Flowlab

Spring Cleaning Sale

snowzilla — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:16:08 +0000

Yikes – so, my hoop collection has gotten a little out of hand over the winter with so many workshops and classes on the go. And with summer coming and festival season on the horizon, I’ve got to do a little late spring cleaning to get organized! From now until May 30, I’m having a sale on all of my hoops – scratch-and-dents starting at $15 to brand new adult hoops starting at $30. Viewing is by appointment, so call me at 780-953-7669 or email me (carla@flowlab.ca) to set up a time and come on over to check it out. Here’s a sample of what’s currently taking up *way* too much room around here:

Prop Rock 2

snowzilla — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:21:56 +0000

The Avenue Theatre is booked, the performer’s callout is online, and we’re gearing up for a second installment of Prop Rock on Friday, May 25. Prop Rock 2 promises to be a fun and inspiring evening of prop performances and prop jamming – if you were at the first one, you know this is an event not to be missed! And if you weren’t at the first one, here’s your chance to join us for another night of awesomeness!

Tickets go on sale May 1 and can be purchased in advance online through Eventbrite or by contacting me at carla@flowlab.ca to make arrangements to pick up your tickets in person.

Counting down to SpinMilk 2%

snowzilla — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:53:32 +0000

There’s only a week and a half until SpinMilk 2% arrives! The prop, performance and flow workshop event takes place on April 14 & 15 in north Edmonton at Londonderry Hall. The bigger venue means more room for awesome! We’ve added a number of classes, packing the schedule with all kinds of choices to get you moving and grooving. For all you hoopers, there’s no shortage of hoop-specific workshops (I’ll be teaching a couple myself), but beyond that, there’s so much more you can try!

Staff/double staff
Poi – including partner poi!
Buugeng
Folding Fans
Tshirt Reconstruction
Bellydance
Conscious Dance
Burlesque
Glass Walking
Flow Wand
Hooping – including minis and twins!
Acrobatic Yoga
Hand Drumming
Laughter Yoga
Meditation
Footbag/HackySack
Contact juggling
Toss juggling
Folding Fans
Contortion

I know, right? So many awesome choices. The event runs Saturday to Sunday, and includes the Saturday night Cabaret: an instructor showcase & prop jam/afterparty. Oh, and we have vendors – you’ll be able to stock up on all kinds of props, feather accessories, mini top hats, onesies, and more. Tickets have been moving quickly, so avoid disappointment and grab yours to join us!

A New Video From Flowscience

snowzilla — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:29:52 +0000

Check it out! Flowscience, a prop performance group made up of former students plus myself, put together a little demo video showcasing our love for all kinds of props – hoops, minis, poi, flags…all shot on location in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, downtown and at the beautiful Muttart Conservatory.

We’ll be roving the grounds of Astral Harvest this year, spinning our props as we go – hope to see you there!

April Hoop Classes

snowzilla — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:12:40 +0000

I can’t believe we’re already done another series of classes, but it’s that time again and registration is now open for April 3 and April 11 classes in northeast and west Edmonton.

Tuesday nights at 6770-129 Avenue (Bosco Adminstration Gym) include the popular Intro to Hooping class for total beginners and those just wanting to brush up on their hooping fundamentals, and the Intermediate/Advanced class where we’ve been banging out all kinds of cool tricks (and celebrated last night’s last class of the current series with a rad LED hoop jam – video coming!).

Wednesday nights at 15920-105 Avenue (Britannia Youngstown CL) include a Kids hoop class for 8-15 year olds, and a Multilevel class for ALL levels of hooper (the perfect solution if you want to bring a buddy to class and introduce them to hooping too!). Sheena is off on a super cool road trip in in April so poi classes will be on hold until she returns.

Stay tuned for announcements regarding some weekend workshops taking place in April and May – we’ll be focusing on specialties such as twins/minis hooping; breaks, reversals and isolations; building your vertical repertoire, and the holy grail of hoopdance, developing your natural sense of FLOW.

warming up at intermediate/advanced class

Snow On Fire

snowzilla — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:24:21 +0000

Earlier this week I came across some forgotten fire hooping footage from last year hiding out on the hard drive. With the weather being so unseasonably warm, and festivals like Astral Harvest looming on the horizon (yay!) I’ve had fire hooping on the BRAIN. (And fire poi, and fire minis…)

The soundtrack is Mentalism by Shpongle, and the video ended up being featured on Hooping.org this week!

I’ll be teaching a workshop at Astral Harvest (Fire Safety & First Burn), with Megan, Dan and Todd of Vibe Tribe. We’ll be explaining safety techniques, protocols and equipment for safe fire spinning, with the added uber-bonus of being there to guide first timers through the experience of their first burn. (Can’t wait!!)

Celtic Bass: Govinda & Slynk

snowzilla — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:38:45 +0000

If you’re looking for something to do next Saturday night in Edmonton, come and join us at the Avenue Theatre for Celtic Bass! If you haven’t made the connection yet, next Saturday is March 17 and therefore St. Patrick’s Day, so I’m feeling pretty lucky to be performing at this show with Flowscience.

Govinda has been on the Flowlab playlist for some time now, and the Flowscience girls performed on the Bedouin Beats stage at the Kaleido Festival this past summer to the track “Dervish”.

High fives to the crew heading up the Zodiac Series and In A Home Entertainment – they’ve been bringing some great shows to Edmonton and creating a fantastic vibe at all of their events. And here’s yet another endorsement for the Avenue Theatre – what a great place to play!

See you on the dance floor!

Astral Harvest 2012

snowzilla — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:18:58 +0000

It feels like the year is just whizzing past us with so many cool events underway or on the horizon. It’s already time to start looking ahead to Astral Harvest! The new website launched this week and it looks fantastic. I am honoured and blessed to be teaching a number of workshops at what I call “my favourite festival” with my cohorts from Vibe Tribe Gypsy Circus and performing alongside some wicked acts (check out the DJ bill here and swoon with me).

Along with Megan Baird, we’ll be leading a variety of prop workshops over the weekend, including:

HoopDANCE: Finding Flow With Your Hoop
Two Is Better Than One (Twins & Minis)
Fire Safety and First Burn (that’s right! spin a prop but haven’t lit it on fire yet? here’s your chance to do it in a safe supportive environment!)

And one more for good measure: the Flowscience girls will also be roving the grounds of Astral Harvest, bending minds and sparking creativity with costumes and props!

Hoop Path: Open Air Tour (Edmonton)

snowzilla — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:39:12 +0000

It feels like we just finished up with The Hooping Life and we’re already jumping into the next major hoop event coming to Edmonton – #yeg hoopers, we’re getting spoiled these days! On March 2 to 4, Jonathan Baxter of The Hoop Path is returning to the city for a three day workshop series that will, for lack of a more eloquent expression, totally level up your hooping. If you’ve attended a Hoop Path workshop before, you already know what to expect and you’ve probably already purchased your ticket! But for those not already in the know, here’s a little taste of the style of hooping that Baxter delivers in this year’s Open Air tour:

Intrigued? Tickets are on sale now and this event will most likely sell out! Check out the Facebook event page for ticket info, or contact me if you have questions!

After-Party

snowzilla — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:33:10 +0000

Lower body hooping with Revolva

If you’re wondering why it took so long to blog about the Alberta Premiere of the Hooping Life – it’s because we were exhausted after all of the festivities of this past Saturday, February 11! We kicked off the event in the afternoon with a 3 hour hoop workshop offered by a variety of local and international instructors. Hoopers learned everything from the wedgie flip to pinch breaks to Jane Fonda-style foot hooping.

The performer showcase kicked off later that evening, with performances from Nicole Rose, Chantal Dings, Flowscience, Nina Infinity, Megan Baird, myself, SaFire, and Revolva. The atmosphere of the show was a casual one, with a lot of laughs and a four-hoop finale by Revolva herself. We were having so much fun with the showcase that we almost forgot why we were actually there – to see the long-awaited The Hooping Life documentary!

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I will say this – if you’re a hooper in a community that hasn’t seen this movie yet – get yourself in contact with the lovely people at The Hooping Life and make it happen. It was a fascinating look at the lives of some of the big name hoopers and a touching look at the hoopers who are truly connected to their art as a way of bringing positivity to their lives and to others. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to give Baxter a haircut….but I’ll leave it at that. See the movie!

Hamming it up at the press wall

When the movie was over, hoopers hit the floor en masse and we had one hell of a good jam to the sounds of Tripnotic and Zack Attack. (High fives to Tripnotic for pulling out some old school favourites from my first summer inside the hoop.)

For more photos from the event, check out the album on Facebook!