Cameron Fraser-Monroe of the Tla’amin First Nation performed this Hoop Dance the same week he was dancing with Red Sky Performance in the Doris Duke Theatre. Both performances were part of The Land on Which We Dance, Jacob’s Pillow’s weeklong celebration of Indigenous dance and culture. Born in Vernon, British Columbia, Fraser-Monroe grew up studying traditional Indigenous dance as well as Western dance forms including ballet at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Fraser-Monroe’s non-traditional Hoop Dance was informed by his years of study with World Champion Hoop Dancer Dallas Arcand. While many tribal groups across North America have traditions of using hoops in ceremony and performance (such as the one performed by American Indian Dance Theater), the multiple hoop version seen today stems in large part from the performances of Tony White Cloud, Jemez Pueblo. White Cloud stylized and popularized the Hoop Dance, performing it widely including at American Indian Expositions in the 1930s and in the 1942 movie Valley of the Sun starring Lucille Ball.
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