Mina Bear  

Biography:

Mina Bear has been on her hoop journey for close to a decade now. With a passion for dance movement and learning, she took to hoop dance with all of her energy. Between performing, teaching, and the relaxing yard spin sessions, Mina continues to grow her love for the art of hoop dance.

Find Mina Bear: 

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Tell us how you fell in love with the flow arts. 

I was at a bon fire watching a girl hoop, I was amazed as she did vortexes (not that I knew they were even called that back then!!). I thought the vortex was possibly the coolest thing I had ever seen, I mean who had ever seen someone do stuff like that with a dang hulahoop?! She had an extra hoop with her that night and let me use it. She showed me a few very simple moves but I mainly just worked on my waist hooping. After the party I was obsessed with this new art, something about it just really intrigued me and I was hooked. I religiously watched YouTube videos and tutorials to learn on my Walmart duct taped hoop. The excitement I felt as I learned every little technique made me want to continue (I practically died of excitement when I did my first successful vortex). Not only was I obsessive about drilling skills at home in my free time, I naturally found myself teaching others that I came into contact with at festivals and spin jams. Even with my absolute lack of skill in the beginning, I taught people whatever basic moves I possibly could. I simply wanted to spread this new art form that had come into my life with those around me. These early tendencies lead me to almost a decade of hoop dancing and instruction. I have always loved to dance, and I really love sharing the skills with others. The flow community was the perfect place to start that.

What inspires your style of flow the most and how do you find your flow state? 

My style of flow I like to think comes from my hip hop dance background. I love how hard hitting and high intensity hip hop dance can be. So a lot of those tendencies come off in my hooping. I find my flow state when I am really just feeling a song or a jam session. I'll just release all of my pent up energy, frustrations, stress, anything. Just a general release into my dancing as if nothing else in the world mattered in those moments.

Tell us what makes you passionate about the flow arts. 

I have always felt that the art of dance is an extremely healthy emotional release, whether those be good emotions or bad emotions. I am passionate about flow arts because they aid me in this release, I find that after a nice dance session I feel so much healthier mentally and physically.

Tell us other ways you contribute to the flow arts and festival community.

I teach various workshops at kids summer camps, private events, and festivals. My company, M Newman Designs, has also donated hoops to: Cheyenne River Reservation's youth organization in South Dakota, and Adkins Arboretum silent auction for nature restoration projects.

Appearances

Adkins Arboretum, Magic in the Meadow 

Oxford Kids Camp

The Brixton, NYE Eve 

Oyster Riot

Adkins Arboretum, Magic in the Meadow