Thank you to the Native Hoop Dance Class Sponsored by @balletarizona! Their students performed trust on Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the UNCONTAINED Cultural Stage! Students here have a basic understanding of Hoop Dance and dancing with the hoops. Students explore stories, symbols, and expressive movement honoring the cultural tradition. ABOUT HOOP DANCING The art of hoop dance honors the cultural traditions from multiple Indigenous communities that first employed hoop dance as a healing ceremony. Today, hoop dance is shared as an artistic expression to celebrate and honor Indigenous traditions throughout the U.S. and Canada. Hoop dancing is a long-standing tradition in many Native cultures. This unique dance can involve the use of more than 50 hoops. Passed down from one generation to the next, hoop dancing communicates individual and tribal stories using hoops to create symbols and depict animals of great meaning in Native communities. The continuous circle of the hoops symbolizes the circle of life and the continual changing of the seasons.’ INSTRUCTORS: Eva Bighorse - @bighorseva Eva Bighorse is turtle clan of the Cayuga Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, born for the Haskaahadzohi (Yucca-Fruit-Strung-In-A-Line clan) of the Dine’ Nation (Navajo Nation). She is from the edge of the Cayuga lake from the North Eastern Woodlands region, but grew up in the South Bay Area in Northern California. (Continued in bio)