... but lots of WCS dancers talk about working on compression with the refrig door or shopping cart. So there must be something to it?
Oh there's plenty to it. Shopping carts with beer, refrigerators with beer, bar counters with beer... eventually you're completely stonkered under the table, but by then you've got it down.
However, it's not the same sort of demonstration. With the rope, the thing on the other end really is your partner, so you can see that it works, and if you are paying attention you can see how it works, and so forth.
With the shopping cart (a) you are unlikely to have one readily at hand while demonstrating for a class, (b) the cart itself suggests rigidity, which is not the idea I am after.
A hula hoop is almost the right answer, though what I think I'm really after is one of those big pool noodles, or maybe a big inflatable thing, like an over sized balloon-animal balloon.
