GoPro Hula Hoop @ Burning Man

October 3, 2012 1:10 AM

Recently it seems that GoPros and hula hoops have both become increasingly common at Burning Man. GoPro + hula hoop is a combination that has been executed (and seen on MeFi) before, but an attendee combined the two, had other Burning Man participants use the hula hoop, shot a lot of footage, and made a music video from the montage.
posted by eak (26 comments total)

As a person who appreciates lady-persons, I dig this video. As a feminist person, I am skeptical of this video. Where are the dude hoopers?

Clever how it's cut, though.
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:19 AM on October 3, 2012 [3 favorites]

Where are the dude hoopers?

Don't know about Burning Man, but at most events with hoops there are few male hoopers and very few competent ones that master the flow as shown in the video. It's a pretty gendered form of recreation.
posted by Winnemac at 2:46 AM on October 3, 2012

Might be worth tagging this as NSFW for those workplaces who are not keen on breasts with almost nothing covering them...
posted by Stark at 2:56 AM on October 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

So that's what it's like to be young... I'd forgotten.

Thanks!
posted by MikeWarot at 2:56 AM on October 3, 2012

I was wondering when this video was going to end up here! It's amazing, and I first saw it on Pinterest (but posted by a man). It's interesting (but not all that surprising) that YouTube have age-restricted it now.

For true fans, this is my favourite hula hoop video, made for a Fatboy Slim competition a few years ago
posted by DanCall at 2:57 AM on October 3, 2012 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I was gonna say. No dudes? Still though, it's a fun video! So if I'm seeing this right, they were working with pretty big hoops, and they have to kind of spin in place (along the inside of the ring) to keep it going?
posted by Drexen at 3:54 AM on October 3, 2012

It's amazing...ly porny. Is there much more to this than near-naked girls writhing? I can't help but feel if it was a hip hop video mefites would be all over it.
posted by smoke at 3:57 AM on October 3, 2012

This is my fav hooping video ever. She just likes hooping.
posted by katinka-katinka at 4:11 AM on October 3, 2012 [4 favorites]

Well, yes, they are attractive ladies in the video (at least partially as they are all obviously enjoying hula hooping). And it is also a neat use of this particular brand of video cam (which seems to get a lot of free and/or viral publicity).

But I freely admit that after the third or forth lady, I was repeatedly thinking "Okay, that's two seconds of her and she's wearing not very much. Enough of her. Bring on the next hula hooper so we can see how much or little she is wearing because that's the only variation, new element, or surprise here" for a few more minutes, then kinda lost interest. Only post-video thought was "Doesn't anyone ever get sunburnt in delicate places at this Burning Man thing?"

Which is perhaps not the healthiest few minutes I've spent today. But that's probably just me.
posted by Wordshore at 4:17 AM on October 3, 2012

Is there like a GoPro form you have to sign when you buy a GoPro that forces you to put the brand name (GoPro) on every posted video taken with the GoPro?
posted by DU at 4:19 AM on October 3, 2012

Fucking hula hoops ... how do they work?
posted by chavenet at 4:25 AM on October 3, 2012 [3 favorites]

Great question, DU. I was just filming my reaction to reading this third GoPro post in like three weeks using my GoPro and it's advanced features. As a GoPro user in the same psychographic as many of the readers of this site, I'll be sure to use the easy GoPro method of uploading videos to share in the social experience of the GoPro brand.


GoPro.
posted by graphnerd at 4:27 AM on October 3, 2012 [4 favorites]

Note that the CollegeHumor site has posted this same video with a dehipsterized title: Hot Girls Hula Hoop with GoPro Camera
posted by chavenet at 4:29 AM on October 3, 2012

Don't kid yourself, DU. This is another stealth marketing masterpiece by the people who make hula hoops.
posted by crunchland at 4:34 AM on October 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'll be damned if I can figure out how the physics are working in most of these shots, though. I thought the hoop rolled around the body, but considering how often the camera is stationary that can't be always true.
posted by DU at 4:36 AM on October 3, 2012

So, pole dancing with round poles, right?

I'm also not really seeing this as Hula Hooping, they could do pretty much the same thing if the camera were on the end of a stick.
posted by HuronBob at 4:47 AM on October 3, 2012

Is there much more to this than near-naked girls writhing?

I really liked the various camera angles, particularly those by the woman at the 2:05 mark The movement imparts almost another dimension, which is really appealing.

Is the video full of various gyrating semi-naked young women that a patriarchal society deems attractive and thus most worthy of attention and intangible benefits to the detriment of all other women who may actually contribute more to society? Sure, but that's not all the video is.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:56 AM on October 3, 2012

I learned today that, if you are a young and good-looking lady, you can wear almost anything (or nothing) without looking ridiculous.
posted by 256 at 5:05 AM on October 3, 2012

Having the camera stationary on the hoop made it really hard for me to appreciate what was actually going on -- when I stopped paying attention to how fast the background was slipping past, it just looked like a woman twirling slowly around the inside of a hoop. It was hard to appreciate the skill that goes into making the hoop move like it was moving, because from the camera's perspective the hoop isn't moving.

I thought the video DanCall linked above is amazing. She's maintaining control over all these hoops that are locked tight into this crazy orbit around her, while she herself looks loose and bouncy and like just she's having so much fun.

I personally love this one. It's nothing fancy, just 64-year-old Grace Jones hula-hooping for 4 minutes straight while singing live in front of 12,000+ people.
posted by josyphine at 5:25 AM on October 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

You know, for kids!
posted by The White Hat at 5:28 AM on October 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Very cool, but I was hoping to see some hips.
posted by rmmcclay at 5:32 AM on October 3, 2012

OK, it's starts out all yay tits, and yay ass, but just as you (me) start feeling skeptical it does kind of flow into a whole nothing thing - I liked the tonal variation in the middle section, blues, even monochrome - and segue back to all hot chicks and stuff at the end.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:39 AM on October 3, 2012

Okay - completely dizzy by 2:05 and not from the display of Steampunk Meets Boogie Nights hotness.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:46 AM on October 3, 2012

it does kind of flow into a whole nothing thing

You got that right.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:02 AM on October 3, 2012

We have transcended the male gaze. Welcome to the male panopticon.
posted by silence at 6:07 AM on October 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Cool, At 3:17 a seagull carries off one of the naked women!
posted by bondcliff at 6:15 AM on October 3, 2012 [3 favorites]