BROOKINGS World Hoop Dance Champion and Rosebud Sioux tribal member Dallas Chief Eagle will share both the hoop dance and Lakota wisdom during a free event at Brookings Public Library this week.
Ive been doing (the hoop dance) since I was 12 years old, and my daughter has probably been doing it since she was 2, Chief Eagle said. Ill be coming with my daughter, and were going to put on a little hoop dance. And then if theres children in the audience, we brought some hoops for them. And my daughters going to sing a song a Lakota song.
Chief Eagle and his daughter Jasmine have been sharing the hoop dance with audiences across the country. In 2007, they presented the hoop dance at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Im giving people an alternative or support on how we take care of ourselves from a Lakota perspective, Chief Eagle said. I have five children that have gone all over the world. My daughter just called me from the Smithsonian she did a program at the Smithsonian Institute last week. And my other two daughters went to Crow Creek for Veterans Day.
He said they share the hoop dance to teach about balance and harmony.
We have the father sky and the mother earth, Chief Eagle said. If you look at the horizon line when the sun comes up, if you follow that line all the way around that is the circle of life. Whatever direction you face, you have this circle. There is a balance between the father sky and the mother earth. Adults are like that around the world and in our communities. They help us grow the men and women of our communities.
He said community elders have valuable lessons on how to cope with suffering or misfortune.
(There are) four tools we were born with mind, body, heart, spirit, Chief Eagle said. We want to manage those parts; but sometimes our minds are overwhelmed, sometimes our emotions are overwhelmed, sometimes our bodies are overwhelmed. We can manage them better and allow our intuition, spirit, or soul to help us manage and take care of those situations.
Chief Eagle and his daughter will demonstrate that with some Indian Fantail pigeons.
My daughter and I will go into a little dance with our birds, Chief Eagle said. We put the birds in the middle of the buffalo robe. Then were calming them down, and were calming ourselves down so we can trust one another and get rid of our preconceived ideas. We can just allow ourselves to be right here, right now with the birds. And pretty soon theyll walk over towards you, because they trust you.
He said trust and balance are key steps towards healing.
If you get a broken hoop, youve got to continue to trust and go get support and help to mend your hoop to mend your wound, Chief Eagle said. If theres something thats not working right with our brain or emotions or body, lets go get help for it so we can be one whole person who can perform with other people. And thats what were going to do were going to perform the hoop dance, and were going to dance to the heartbeat.
He hopes participants leave with a sense of calm and inner peace.
Some of us get caught up in the crazy world out there, and we get confused. We get anxiety, we wonder if there might be a war going on inside yourself or outside yourself. How do you manage yourself to make your walk in life much more comfortable and more open? Chief Eagle said. We send people into outer space, we spend a lot of time in outer space but we need to spend more time and see how deep we can go into inner space. And each of us can do that for ourselves.
Chief Eagle will be at Brookings Public Library on Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. The event is free, open to all ages and sponsored in part by the South Dakota Arts Council.
Email Jay Roe at [email protected].
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