One of the things we love most about hooping is cranking up the tunes and spinning it up, but what if you couldn’t hear the music? Monica Foletta, otherwise known as Hula Bella, first picked up a hoola hoop back in 2011 and though profoundly deaf, she’s been spinning up a storm ever since. Wanting to fine tune her hooping skills even more and be a bigger part of the community, she registered for Hoopcamp which is taking place later this month. There was a problem though. How was she going to be able to learn as effectively without an interpreter, and how was that going to happen when she could barely afford to get there herself? Answer: We decided to give her interpreter a full scholarship, and we decided we really needed to get to know Monica. Not only is she a dynamic hooper in her own right, she’s busy sharing the hoop love with others, especially those who are deaf as well. So join me for a very special interview with the amazing Monica Foletta, our Hooper of the Week!
Philo: When did you start hooping and how?
Monica: I picked up a hula hoop during the summer of 2011 when my friend had one and was into it right away, and then I started becoming very serious about trying to learn the craft of hula hooping in Spring 2012 at Lightning in a Bottle. I remember it like it was yesterday, going to the hula hoop workshop at LIB I was able to see everyone else, all of these other hoopers, and they all were so advanced and seasoned with different tricks I couldn’t do.
Philo: And look at you now! Actually, what does your hooping life look like now?
Monica: The hooping life I have now is insane. I had not imagined I would be able to get this far in a 3.5 year span. I have been able to earn my Hoop Dance Teaching certification, perform over 40 shows in one year, and get to travel places I never thought I’d visit or perform at.
Philo: Right? It’s exciting. How old were you when you were diagnosed with a hearing loss?
Monica: I became very sick with spinal meningitis and a fever when I turned one-year-old and it caused me to have some hearing loss. Overtime growing up I became profoundly deaf in one ear and can hear about 80 dB with a hearing aid.
Philo: Did you go to mainstream school? A school for the deaf?
Monica: I went to a couple of mainstream programs with other deaf children in North California when I was younger, and then in 4th grade my parents decided it was time for me to go to a deaf school where I could have access to 100% communication with other students and teachers. My parents found it very important to have 100% communication access for me to have a successful future.
Philo: Do you lip-read? Is doing so difficult?
Monica: I definitely know how to lipread. I didn’t find it difficult because all of my family is hearing and when I was learning how to use a hearing aid I was required to take speech class to help me comprehend how to speak the ABCs, vowels, words and how to talk with others. My parents would teach me the correct way if I didn’t get it right by placing my hands on the throat so I could understand how low or high it should be spoken.
Philo: How do hearing people react when they find out your deaf?
Monica: To tell you the truth sometimes people will think I am lying because I can talk or understand what they are saying, but it is not true. People always get surprised how I don’t need to hear to make myself have hula hoop flow and still have rhythm.
Philo: Do you interact with the hearing world or the deaf world more?
Monica: I happen to hang out with the hearing world more than the deaf world, but I have a lot of deaf friends I see often and usually they are interested in learning hooping tricks because they don’t understand people talking on tutorials on YouTube. I do usually hang with hearing folks in the hooping world though and I also feel so comfortable being around them and trying to communicate by showing each other different tricks and combinations.
Philo: How has hooping changed your life?
Monica: Hooping has changed my life in a short time from being Monica to Hula Bella! I have became more serious about my health and it helps me become more positive everyday, to be able to get up and be motivated. It was a huge transition from being a beginner hooper to a professional hooper in 3.5 years. I believed in myself more than I ever did in my life because I knew I would be able to do the tricks if I challenged myself every day. That mindset helped me have a better mentality of how I could become the person I wanted to be, as an example to anyone out there.
Philo: What do you do when you’re not hooping?
Monica: I’m a dogsitter/walker during my spare time and volunteer for different things regarding deaf children and I try to go on adventures when I have the chance to travel.
Philo What are the biggest challenges deaf/hearing impaired Hoopers face within the hooping community?
Monica: The biggest challenge is giving deaf people the key they don’t know how to use. Hula hoops are my biggest key into the hearing community. They give me the ability to interact with anyone. I don’t need the verbal actions to give to anyone with hooping, which is why I embrace hula hoops and just keep playing with them, to make people smile or learn something new about life itself and how people can do anything.
Philo: I love the language of hooping itself. What advice would you give an instructor looking to teach hooping to someone with hearing loss?
Monica I only have had one hula hoop lesson in my whole hooping career and it was with Morgan Jenkins and she was very visual and easy to understand because hula hooping is all about doing the moves accurately. The advice I would give to hula hoop instructors who teach deaf people is that they should show every angle of hooping with the hoop so deaf hoopers can get a clear picture instead of copying behind or front of them, stick to being very simple with motions that can be copied easily.
Philo: Awesome. What advice would you offer a deaf person who is interested in giving hooping a spin?
Monica: Normally you will automatically shut down the choices of lessons when you see a class not have an interpreter or communication access because you want to have an easier way to have direct communication. Hula Hooping doesn’t require direct communication, it just needs the person to have good concept of copying every move the hoop teacher does.
Philo: Do you have a favorite hooping memory or two to share?
Monica: I have some memories that have been significant to me, one being at the Bay Area Deaf Dance Festival when it was my first time actually performing on a stage. I never thought I would be able to perform on a stage and I had people who believed in me and that feeling I had after performing 3 night shows made me realize I could do anything on stages and wherever I perform I knew I belonged there. I also found out about another deaf festival in Reims, France, that focused on performers and entertainers and the deadline was 4 days away. I knew I had to apply. It took me a month to hear back from them and I was pleased to hear they selected me. It was all meant to be! After my hard working mindset I was able to produce something. People did believe in me, that I had talent to do it.
Photo by Cilla Photography
Philo: Awesome! Any advice for someone picking up a hoop for the first time today?
Monica: I want to share with everyone what I have learned in life, something that has made me a better person. You should accept any mistakes that you make in your life, that you can do it better next time because we all have to learn to build ourselves from nothing to something. Just know that anything you set your head to will be achieved with your effort. Mistakes along the way should be welcomed because its the best way we can learn.
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