Native American Hoop Dance Class

According to the Heard Museum, ‘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.’

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. She enjoys participating in many kinds of powwow and other social dances but particularly enjoys the Iroquois Smoke Dance and honors the tradition of her father as a hoop dancer in the Navajo style. She has toured internationally for audiences in 9 countries. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a Bachelors of Science in Public Health and currently works as a public policy liaison for the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities.

Ballet Arizona developed the Tribal Nations Advisory Council to explore ways to partner with and engage the local Native community. Members of the advisory council are Otakuye Conroy-Ben (Lakota), Colin Ben (Navajo), Roxanne Thomas (Paiute/Navajo), Ginger Sykes-Torres (Navajo), Christy Vezolles (Shawnee), Eva Bighorse (Navajo), Javier Torres, and Camila Ibarra.

If you are a current Ballet Arizona Hoop Dance student, you may use the video resources below to help you prepare for class and practice what you’ve learned!  Please use the password(s) provided to you to access these resources.

Hoop Building

Multi Hoop Moves

One Hoop Moves