Hula Hoop Violin seems an odd performance combination, and it is. But Sofia executes the feat, every weekend in New York City’s Central Park.
by David Stone
As a kid, I was pretty good with a hula hoop. It was my ticket to attention during the toy’s brief fling at mass popularity.
I was so good, my older brothers entered me in a contest. It was the only thing I was ever able to do better than them.
See another New York City performance novelty: Colin Huggins piano kills fascists
So, I know keeping a hula hoop whirling around your hips is hard, so hard I can’t do it at all anymore. Now, imagine playing the violin at the same time.
Sofia does it for tips on sunny afternoons in Central Park.
In the video above, she does her thing, entertaining passersby at the Conservatory Water while enthusiasts float miniature sailboats nearby.
“I don’t know how you ever learned to do this, but I’m impressed,” I told Sofia as I let my own cash join a pile in her violin case.
A greater question I failed to ask: How on Earth did you ever come up with this idea?
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The Line That Didn’t Land
I stood in the back of Good Shepherd Chapel on the evening of April 15, 2026, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, watching people adjust scarves and jackets before the meeting began. Benjamin Jones, President and CEO of RIOC, thanked us for attending and, without a pause, said he was “pleased to host tonight’s town hall on the city’s demolition of its steam plant.” The demolition, in other words, was not up for discussion.
Wow, both are interesting performers! It’s fun to walk in park or a city and come across music.
Just before finding Sofia, we were sitting in hollow a little ways away and could hear a jazz group across a grove. There’s a lot of jazz in the parks, and I’ve recorded some of those, occasionally some classical. But Colin and Sofia are exceptional, Colin for his political stance about freedom and music and Sofia for her doing something enjoyable that most of us couldn’t accomplish with a hundred years of practice.