Post by blackcrowheart on Feb 7, 2006 17:52:39 GMT -5
Hoop dancers at Heard
Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
The drumbeat starts, the Native American chanters hit their first note, and Nakotah LaRance begins to move.
The wispy 16-year-old's feet pound to the beat in an almost unnaturally quick fashion and he begins to transform his five white hoops into shapes that, with only a hint of imagination required, become eagles, butterflies, horses, even a quacking duck.
But the athletic and charismatic Hopi youth from Flagstaff drew the biggest "ahs" from the nearly 5,000 spectators at the 16th-annual World Championship Hoop Dance on Sunday at the Heard Museum with some moves not usually seen in traditional routines. advertisement
"The handstand was a break-dance move," said LaRance, who cemented his reputation as one of the most dominant and popular figures in hoop dancing when he earned his sixth straight World Championship, his third in the teen category.
LaRance's moonwalk needed no explanation.
Veteran dancers like Tommy Draper, 60, of Kirtland, N.M., are far from taken aback by the youthful audacity of the younger dancers. Draper is just glad that youngsters are embracing the tradition, something that wasn't the case when he started dancing in the early 1960s. Dancing has taken Draper around the globe to Europe, Asia and Australia.
"These younger ones getting started, that's the biggest change I've seen," said Draper, a Navajo, the tribe that originated hoop dancing as a healing ritual in the Taos Pueblo of New Mexico. "Indian dancing is coming back, it's going down to the kids and that's good."
The other big change Draper has seen?
"We used to make the hoops out of willow; now we get them at Wal-Mart," he said.
The public-address announcer repeatedly referred to Sunday's event as "the Super Bowl of hoop dancing," a play both on that other event occurring Sunday afternoon and on the fact that there is no higher honor in dancing circles than competing in Phoenix.
Spectator Sandy Glass of Scottsdale decided to check out the competition for the first time Sunday because "I've only lived here 35 years and I thought it was time."
"It was fabulous," said Glass, 58. "I've been aware of it for years, but I just never took the time. And it beats sitting around watching a football game."
Glass said she was most surprised by the span of ages of the dancers, from tots as young as 2 to senior dancers like Navajo medicine man Jones Benally of Flagstaff, who appears to be in his 70s but wrote down his age as "ageless."
Dancers are judged on creativity, speed, showmanship, agility and precision. But dancer turned dance judge George Bear, 41, said he also tries to get inside the dancers' heads as they go through their physically grueling routines.
"I try to feel what they are feeling, what they are going through," Bear said. "There is a lot of thinking. I'm looking for, I don't really like to use this word, but I'm looking for perfection."
While the popularity of the competitions grows, so does the celebrity quotient for the dancers. For LaRance, Hollywood has already come calling. He played a major role in the Steven Spielberg-produced TNT miniseries Into the West as the rebellious youth Voices That Carry.
And Dallas Arcand, a Cree Indian from Alberta, will release his debut hip-hop album in the spring under his pseudonym Kray-Z-Kree. The 27-year-old Arcand also won a world championship in the adult division after placing second for two years in a row. First prize in the adult category is $2,500.
Cash prizes aside, Arcand said dancing has been a tremendous blessing, allowing him to "walk a good red road" in his life. In his culture, red is a symbol of good luck and balance, which explains Arcand's bright-red costume and face paint.
"It has provided me with a living, it has allowed me to travel and it has kept me in good health," Arcand said.
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0206hoopdance0206.html
Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
The drumbeat starts, the Native American chanters hit their first note, and Nakotah LaRance begins to move.
The wispy 16-year-old's feet pound to the beat in an almost unnaturally quick fashion and he begins to transform his five white hoops into shapes that, with only a hint of imagination required, become eagles, butterflies, horses, even a quacking duck.
But the athletic and charismatic Hopi youth from Flagstaff drew the biggest "ahs" from the nearly 5,000 spectators at the 16th-annual World Championship Hoop Dance on Sunday at the Heard Museum with some moves not usually seen in traditional routines. advertisement
"The handstand was a break-dance move," said LaRance, who cemented his reputation as one of the most dominant and popular figures in hoop dancing when he earned his sixth straight World Championship, his third in the teen category.
LaRance's moonwalk needed no explanation.
Veteran dancers like Tommy Draper, 60, of Kirtland, N.M., are far from taken aback by the youthful audacity of the younger dancers. Draper is just glad that youngsters are embracing the tradition, something that wasn't the case when he started dancing in the early 1960s. Dancing has taken Draper around the globe to Europe, Asia and Australia.
"These younger ones getting started, that's the biggest change I've seen," said Draper, a Navajo, the tribe that originated hoop dancing as a healing ritual in the Taos Pueblo of New Mexico. "Indian dancing is coming back, it's going down to the kids and that's good."
The other big change Draper has seen?
"We used to make the hoops out of willow; now we get them at Wal-Mart," he said.
The public-address announcer repeatedly referred to Sunday's event as "the Super Bowl of hoop dancing," a play both on that other event occurring Sunday afternoon and on the fact that there is no higher honor in dancing circles than competing in Phoenix.
Spectator Sandy Glass of Scottsdale decided to check out the competition for the first time Sunday because "I've only lived here 35 years and I thought it was time."
"It was fabulous," said Glass, 58. "I've been aware of it for years, but I just never took the time. And it beats sitting around watching a football game."
Glass said she was most surprised by the span of ages of the dancers, from tots as young as 2 to senior dancers like Navajo medicine man Jones Benally of Flagstaff, who appears to be in his 70s but wrote down his age as "ageless."
Dancers are judged on creativity, speed, showmanship, agility and precision. But dancer turned dance judge George Bear, 41, said he also tries to get inside the dancers' heads as they go through their physically grueling routines.
"I try to feel what they are feeling, what they are going through," Bear said. "There is a lot of thinking. I'm looking for, I don't really like to use this word, but I'm looking for perfection."
While the popularity of the competitions grows, so does the celebrity quotient for the dancers. For LaRance, Hollywood has already come calling. He played a major role in the Steven Spielberg-produced TNT miniseries Into the West as the rebellious youth Voices That Carry.
And Dallas Arcand, a Cree Indian from Alberta, will release his debut hip-hop album in the spring under his pseudonym Kray-Z-Kree. The 27-year-old Arcand also won a world championship in the adult division after placing second for two years in a row. First prize in the adult category is $2,500.
Cash prizes aside, Arcand said dancing has been a tremendous blessing, allowing him to "walk a good red road" in his life. In his culture, red is a symbol of good luck and balance, which explains Arcand's bright-red costume and face paint.
"It has provided me with a living, it has allowed me to travel and it has kept me in good health," Arcand said.
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0206hoopdance0206.html