Jumping through Hoops

Some people have called it “a circle of happiness.” Freshman Sarah Mancourt calls it “the magical portal to positiveness.”

Mancourt is referring to her hula hoop.

Mancourt is most widely known as Shortie, the hula hoop girl. Standing at 4’10”, Shortie has brought the joy of hula hooping to IU by performing all over campus.

She hoops just about everywhere: at tailgates, by the library, on Kirkwood Avenue, even in her dorm room. She is most often seen performing outside Foster Quad, where she lives.

“I carry my hoops with me when I go run errands,” Mancourt said. “I just set up camp anywhere I feel like hooping.”

When Mancourt hoops, she is sure to catch people’s attention.

“People are usually astonished,” Mancourt said. “Many people comment that (my hooping) is very artistic and ask how often I practice.”

Freshman and Foster resident Grant Pendrey has seen Mancourt in action.

“I think (her hula hooping) is interesting,” Pendrey said. “It’s also a bit funny. It is definitely out of the ordinary but looks like she puts in a lot of time and effort.”

Mancourt said she has spent hours mastering tricks like “the vortex,” in which she circles the hoop up and down with her hands without touching her body, or “the isolation,” in which she keeps the hoop in a perfect circle in front of her. She also invents tricks of her own.

Mancourt began hooping after she saw a group of hula hoopers last summer at a music festival.

“It just looked like they were having so much fun,” Mancourt said. “So I got a hoop and discovered it was really fun for me, too.”

Mancourt is self-taught, with a little help from YouTube videos. She said hooping came very quickly to her because of a “natural ability to move in that way,” even though she has only practiced since she arrived at IU about five months ago.

Sophomore Sophie Guthrie is a desk clerk in Foster and said she sees Mancourt toting around her hula hoops on a daily basis.

“At first when you see her, you think, ‘What the heck?’” Guthrie said. “But she is so confident you can’t help but accept and admire her.”

Mancourt has 11 hula hoops, 10 of which she made out of PVC pipe and duct tape.
“When I carry around my hoops, I talk to the most interesting people,” Mancourt said.

Mancourt recalled walking into an art gallery in Bloomington when a man sitting playing a guitar looked at her and said, “Hula hoops. Those will destroy your youth.”

The man explained he was a trapeze artist and performed with the Ringling Brothers for years.

Mancourt’s hula hooping has become somewhat of a circus act; she has recently picked up fire hooping. She lights wicks that stick out of her hula hoop on fire, which burn for about two minutes at a time, and performs advanced tricks.

Freshman Lucas Donaghue is a close friend of Mancourt’s and has witnessed her flaming act.

“I’ve seen her hula hoop and fire hoop multiple times, and every time, it’s been crazy impressive,” Donaghue said. “Shortie is incredibly talented, and her fire hooping is awesome.”

Mancourt said fire hooping is particularly challenging because “it changes the weight of the hoop, and you have to watch where you put your hands.”

Mancourt’s hula hooping passion came about quickly, but she does not plan on stopping anytime soon. She encourages others to try hooping and is always willing to give lessons.