Twice a week, a handful of BU students gathers in a small basement gym behind the George Sherman Union. There, hoops, flow wands, and glowing poi balls fly through the air as Ariella Darvish (CGS’13, CAS’15), president of the BU Hooping Project, teaches the flow arts.

“Flow arts is the practice of making your body become one with your toy,” says John Hall (CAS’15), the group’s vice president. “It’s about trying to make your toy do the absolute coolest things it can do.”

The club was launched in 2012 by Rose Kreditor (CGS’12, CAS’14), who bought up every Hula-Hoop on Craigslist in the Boston area and began organizing meet-ups for BU hoopers. Then she approached the Student Activities Office about making the BU Hooping Project an official University club.

Darvish, who took over when Kreditor graduated, says the Hooping Project hopes to make hooping and flow arts accessible to anyone. “It’s kind of like yoga in a sense,” she says. “When you’re flowing, it’s just you and your circle, and nobody can really tell you how to do it. And when you leave, the world starts again.”