It is 2:15, we are all gathered in our large school gym. Two people dressed in feathers of various colours come into the room. I cannot be helped but to think this is not normal attire for a formal presentation.
“What are they doing?” A question thrown out by many of my fellow students echoing my thoughts about their attire being abnormal.
They are let on stage and they grab what appears to be hoola hoops. Loud music with no lyrics begins to play. It sounds like a drum and a man screaming at the top of his lungs.
“What is this music?” A younger kid in front of me asks.
I have had similar thoughts myself however the music has begun to grow on me as I watch the performance being put on in front of us.
The people begin dancing with the many hoops they hold. They look like birds, graceful in every movement they make, bouncing along rhythmically with the music. The first song is less then a minute in length and is followed by a similar beat but this time it comes not from speakers but a man sitting atop what looks like a drum. There is now a full-on live performance happening between the dancer and the drummer/singer.
When the performance ends the singer and dancers stand together.
“That was really cool!” I verbalize my thoughts on the performance.
“This is a traditional song performed with a tradition instrument. The dance accompanying it is also one of tradition to my people. In our culture it is incredibly important to be able to have these culturally important dances performed. We hope to teach you guys parts of how to dance like this to.” The singer explains passing the mic to the dancer.
“Let us have everyone get into a circle and join hands. then we will pass the hoop around the circle as a team.” He asks for our cooperation.
The hoop is passed though all of us students and the dancer as the sing beats his drum in a beat and makes us a song. The hoops reach my hand and I step through it as all the students before me had.
“Everyone, please sit for just one more minute.” The dancer asks. Everyone in the room sits with intent on absorbing what this man was going to say.
“I hope you learned something important about culture today.” The singer states.
I loved every second of hoop dance performance and it was amazing to be exposed to a performance like this one.
Hello Gavin, I enjoyed reading your first self-story. I believe you really captured the idea of living in the moment, and not getting caught up in the back story. As I read your story, I remembered going to powwow’s or having Indigenous dancers come to our school to teach us about Indigenous culture. When you mentioned within your story the reaction the kid Infront of your reaction to the music it reminded me of the same reaction I had the first time I heard that kind of music. I too was so confused because I had never heard anything like that before. When you described how the men were dancing saying, “They look like birds, graceful in every movement they make, bouncing along rhythmically with the music” I really felt like I could see the dancer. That section was very descriptive. I liked how you added the part about how you got to participate by passing the hoop around. One thing you could have added to make that moment a little more descriptive would maybe be the thoughts you had or how participating in that activity made you feel. I also liked how you incorporated some of the messages of dancer and singer shared with you at the time. The moment you chose to describe is a great example of what it means to be Canadian, as learning about indigenous culture, and their people is so important as we work to reconcile with them on their path to healing. Overall, the story you wrote was well written, and reminded me of my own experiences.