republic. It was a great honor for me and my fear was danced away. My greatest success was in October 2018, when I could dance alongside the incredible DJ Marusha! This evening changed my thinking and feeling!
By the time of September 2018, I was part of the Hooplovers family. After 12 intense weeks, I finally got to officially call myself a Hooplovers Hoop Dance Teacher and that feeling was indescribable. I had reached my goal and fulfilled my dream!

Em Robbins
Hooping found Em in 2017 (and she is incredibly grateful that it did!); having struggled for many years with depression and, to an even greater extent, anxiety, she was often at a loss as to the way