By Rachel George – Entertainment Editor
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, UNO hosted “Culture: Indian Style, Dance Exhibition” on Nov. 17.
The event began half an hour late at 12:30 p.m. and lasted until about 1 p.m.
Following Native American tradition, the event began with a prayer before kicking off the dance exhibition.
The first dance was a fancy shawl dance performed by Meredith Schramm. Before performing, she explained the dance as a more modern Native American dance that depicts the movement of the butterfly, as well as coming into womanhood.
The second dance, performed by Rebecca Lee and Antonia Tomayo, was a jingle dress dance. The story behind this dance says that a man’s daughter became very sick. He became very concerned for her and went up a hill, searching for a vision of what he should do. He saw a girl in a jingle dress and went back down the hill, relaying his vision to his tribe. Around this time, they began trading, and traded for Copenhagen lids to make the jingle dress used for this dance.
The third, the impressive hoop dance, was also performed by Meredith Schramm. This dance depicts the story of the eagle and it’s journey through life.
“Hoops symbolize eternity because there is no beginning or end,” Schramm said.
She explained that each hoop also symbolizes an event in life, either good or bad.
“We can choose to take those things and learn from them, or let the hoops get us tangled,” she said.
Schramm used an impressive 21 hoops in her dance.
The final dancer expected to perform was unable to attend the event.
After thanking exhibition sponsors, interested attendees were allowed to learn and practice the first simple step in the hoop dance.
Soup and fried bread were provided free of charge for all in attendance.
