PixelFlowz
David Elijah - Florida
Hey I'm David Elijah. I'm 25 years old and originally from Brooklyn, New York but I was raised in Taylors, South Carolina. I'm currently serving in the Air Force in Mary Esther, Florida and have been doing so for 5 years now. I love to work out, play video games, watch movies, and I eat a lot. I also dabble in drawing/lettering as well.
q & a
29in OD Futurehoop Designer
I don't really have performing experience besides people who might stop to watch me when I'm outside somewhere flowing or during a festival or local event but I would absolutely love to perform for an artist and experience being part of a hoop troupe as well.
My flow style is more dance with some tech intertwined with it. I love musicality in my flow because it helps me really feel the music.
I would also definitely love to pick up poi, contact staff, and buugeng. Moving to a different prop with a different learning curve definitely opens the avenue for creativity when you come back to another prop. When I can make my left hand work I'll also get into the swing of hoop doubles.
As far as artist inspiration goes I'd definitely say Dizzydynamic, Leenillusions, Amber_flowz, Caikachu, Techswan, Guapoh, Julie Zats, and Aurahoops to name a few. Their styles are so unique almost like something you work towards to find and I absolutely love that.
I practice outside whenever it's not insanely humid and hot but it's usually been in my sun room at home. I've slowly migrated to a racquetball room at my gym on base bc man those ceilings are high and there's much more room!
I'm definitely excited festivals are coming back in full swing! I will be at Music Midtown, Beyond Wonderland at the Gorge as well as EDC Orlando so if you see me out there getting down come say hey! I'm super nice and friendly and would love to connect with fellow artists.
I started in September 2018 when I went to my first music festival which was Imagine in Atlanta. I saw this girl who was hooping her heart out and it just absolutely blew my mind I just had to try it. Funny thing about it all was that day also happened to be my birthday bc that weekend for the festival fell on it. My friends put money together to get me a hoop at one of the vendors there and it got me hooked!
Being part of the flow arts community has helped me immensely simply because it started to become a way away from everything, a stress reliever, a creative outlet that inspired me in even other parts of my life. I think the community makes an impact on a daily basis when you perform for people all the way to inspiring someone to pick up a prop and try it out. It's definitely a very expressive way to let your individuality shine.
Starting out for hoops I would always recommend starting bigger and downsizing. You will see most experienced hoppers using small hoops but I guarantee you most of them have a collection of huge ones to come back to and practice or even just to revisit some good old slow on body flow. Most of my learning process comes from watching other artists and incorporating aspects into my flow with my style but there are websites and even pages/hashtags specifically for hoop tuts and they are fantastic as well. I think learning it is ALOT easier now considering all of our resources and I love that it is.