In the past few days I’ve gotten over 100 emails & calls from people outraged at Gaiam’s lack of respect & ethics in ditching me to use my hoop design and program ideas with another hoop business. This is not a case of a company wanting fresh talent. This is a company, who hired me for less than 2 years, produced & sold my hoop design & program & then dropped me. My understanding was that they were no longer interested in selling the Hoop Dance program. Then, about 2 years later, they hire someone who is not trained in yoga, sport training, or any such relevance to teaching body mechanics through movement, breath or structural alignment.

If I understand correctly, shouldn’t a yoga company hire ones with certifications and experience in any of the 8 limbs of yoga such as Asanas (physical postures) Pranayama (breathwork) or Satya (truthfulness)

My intention is not to bash this company but merely to state some facts for all my customers who’ve asked with interest, frustration and support.

2003 – the VP of Gaiam called me, interested in signing me as a talent. I brought in my 4 Rhythm Hoop Dance dvd which was still in editing process.

The VP liked it, the other woman seemed sketchy but I sold them that the hoop trend was growing & soon would be like Pilates. We needed to set the standard of excellence. After talks with my TM lawyer & looking at the contract, I agreed to sign it. It stated that as long as I was working with them, they would not hire another hoop personality. I knew going in that I could not patent or own my design. But it seemed like a good opportunity to get my dvd & collapsible hoop out to the masses.

I was very specific about the hoop’s weight, circumference & it’s flex during spin. I expressed to them the importance of aggressive marketing and patience, as we were cutting edge. In 2003, when the hoop trend was building, noone knew that there’d be an amazing hoop offered in a box. I asked them to be patient, that if we kept it on the shelves & marketed properly, it would take off. We had good product placement but little marketing.

I explained that if sales were down, it wasn’t because the hoop workout was not popular. I think it was within the first year, they fired the VP (the guy who really was behind the program.) Within those 2 years one of the assistants emailed me to tell me they were dropping me & that the hoop was of no interest to them & did not fit in with their company. (not the exact words but to this effect)

I coined the term Ecstatic Hoop Dance in 2001 & another business started using that term. I emailed them to ask if they could be creative enough to find their own titles. I then changed my title to Hoop Dance. I looked into registering that but could not. I should have changed it to something I could own but did not. Same year, another business wanted me to teach them everything I knew for free. They wanted to start teaching. They got mad when I declined. In 2007 yet another business asked me to rush ship my Gaiam dvd as they were filming their first instructional dvd that week. I asked her not to copy my formatting & she said that I have the most information on mine. Seemed like she should know how the ins & outs about the hoop prior to filming and instructional video.  I kept my focus in the positive. Growing my business and helping others.

Then in 2008 I think, after volunteer teaching in New Orleans for VDay, (Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues – a fundraising event) I thought it appropriate for my inner city kids program to be called Hoop Warriors. Soon after, a business copied a version of this name.

2007-2009, I was interviewed by many health & fitness magazines about the benefits of Hoop Dance. I made it clear to them that one cannot get benefits from cheap store bought hoops. That you are only as good as your gear & that one needs to use proper alignment in motion in order to obtain mental or physical benefits. I asked to please educate readers on the weight & size of hoops, proportionate to their height, weight & range of motion. I gave medical documentation on the dangers of the “Heavy Hoop” This is a company that made it on Oprah & is now out of business due to injuries that occurred when people used their hoops which weigh from 3-8 pounds. NOTE TO ANYONE WHO GOES TO CURVES. These hoops are dangerous!

In the past few years I have gotten many calls from people paying top dollar to get certified in hoop dance. They complain to me that they learned tricks yet nothing of anatomy, injury prevention or how the body mechanics work let alone the fundamentals of movement in the hoop. Just because one is a brilliant performer it does not make them a good teacher.

Writers also told me that they would, absolutely, credit me. I was happy for all hoop teachers to benefit, just wanted to educate readers that a unilateral rotative workout could not be learned with a cheap light weight toy hoop. It could not be learned with a dangerously heavy hoop.  Most of these magazines placed my pix or credited me as they said they would. Prevention, Readers Digest & Conscious Dancer were some. They all used my medical research yet featured others pix & domain names.

I have made mistakes in business, can be offensive & upfront  and spent more money on donating hoops and time teaching than on marketing. These are some of my downfalls.

But the one thing that I have always kept pure are my teachings, program & product design. I have respect for others in this market & wish I could receive the same.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 2:17 am and is filed under Hoop News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.