Hoop Dancing in Jamaica
Here’s a great little piece from the Jamaica Observer about a Baha’i youth who was there performing Native American hoop dances.
From the Observer:
HOOP DANCE
I finally found my way to UTech on Tuesday where Theodore Varqa Anderson, an expert in Native American hoop dance was to appear between 1:00 and 5:00 pm. Arriving at 3.30 pm, I had, of course, missed the performance but had a quick chat with the performer who was still there.
The occasion was a church fair promoting religious communities such as the Baha’i Faith. Anderson, quite admirably, was spending his Spring Break not tearing up Margarita’s, but, under the Baha’i auspices, touring communities in Jamaica doing his hoop dancing.
His theme with his 30 red, white, yellow and black hoops is to promote unity and understanding between people of all shades and back-grounds. He tells a story in the 45 minutes or so that the dance lasts but wonders if, with our motto - Out of many…” we aren’t already there. I told him I thought there was still room for his ministry.
I discovered that, although the 17 year-old was born in Canada and is at school there, he was brought up in Rwanda so, naturally, I talked to him about the film. He assures me that it does not lie and is successful in conveying the tragic situation in that country. [this is a reference to the previous piece about the movie "Hotel Rwanda"]
You can read the whole peice here but you’ll have to scroll down past all of the other lifestyle news.