Firelily
Alice Firelily - Miami, FL
Hello there! My name is Alice Nimmo and you can find me hooping on the beautiful beaches of Miami, Florida. With a life long passion for movement arts, I have always been drawn to the feeling of dance. In fact, when I was younger it was a challenge to get me to do anything besides move! I found hula hooping at a point in my life where I was sure that I had already figured out everything. Little did I know how big of an impact this tiny plastic ring would have on my life. Hooping has brought me and taught me so much more than I can express and I am truly honored to share this passion with such a phenomenal community!
q & a
During my freshman year of college you were sure to find me in one of three places, in the coffee line at the library, in my bed, or in class. I was dedicated, motivated, and focused to a fault. One night after 18 hours of studying for finals, I thought I wouldn’t be able to take any more. I left the library drained and discouraged when in the darkness, I saw a brilliant light show illuminating the courtyard. The colors were captivating, the movements flowed freely, but what really caught me was the way the girl couldn’t stop smiling. The pure joy in her eyes as she twirled this tiny ring of light and the way her happiness contagiously spread to everyone who stopped to watch. I also realized that the depleted and exhausted feeling that had been looming over me that whole year, melted into an unrelenting curiosity that sparked my flow journey.
Special thank you to Anna Kimura for being my first hoop inspiration and Nico Gonzalez for gifting me my first hoop and introducing me to the art of flow.
To think that I did not know about hula hooping 5 years ago is astounding. The feeling equates to wearing glasses for the first time. You never knew you needed them until you had them and you can’t understand how you survived all this time without them.
Ever since I was young, I’ve been trying to find ways to battle my social anxiety. For me having social anxiety is like being a lightning bolt trapped in a bottle. The vitality that other people bring to a room builds in me like a battery drawing in energy to the point where I literally cannot sit still. It’s that feeling of “everyone is watching me,” but cranked up to 11 all the time. For me, hula hooping gives me an outlet for that energy and the community is a supportive that embraces me exactly as I am.
To me the hooping community has given me a place to build a home away from home. A connection to people I have never met, but feel so close to because we share a love that transcends time or distance. My place in the hoop community is as a pillar that aims to hold other up others, support them, and build outwardly to increase the span of this incredible art form.