Alicia Dart

1. Tell us your roots - where were you born and raised?

I was born in Monterey, CA. My father was in the Army and I was raised in many different states over the years, as far north as Alaska, all way down to South Carolina. I am half CHamoru. For those who don't know, the CHamoru are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands. It's a big part of my life, and right now I'm working very hard to learn my heritage language – something that is in danger of going silent due to “English Only” laws that used to be in place on the island where my family comes from. I could probably fill a book with my experiences about being a diasporic CHamoru, but those who would like to learn more about that aspect of my life can listen to my interview on a podcast called, “Machalapon: Conversations from the CHamoru Diaspora”.

2. Why hooping? How did the journey begin?

My first experience with a hoop was probably in the fall of 2013, I bought this giant heavy hoop from Walmart hoping to work a little exercise into my life. Very soon after that, I found out I was pregnant with my third child and so the hoop was moved to the back burner where it was pretty quickly forgotten. After I had my son, I started searching for something to help me with the baby weight and I remembered my hoop and began searching for tutorials. I was blown away by the magic that I found. I expected to find very basic waist hooping videos, but here were people moving and dancing with their hoop. I had to learn more. This is where I feel my hoop journey truly began, in the summer of 2014.

3. What has the hoop taught you about life?

When I began hooping, I really just expected it to be a fun way to work out and get some exercise. And while it is that, it is also so much more. Looking at me, people usually don't know that I suffer from anxiety, and am really very shy. And by the time my third child was born, I had been struggling for years with depression. For me, the hoop was a life line that I did not expect but very much needed. It was like with every skill mastered, I could feel myself climbing up and out of the fog. The hoop gave me a newfound confidence that I had never known in my life. It was like, if I can stand on my head and spin a hoop around my foot then what else can I accomplish? I can't help but laugh at how silly it sounds sometimes, but because I started hooping I gained the courage to try so many different things that I would never have thought possible.

4. What's next? How is your hoop life evolving?

My hoop journey has led me to some truly amazing spaces, but no matter where my road leads, my goal with hooping has always been to share the love and magic of the hoop. I have been planning on doing online classes for awhile now, and in the coming year I hope to find a way of putting those plans into action.

5. What aspect of the hoop community do you value the most and what do you hope to contribute to the future of hooping?

When I began my hoop journey, I learned almost exclusively from online content. At that point in time my family was really struggling to make ends meet, and so I am truly grateful for the generosity of the individuals who posted their knowledge online so that it could be accessible to people like me. That kind of generosity is something that I hope to contribute to the community as well.

6. What are some causes you care most about?

The military is building a massive firing range on my ancestral homelands of Guåhan (Guam) right over the island's main aquifer, which threatens to contaminate the water source. This petition calls to halt the buildup to further assess the damages that this firing range will cause:

• Protect Guam's Water Source
• More resources about saving Litekyan/Ritidian can be found at: https://linktr.ee/plsr