ABOUT RYN HOOLIGAN

Fire and hoop | Entertainment and classes
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Ryn Hooligan is a seasoned fire performer and hula hoop artist residing in Melbourne. She first began her circus journey in 2009 in New Zealand when she joined her university’s ‘Fire and Juggling Club’. She learned fire poi, club juggling, and stilt walking before her obsession with a plastic circle started 8 months later. Hula hoops quickly became her preferred apparatus and she has now been in a relationship with a hula hoop for over 11 years!

Ryn began teaching hoop classes in Wellington, NZ and performed stilt walking, fire and hoop acts at circus festivals, community events, weddings, and music festivals including NZ’s largest New Year’s festival Rhythm and Vines.

In 2014 Ryn moved to Melbourne, renown worldwide for its arts and culture scene. Where she taught adult dance hoop classes for Puzzle Dust Circus, Hoops, Thighs and Buttocks, and Hoop Sparx as well as school holiday programs for BamBam Circus and FunFit. She also became an Early Childhood Educator working with children aged 1-5 daily.
In 2017 Ryn was a part of the Southern Fire Conclave, a performance troupe which was selected to perform as part of the ceremony prior to the ‘Man Burn’ at Burning Man in Black Rock City, USA. As a part of this troupe she choreographed a six person fire hoop act, as well as performed a fire whip solo and with the group fire fan finale.

On the tailwind of her two month trip to the USA and Europe opportunities to teach and perform started to flood in. Ryn found herself wondering “What would happen if i was able to fully commit to my art?” She decided to apply herself and chose to leave her permanent position at the childcare centre she worked at and started work casually as a relief educator so she could pursue performing and teaching more freely.

She has since choreographed multiple solo and group hoop performances, and performed with some of Melbourne’s best fire and hoop artists. She became a circus trainer for Dream Big – a community arts and wellbeing program based in Melton. She enjoys teaching stilt walking, hula hooping, poi, juggling, and human pyramids in high schools and at an after school family circus club. Ryn loves to share the joy of circus and watching people gain confidence and share laughter as they learn skills they never thought they could do. Ryn has produced a youth circus show ‘Change the Channel’ featuring 5 different circus acts performed by the Dream Big Circus Club. This show was performed at both The Village Festival (Edinburgh Gardens) and Djerriwarrh Festival.

Ryn has continued to push the limits of her performance, teaching and training. In addition to hoop and fire she has been advancing her skills in partner acrobatics, handstands, hoop juggling, and character development. She has also been exploring multimedia performance and the creative potential this brings as venue restrictions bring the world of performance online.