The Hoop Dance
A traditional dance originally performed by the Elk Society with four hoops. The Hoop Dance is now a very popular exhibition dance performed throughout Indian country. All dancers have their own designs and stories to tell with the hoops as they dance. In my version, I use 28 hoops to represent the days in the lunar cycle, the 28-day period that completes the phases of the moon. I use 28 hoops to show Wetu Wi - Spring Moon, or the 28 days beginning in March during which all the signs of spring appear.

The hoops that I use are in 4 colors - black, red, yellow and white. These 4 colors are used by many indigenous people of Native America to symbolize the 4 seasons and the 4 directions. The different colors also remind us of the various kindreds and complexions of the different peoples throughout the planet. The designs that I make while dancing remind us of Spring - the season when the ice and snow and darkness are replaced by light, warmth, growth, color, fragrance, movement and beauty. In the world of humanity we need the light of knowledge and the warmth of love in order to grow and progress, and when we receive these then we can make beautiful patterns of unity that will help us as we move into the new millennium.

I dedicate this vision dance of renewal to the new patterns of unity we must all strive to create. As we free ourselves from the darkness, the ice and winter of hatred, we transform into the spring-like designs portrayed in the Hoop Dance. We welcome and awaken to the sun of a new day. We walk the road leading us to this new day…