Hula hoop
toy
A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. Hoops can also be used for hoop rolling, wheeled along the ground like a wheel with careful execution and practice. They have been used by children and adults since at least 500 BC. The modern hula hoop was inspired by Australian bamboo hoops. Joan Anderson witnessed Australian children playing with bamboo hoops while driving past in an automobile, naming it "hula hoop" after the Hawaiian hula dance and introducing it to the Wham-O toy company, who popularized the plastic version in 1958 and helped it become a fad.
Hula hoops for children generally measure approximately 70 centimetres (28 in) in diameter, while those for adults measure around 100 centimetres (39 in). Traditional materials for hula hoops include willow, rattan (a flexible and strong vine), grapevines and stiff grasses. Commercial hoops are usually made of plastic tubing.
Origins
Native American Hoop Dance is a form of storytelling dance incorporating hoops as props. These props are used to create both static and dynamic shapes, which represent various animals, symbols, and storytelling elements. The dance is generally performed by a solo dancer with multiple hoops.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hula hoop” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.