Wild Rose students learned how to bring the world together with a simple hoop last week thanks to an artist in residence.
About 220 Wild Rose Elementary students put on a public hoop-dancing exhibition Friday in the school's gymnasium with the help of professional aboriginal hoop dancer Teddy Anderson.
Anderson is an author, motivational speaker and hoop dancer who was at the school as part of the provincial artist in residence program.
Anderson spent three days teaching students about the hoop dance and its symbolism, and had them make their own hoops, said Wild Rose assistant principal Erika Krempien.
"He doesn't just come and do the hoop dance," she said – he also speaks about the oneness of the human race.
The students have had their hoops on their chairs all week and were pumped for the big show, Krempien said. Some were so excited that they couldn't even sleep.
Tired though they may have been, the students put on a great show for their fellow classmates, spinning, looping and leaping their way through all the moves of a traditional First Nations hoop dance, transforming the rings into wings, butterflies and globes. The students performed one grade level at a time, using anywhere from two to five hoops.
They also cheered wildly as Anderson finished the show with a spectacular 30-hoop performance that saw him morph into eagles, snakes and other animals.
The wheel of unity
Anderson, 27, is a Red Deer resident who travels the world teaching youth about unity and cross-racial co-operation through hoop dancing.
"It's a beautiful art form," he said.
"It shows people a physical expression of being a global citizen."
Anderson is not aboriginal – he's got Norwegian, Scottish, and Persian blood in his background, and travelled to violence-riven places like Rwanda as a child with his parents, who worked for the United Nations.
"From a young age, I was obsessed with understanding why our world is stricken with violence," he said.
"I wanted to be able to bring something to help heal the world a little bit."
When he was about 15, Anderson says he witnessed a hoop-dance performance by Scott Ward, a Métis Ojibwa. Inspired, he asked Ward to teach him the dance. Ward agreed, and has since given Anderson special authorization to perform the dance.
The hoop dance dates back thousands of years and was originally used as a form of prayer during healing ceremonies, Anderson said. Central to it is the symbol of the circle and the four colours of the medicine wheel, which reflect the cycle of life, the four seasons, the four directions and the four peoples (red for the Americas, white for Europe, black for Africa and yellow for Asia).
"Each colour represents a grouping of people in the world, and the circle that holds them together is a symbol of harmony," he said.
The hoop dance means something different to everyone who performs it, Anderson said. He uses it as a physical expression of his background and of the belief that we are all one global family.
Anderson said he spoke to the students about the value of hard work and the importance of living in harmony with others as they made their hoops.
Anderson said he was very impressed by how the Grade 6 students mentored the younger grades during the lessons, and by how well the students could dance after just 30 minutes of training.
Student Jacob Lepine said that while he had seen hoop dances before, Anderson's lessons completely changed his view of them.
"I just thought it was a regular type of dance, but now I know it was used for prayer a long time ago."
Lepine said hoop dancing was very fun and a great way to learn about different cultures.
