By Riley Roduner / True Dakotan
With the “heartbeat of the universe” heard throughout the entire gymnasium, Star Chief Eagle of the Rosebud Lakota Tribe danced her way into the hearts of the students and staff at the Wessington Springs Elementary School.
As part of the Springs Area Council of the Arts (SACOTA) Artist in Residence Program, Star Chief Eagle performed a traditional Native American Hoop Dance to the drumbeat of indigenous music on Tuesday, October 11 and worked with the 5th and 6th graders throughout the rest of the week not only within social studies standards including Lakota heritage, history and tradition but also hoop dancing routines that were later performed for Weskota Manor Avera residents Friday morning.
With a father who already holds the title of World Champion Hoop Dancer, Star Chief Eagle has worked her whole life to follow in her father’s footsteps. The art of Hoop Dancing is special to her because it has been passed down to her from her grandfather. Since the member of the Rosebud Lakota Tribe started learning how to hoop dance at just one year old, Star Chief Eagle and her family - one of just three dancing families throughout the Midwest - have performed the dance for nine years at the Crazy Horse Monument. This traditional dance is performed as a way of telling a story using hoops to create shapes as the dancer moves to music.
Star Chief Eagle showed elementary students and staff examples of the many shapes she would be making and how to say them in her native Lakota language. These shapes included animals such as an eagle, buffalo, butterfly and bear. The animal shapes she created represented the respect for the world and nature in order to have balance and unity. The drumbeat that was heard throughout the entire gymnasium represented the heartbeat of the universe. In the Native American culture, they are taught to respect the world and everything it has to offer.
She said that her dance represented her life’s journey, “One hoop represents me being born. The animal shapes I make represent different stages in my life. And when I dance with all 22 hoops, it represents my life today and goals I have for the future.”
The last shape she created in her dance was one that secured her father’s world champion title and Star Chief Eagle hopes to continue his legacy using the same design in February when she travels to Phoenix, Arizona to compete in the Hoop Dancing World Championship.
