Lightning Boy Foundation’s youth hoop dance competition returns to Santa Fe with special film screening

The hoop dance, is believed to have started as a healing ceremony among Taos Pueblo medicine men, is now a vibrant expression of artistry and athleticism

On the weekend of Saturday, Aug. 2, and Sunday, Aug. 3, the Lightning Boy Foundation will host its fourth annual Youth Hoop Dance Championship. Held at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, the Lightning Boy competition is one of the most prestigious hoop dancing events in the nation. The event is free, and all are invited.

“It takes a lot to become a champion,” said Josiah Enriquez, the reigning 2024 and 2025 World Hoop Dancing Champion in the adult division.

“I’m consistently practicing every day,” Enriquez said. “The first year I won the hoop dance competition at the Heard Museum, for that one, I was practicing eight hours a day for two months.”

Leading up to this year’s competition, a short narrative film about hoop dancing, “Courage,” will screen at Santa Fe’s Jean Cocteau Cinema. The film will screen multiple times on Friday, Aug. 1, and those wishing to see the film should contact the theater for details.

Eric Michael Hernandez wrote and directed “Courage,” which stars three-time world champion teen hoop dancer Mateo Ulibarri. Cara Jade Myers, who starred in the Academy Award-nominated “Killers of the Flower Moon,” plays his mother and Geneviève Gros-Louis composed original music for the film.

“This is the story of my experience, growing up as a Native person in Los Angeles,” Hernandez said. “I’m a member of the Lumbe tribe from North Carolina, but growing up in LA, I was disconnected from my community and my culture, and I struggled with identity. It wasn’t until I was about 12 years old and my uncle taught me the traditional Native American hoop dance that I was able to connect with my culture.”

Ulibarri, 15, said starring in the film was “really enjoyable” and not scary.

“I’m already used to being in front of a lot of people with hoop dancing,” Ulibarri said. “So, it didn’t feel much different to me.”

Hernandez said it was “amazing” to watch Ulibarri’s “development throughout the production.”

“He was really a natural,” Hernandez said, “from preproduction when he was not only memorizing the lines but also diving deeper into the character, to being on set. By day three, he was already a professional.”

Hernandez said the “magic” of Ulibarri’s dancing is that he “makes things that are difficult look easy.”

“When you watch him, you’re able to see the gracefulness and beauty of the hoop dance,” Hernandez said. “It’s really special when someone’s able to achieve that level.”

“Every hoop dance looks different, and although we use a lot of the same images, each hoop dancer has an opportunity to share their own style and tell their own story through their hoop dance routine,” Hernandez said.

Hoop dancing champion Enriquez explained the meanings behind some classic hoop dance routines.

“When we start dancing, we try to pick up our hoops with our feet and not with our hands, to give respect to Mother Earth,” Enriquez said. “Each hoop tells a different story, and everybody tells their story differently. But we do have very similar moves, which starts around five hoops. We have the ladder of life, which tells the stages of life, from a newborn to a toddler, to a teenager, an adult and an elder. That’s with five hoops. Then, it switches to the alligator, or here in the pueblos, we call it the avanyu, which is a water serpent, and that’s a deity that we pray to, to bring water and moisture to the village.”

“And from there, we switch into the horse or the cowboy,” Enriquez continued. “That design gives respect to all our four legged animals. From there, we move on to the flower. The flower represents all the plants in the world.”

“We always end with the world,” Enriquez said. “The world is our home. And we can’t make the world with just one hoop. We have to bring all our hoops together to make our world.”

The hoop dance has changed dramatically from its origins generations ago.

“The hoop dance originated in Taos Pueblo. It was a healing ceremony back then, and it was only done with one hoop, and the medicine men were the only ones able to perform or do this dance. If you were out of balance, physically, mentally or spiritually, they would perform it to bring you back to balance,” Enriquez said.

“Over time, it changed to a more contemporary dance, and we give credit to Tony White Cloud (in the 1930s), who started using multiple hoops and doing more designs with those hoops. Over time, we progressed, and we made it more contemporary,” Enriquez said.

However, he said he believes the dance still has a healing effect, in that it brings communities together and lifts people’s spirits.

“We were always taught to think of giving life to other people, to bring happiness to the world,” he said. “And that’s what I try to give out: happiness and peace. You know, to make somebody smile with my dance. And that never fails. Whenever I dance, there’s always people smiling, which makes me happy.”

The Lightning Boy Foundation was established in 2017 to honor the young hoop dancer Valentino “Tzigiwhaeno” Rivera, who died in a car accident at the age of 8. He was known as “Tzigiwhaeno,” which means “lightning” in his Tewa language. Today, the Lightning Boy Foundation, which is directed by Valentino’s mother, Felicia Rosacker-Rivera, promotes the traditional hoop dance and other visual and performing arts among Indigenous youth in New Mexico.

Hernandez, the filmmaker, understands how much the hoop dance means to Indigenous communities across the Southwest, but he also believes its power transcends cultures.

“I think the hoop dance carries something for everybody,” Hernandez said. “It is something that is traditionally practiced within our community, but very often as a hoop dancer, you are performing for non-Native people. I like to find the bridge between Natives and non-Natives, or allies, and how they can receive what the hoop dance has to give and be inspired by it. As I wrote the film ‘Courage,’ I wanted this story to resonate with a large audience, not just Natives.”

Ulibarri agreed.

“I have cousins on the other side of my family who aren’t Native, and I have a lot of friends who aren’t Native but who also enjoy watching hoop dancing,” Ulibarri said. “The response is always the same. It’s amazement and happiness. So, I just want everyone to be able to see it.”

Lightning Boy Foundation’s youth hoop dance competition returns to Santa Fe with special film screening