If you're out and about in L.A. this weekend — Echo Park, the beach, downtown — and come across a bunch of hula-hooping adults dressed like extras from Back to the Future Part II, chances are you've stumbled upon Hoopurbia, an international “urban hooping” festival that has descended on L.A. this year after setting up in Berlin and Prague in years past. (Hey, you can even stumble on it on purpose; organizers announced via Twitter this morning that — spoiler alert — they're planning a flash mob at 951 N. Broadway at 7 p.m. tonight) 

Part fitness craze, part dance discipline, part appropriation of Native American hoop dancing, modern hula hooping doesn't much resemble the jerky, trepidatious way you hula hooped as a kid, often incorporating multiple hoops and various styles of contemporary dance.

Hoopurbia's been in progress since Monday, with daily workshops and dance classes, and it wraps up this weekend with a performance showcase and a competition tomorrow at the Sweat Spot in Silver Lake, and beach yoga and a picnic on Sunday. Hooping hobbyists who've snoozed on this — it's not too late to join your people. And the rest of us can still get an eyeful too. 

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