What's better than a three-ring circus?

A four-ring circus, of course! Professional hula hoop dancer Pinto Bella demonstrated just that to children at Plumb Library, dancing with up to four hula hoops while echoing Peter Pan.

"Our job as kids is to remind the adults to never grow up," she said to the assembled audience outside the library on July 10.

Bella, the owner of Pinto Bella Movement Arts, travels the country to teach the joys of hula hooping. Her performance at the library was the second in two years.

She encouraged all of the children in their hula hoop efforts.

"I didn't even learn to hula hoop until I was 25," she told the assembled children. "You're way ahead of me on this path."

Bella covered the social and physical benefits of hula hooping, and then pointed out the many different materials that hula hoops can be made from. "These are made of PVC pipe that someone discarded," she said, pointing to a few small black hoops lying on the ground.

After demonstrating a hula hoop dance performance, using between two and four hoops, Bella set the children (and adults) loose to try their own hula hoops.

The children also decorated a hula hoop that Bella donated to Plumb Library after the session.

The program was sponsored by the Friends of Plumb Library.