Hula-hooping classes on Corey Beach offer a fun spin on fitness

Patricia Ross stands on Corey Beach in Blue Point like the Statue of Liberty, but instead of a torch, her upstretched arm controls a spinning Hula-Hoop.

Until it accidentally clocks the 60-year-old hospital security worker from East Patchogue in the head, spins wildly off her arm and tumbles across the sand.

"We love flying hoops!" yells Joan Vilardi, 66, of Centereach, reassuring Ross that her fumble is not concerning.

Vilardi teaches a hula-hooping class on the sand on certain July Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Sessions are sponsored by the town of Brookhaven but are open to people who are not town residents. On this Wednesday, 15 women gather in a circle, mimicking Vilardi as she shows them how to swivel a hoop on their hips, over their heads like a lasso, around a knee.

"The class is creative hoop movement," Vilardi says. "We learn all different kinds of movements and put them all together in your hoop flow." Vilardi says she started hooping to lose weight — but loved it so much she decided to teach and has been doing so year-round for 13 years at libraries and beaches on eastern Long Island. "It’s just so much fun," says Vilardi, who by day works in a hospital pharmacy. "I wanted to turn everyone else on to it."

LIKE RIDING A BIKE?

Sharon Stenger, 57, of Patchogue, a retired social services employee, says she is "coming in cold" before a recent class, having not used a Hula-Hoop since she was a kid. "I’m just hoping I can still do it," she says during the warmup.

"It’s like riding a bike, right?" asks Karen Jackson, of Brookhaven Hamlet, who works for a life insurance company. But even if things go awry, "who doesn’t want to be on the beach on a beautiful summer night?"

The women exchange strategies — "You’ve got to keep a rhythm," says Jackie Silverstein, 52, an accountant from Shirley. The key is to swivel your hips, advises Marilou DeSetto, 71, of Medford, an administrator for a propane gas company. DeSetto, a grandmother, says her teenage grandchildren "laughed so hard" when they heard she was taking a Hula-Hoop class. "They said, ‘Grandmas don’t do Hula-Hoop.’ I said, ‘Oh, yes, we do.’"

‘YOUR DANCE PARTNER’

"The hoop is your dance partner," Vilardi tells the women as she imparts skills such as envisioning the hoop as a clock while looking down at it around the waist. "See how my hands are at 4 and 7 o’clock? Left you grab it at 7 o’clock. Right you grab it at 4."

The hoops Vilardi provides for class are bigger in circumference and heavier than a childhood Hula-Hoop toy, which makes them easier for adults to work with, she says. She makes them from PVC pipe that she wraps in duct tape and gaffer tape for gripping. "Look into your halo," Vilardi tells the group as they hold hoops above their heads.

Maggie Zongur, 42, a pharmacy technician from Shirley, is more experienced than most of the women; she has a hoop at home. She’s able to chat while simultaneously spinning her hoop around her waist. She says she recently bought a house and has a high school graduate, a third grader and a dog at home. "I’m just looking to meet people, get out and do something," she says.

‘VERY FENG SHUI’

Vilardi hi-fives DeSetto, the grandmother, encouraging her as she twirls her hoop. "Just so you know, girls, I couldn’t do this at first. I had a hard time," Vilardi says.

DeSetto can relate. "We’re all laughing, we’re all dropping it and getting it wrong," DeSetto says. "We’re all in it together."

Becoming a master of the hoop isn’t the point, says Ross, who is enjoying the exercise and the environment despite having her hoop fly off her hand. "The sun is setting and you’ve got the fresh breeze from the water," she says. "I don’t know if you want to call it Zen or feng shui, but it feels very feng shui."

However, she adds, laughing: "I’m going to need a glass of wine when I get home."