Around again: fitness classes making hula hoop hip once more.

What goes around, comes around ... as a new exercise regimen.

Hoopnotica, a collection of exercise/dance studios in Los Angeles County and Orange County, is using the hoary hula-hoop to help students firm up their abdominal muscles and get in shape.

Hoop dancer extraordinaire Rayna McInturf founded Hoopnotica late last year and, along with several other "hooper" business partners, incorporated as a business in early 2006. Since then, the exercise sessions have taken off and all of Hoopnotica's classes are full. There are even waiting lists.

"I have big dreams for it," McInturf said of her hoop dancing outfit. "I didn't know what it would look like as a business, but I wanted to be successful and reach out outside of L.A. and really grow it."

It's not just the classes that are popular. McInturf sells custom-designed, limited edition hoops for students on the Hoopnotica Web site, ranging in price from $35 to $50. She and her partners are also releasing two beginner level "hoop dancing" DVDs in November, with intermediate level videos to follow next year.

McInturf got the idea for her firm when she saw a woman performing hoop dance at a street fair in Silver Lake a few years ago and was mesmerized by the performer's movements.

She persuaded the woman to teach her how to hoop, and before long, McInturf was teaching classes in parks or any open space she could find.

"It became an absolute passion," she said. "I hate exercise, but I have a rockin' body now, which I never had before, and muscles I never knew were there."

Her skills caught the attention of famed Cirque du Soleil acrobatic performance troupe, who asked McInturf to perform at special events and at premieres in cities where the circus was opening, even in Montreal for the troupe's anniversary party.

"They asked me to audition for the circus, but it didn't fit into my game plan," McInturf said. "I'm thrilled to work with them on a limited basis, though."

It was when she was teaching one of her sessions that she met Gabriella Redding, now chief executive of the company.

Redding was a businesswoman who hadn't found her niche. She had tried her hand a co-managing a day spa, then moved on to a restaurant in Long Beach called Walkers by the Shore, but the venture was failing.

Redding and some friends went to one of McInturf's classes and were hooked. And she saw major business potential.

"What she sells is irrigation tubing and classes. How much overhead could she have? We realized it was something that could be very profitable," said Redding.

After some discussion, Redding and two friends purchased McInturf's assets and developed a business plan. They kept McInturf on board and gave her a percentage of the company, which has been financed by personal loans and capital from employees and partners. Redding said she doesn't plan to seek outside investment.

Thanks to a little publicity, Web site sales have increased 300 percent in the last month, according to Redding, and there are already dozens of pre-sale orders for the DVDs, which retail for $25.

McInturf and Redding said Hoopnotica won't have projections on DVD sales until next month, but believe that the merchandise portion of their business will quickly outstrip income from the $90-a-series classes.

"We do a lot of things out of budget, and wherever we can we give royalties instead of out-fight payment," said Redding.

BY ANNE RILEY-KATZ

Staff Reporter