Before spring break, students at Heights Middle School participated in a Hoop Dance workshop, taught by Diné-Hopi dance instructor Talavi Cook.
Farmington Municipal Schools Public Information Officer Robert Taboada said the hoop dance workshop and similar program are organized by the district’s Native American Program and the Native American Youth Advisors. In the past they have also hosted workshops and discussions on silversmithing and Coyote stories, among other topics.
Taboada said “the presentations are centered around ‘ajooba’ or compassion for self, others, and natural surroundings, as well as ‘hazhó’ó,’ or being purposeful and mindful about doing what’s best for the individual, ‘t’áá hwó ʼájítéego,’ or only you can do it, and ‘k’é hwiindzin’ or acknowledging and respecting clanship/relationship.”
Herbert Platero’s December presentation on silversmithing not only taught students the history of silversmithing, but also discussed the value of keeping the Diné language alive and the importance of maintaining traditions and knowledge.
The hoop dance workshop included a discussion on the history of the traditional Native American dance. The hoops symbolize the “never-ending cycle of life,” which has no beginning and no end. The workshop also included demonstrations of the dance and opportunities for the students to practice the dance’s steps and movements.
According to an interview with artist and hoop dancer Kevin Locke, there are usually 28 hoops used in the hoop dance, and they symbolize “a prayer that the promised renewal of the collective human spirit will accelerate and that we will all find our place in one great hoop made up of many hoops.”
The Native American hoop dance is performed as an individual show dance in many tribes. It features a solo dancer dancing with a dozen or more hoops and using them to form a variety of static and dynamic shapes.
Most of the hoop dances in tribes across North America belong to modern hoop dance, which was invented in 1930. Competitions display the intricate skills and finesse required for the hoop dance.
The most popular competition, the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest, occurs annually at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 100 dancers registered for the competition this year. The event draws anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors each year.
Native American hoop dance is recognized as a cultural heritage. It has been chronicled in documentary films and is celebrated as a living tradition in formal competitions.
The first World Hoop Dance Competition was held at the New Mexico State Fair in 1991. Eddie Swimmer, a Cherokee from Cherokee, North Carolina, was the first World Champion Hoop Dancer. Scott Sinquah, a Gila River, Pima, Hopi-Tewa, Cherokee and Choctaw dancer, recently won the adult championship in February.
Modern hoop dancing has evolved by becoming faster paced and incorporating moves from hip hop. Construction of regalia has changed as well, with the use of industrial piping to construct hoops that were originally made from reeds or willow branches.
As an increasing number of hoop dancers have begun touring around the world, interest in the art form has increased internationally. Nakota LaRance, a Hopi-Tewa hoop dancer and actor, was a nine-time World Championship winner. He won three youth division championships, three teenage division championships and three adult division championships by age of 23.
LaRance also performed on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “America’s Most Talented Kids,” and for the 2010-11 season of Totem by Cirque du Soleil before he died at age 30 in a climbing accident in 2020 near the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico.
The Hozhoni Days Powwow, which takes place March 31 to April 1 at Fort Lewis College, celebrates Native American culture and dance. The event was originally created by Clyde Benally. When speaking of the purpose of Hozhoni Days, Benally said the powwow “was the showing and sharing of our culture with each other and a way of developing brotherhood and sisterhood with other students who may be from different cultures.”
