Marria Grace
Marria Grace wears many hats and takes a leading role in most of the endeavors she is involved with. She is Marria Grace of the Boston Hoop Troop, Madame Sparks in the Grasshopper Fire Arts Collective and Madame Spinach in the Vegetable Circus.
Marria began her hooping journey at the Firefly Festival ~ the regional Burning Man event for New England ~ in July of 2005. She has no recollection of life before this date. She is convinced there was some fencing, yoga, and graphic design in her past. And while she has had no professional dance training, there has always been expression through dance in her life.
After teaming up with the early members of the Boston Hoop Troop, she helped the collective mature into a professional and widely known organization. Her devotion to spreading hoop culture to Boston, helped this pioneer bring acceptance and notoriety to all things hoop in this conservative New England culture.
Quitting her job as a graphic designer in June of 2008 allowed Marria to become Boston’s first full time professional hooper. She made her living by making hoops, performing and teaching a plethora of classes for adults and children. At one point she was teaching 10 sold out classes a week and all the experience helped her to develop a unique style that combines hooping, yoga, tricks and fun into a class flow that was suitable for any skill level. She worked with Roberto Lim to develop a Hoop Yoga playshop that is touring the country.
In March of 2009, Marria was celebrated as Hooping.org’s Hooper of the Week.
Marria taught a Partner’s Hooping workshop with Ammon EP at the first Hoop Convergence in 2008, and a Group Hooping workshop with Lolli Hoops in 2009. In 2010, she was honored as a hooping elder at Hoop Convergence for her past contributions, and helped run the forum on Hooping with Kids.
She has performed with the Boston Hoop Troop at a plethora of festivals, parties, parades & fairs including ~ The Rainbow Serpent Festival in Australia, Arcadia Festival in France, the Life is Good Festival, The Honk Parade, The Allston Street Fair, The Boston Burlesque Expo, Carny Knowledge & was featured on MTV's "Made," just to name a few.
Fire performance became a large part of her expression and she collaborated to help create the Grasshopper Fire Arts Collective. This group also allowed her to branch out into other spinning and movement arts, and now she can add acrobatics, juggling, poi, rope dart and staff to her repertoire. Teaming up with the youth enrichment and wellness program, Vegetable Circus, has allowed her to further develop some of these circus skills.
After 11 years in Boston, Marria decided it was time for a change of location and has moved to the California Bay Area. She hopes her hoop circle will continue to grow as her love of movement arts will evolve in this new culture.
Marria began her hooping journey at the Firefly Festival ~ the regional Burning Man event for New England ~ in July of 2005. She has no recollection of life before this date. She is convinced there was some fencing, yoga, and graphic design in her past. And while she has had no professional dance training, there has always been expression through dance in her life.
After teaming up with the early members of the Boston Hoop Troop, she helped the collective mature into a professional and widely known organization. Her devotion to spreading hoop culture to Boston, helped this pioneer bring acceptance and notoriety to all things hoop in this conservative New England culture.
Quitting her job as a graphic designer in June of 2008 allowed Marria to become Boston’s first full time professional hooper. She made her living by making hoops, performing and teaching a plethora of classes for adults and children. At one point she was teaching 10 sold out classes a week and all the experience helped her to develop a unique style that combines hooping, yoga, tricks and fun into a class flow that was suitable for any skill level. She worked with Roberto Lim to develop a Hoop Yoga playshop that is touring the country.
In March of 2009, Marria was celebrated as Hooping.org’s Hooper of the Week.
Marria taught a Partner’s Hooping workshop with Ammon EP at the first Hoop Convergence in 2008, and a Group Hooping workshop with Lolli Hoops in 2009. In 2010, she was honored as a hooping elder at Hoop Convergence for her past contributions, and helped run the forum on Hooping with Kids.
She has performed with the Boston Hoop Troop at a plethora of festivals, parties, parades & fairs including ~ The Rainbow Serpent Festival in Australia, Arcadia Festival in France, the Life is Good Festival, The Honk Parade, The Allston Street Fair, The Boston Burlesque Expo, Carny Knowledge & was featured on MTV's "Made," just to name a few.
Fire performance became a large part of her expression and she collaborated to help create the Grasshopper Fire Arts Collective. This group also allowed her to branch out into other spinning and movement arts, and now she can add acrobatics, juggling, poi, rope dart and staff to her repertoire. Teaming up with the youth enrichment and wellness program, Vegetable Circus, has allowed her to further develop some of these circus skills.
After 11 years in Boston, Marria decided it was time for a change of location and has moved to the California Bay Area. She hopes her hoop circle will continue to grow as her love of movement arts will evolve in this new culture.
