Drum Circle Deja Vue?

Sarasota, FL      High:  78    Low:  62

Another drum roll, er, beat, please! Time to head back to Siesta Key Beach Drum circle near sunset every Sunday. "They" say, the drumming circle takes place rain or shine....There's actually a newsletter that publishes the location of known drumming circles in central Florida, in case you are down here and want to check one out....Here's the link:
http://www.primalconnection.org/NewsLetrV1I1/DrumCircles.html

So Sparky and Eldo headed back to see if the same folks were there as before.....The jester was there...

Different dancers and "butterfly ladies.....

A slightly different crew of drummers, but we recognized some of the same guys...Boy, are they great!

When they get that primal beat going, it's hard not to get up and dance....Sparky was boppin' all over the place in her standing spot. The hoops were in full force again.....And this little guy was AMAZING! He kept that hoop twirling for a LONG time....

There was a young lady here who was extremely skilled at twirling the hoop....She effortlessly moved that hoop all over her body....Sparky talked to her briefly and found out that her performance name is "Odd Tree". Her real name is Audrey Scherer...She has been performing with hoops for over three years....She's 21 and has YouTube videos that thousands have viewed.  She's that good! It's sort of a modern take on Lakota hoop dancing, only with one hoop. Audrey was amazing and it was just great to get to watch her perform....She never dropped the hoop! This isn't just twirling the hoop by gyrating your hips, it's moving the hoop up and down all over your body, your neck, your shoulders with little twists and very slight body movements coupled with dancing at the same time. It's quite intricate......

There was a different conch blower to announce the sunset tonight.....

After the sun went down, and during a break in the drumming, the jester (former teacher of 28 years) pulled the young children into a "healing circle" and had their parents stand behind them and any others who wanted to participate. He proceeded to take a few moments to recite a rhyme about our lives and our children at this moment, and a brief mention was made to reflect and remember the victims of Newtown, CT by having a moment of silence and then chanting  "OM" briefly in unison.  It was a moving experience.

The kids there had a wonderful time...Little ones even had drums and were drumming along to the beat of the congo drums.

They even formed their own conga line.....

A drum community circle is a wonderful place to "lose" yourself in the beat.....

You can do whatever the spirit moves you in the center of the circle.....Kids play, adults dance.....

And the beat goes on and on......The drummers play for long periods of time without breaks. Kids keep on playing, adults keep on dancing.....

The sun set......

Night fell.......and the hoop dancers brought out their lighted hoops which cost a fortune! One hundred twenty-five dollars and up. The hoops are not mass produced. An individual has to solder connections, insert material to keep connections from rattling around and loosening, and get the colored sections of lights to work AND balance the hoop with all the electronics having been inserted. The lighted hoops weigh more than a standard hula hoop, so this is fantastic exercise according to one of the hoop dancers Sparky spoke to. It works your core, it gets rid of toxins in the lymph glands because of all the rotational movement and gyrating, and it's a great weight loss tool.  She has lost 75 pounds since she started hoop dancing two years ago! Both gals Sparky talked to were very slender ladies. Hm-m-m-m...maybe Sparky should get a hula hoop! (This I gotta see! says E.) Nope, I'd go off in the woods and practice before letting anybody see me try this. Haven't done it since I was a kid!

Eldo says he was a pretty good hula hooper when he was a kid. Maybe Sparky will get Eldo a hula hoop! HA! 

We had a wonderful time today at Siesta Key Beach...We hope to take our families there next Sunday while they are here visiting next week....We'll see what the younger generation thinks about drumming!