Méliejade Tremblay-Bouchard

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

I was born and raised in Quebec city, in the countryside, on an animal farm. My mother has an animal wildlife rescue center and is a full-time volunteer for her own organization. I spent a lot of time, growing up, taking care of animals and rescuing animals.

2. Why hooping? How did the journey begin?

I started hooping 7 years ago already. I had been in the circus industry for a long time already but my dream was to be a contortionist. After a bad back injury, I had to reconsider my goals and dreams. I still wanted to be a circus artist, but how? I found hula hoop at this time and it's the best thing that could have happened to me because it's a mix of dance and flexibility.

3. What has the hoop taught you about life?

The hula hoop has taught me patience. I'm usually not a patient person but as we all know, hula hoop requires repetitions. When I was training a lot, I would put my headphones on, get into the state of flow, and hoop for hours and this is how I got to the level where I am now.

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

I still have a bunch of dreams I want to accomplish with hula hoop. There is so much to create with this apparatus. I'm grateful to have this discipline in my life. I always love creating new sequences and tricks. It is endless. Working with acrobats opens doors because they always have crazy ideas about how to use the hoop in a dynamic way. The other thing I love about hooping is what you can do with it. I also use my skills for social circus. Getting in touch with homeless people in parks is one of my favorite thing to do with my hula hoops.

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

I love the hoop community. I feel supported, and I am always pretty impressed by how big this community is. When I first started hooping, I wasn't so much on social media and I would have liked to feel supported throughout my progress, but back then, I didn't know the community was so big. Over time, I got more and more in touch with other hoopers and now I feel part of this community as I am bringing new ideas and also getting inspired by other hoopers. I would have really loved to have access to a beginner's course when I first started hula hooping. I want to bring this to the community with my upcoming hula hoop course. People always ask me about the basics of hula hoop and this beginner's course is going to help a lot for them to start.

• Links to cause I care about:
• Social circus Artist for this cause - caravanephilanthrope.com