MEOW WOLF News:
SANTA FE — In celebration of Indigenous Heritage Month, dancers from the Lightning Boy Foundation will perform traditional hoop dances onstage at the famed art exhibition.
The visually spectacular event will take place 4:30 – 5:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 14 in Fancy Town, the neon-lit venue space inside Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe.
The event will begin with a Tewa land acknowledgement by Edwin Felter (Nambe Pueblo), followed by an overview of the history of the hoop dance from Lightning Boy Foundation co-chairs Steve LaRance and Felicia Rivera. Felter will then sing and drum traditional Tewa songs, accompanied first by groups of youth dancers followed by master dancers. More than twenty dancers will perform amidst the dazzling glow of black lights and the projection-mapped facade of the venue space.
“The Native American Hoop Dance has deep roots here in Northern New Mexico and is ‘New Mexico True,’” said Steve LaRance, referring to the state’s marketing slogan. “It has origins in the Pueblos of Northern New Mexico and is known as a traditional ‘Healing Ceremony.’ Today’s contemporary Native American Hoop Dance celebrates the beauty of life or ‘Circle of Life’ and all the gifts that Mother Earth provides. As the dancers move to Native song and drum, they weave their hoops into many different designs representing animals and elements of nature. These formations include representations of the Eagle, Butterfly, Horse and Water Serpent, a pueblo deity. Other designs include the flower, ‘ladder of life’ and Mother Earth.”
“This dance empowers our native youth,” LaRance continued, “It connects them to their communities and culture while preserving and perpetuating traditional knowledge. This dance creates awareness of our environment and reminds us that we need to protect and preserve our planet.”
The nonprofit foundation is dedicated to empowering youth and helping them preserve cultural roots. The foundation supports a tribally inclusive Lightning Boy Hoop Dance Group and other youth performance and visual arts objectives.
“We at Meow Wolf have long admired the work and mission of the Lightning Boy Foundation,” said Kate Daley, sales and marketing manager at Meow Wolf. “We are honored and excited to collaborate with this organization whose work is integral to maintaining the cultural heritage of our region. We invite community members to attend, learn, support and enjoy the performances of the dedicated and talented dancers.”
Mondays are the exhibition’s community appreciation days when all local tickets are half price. New Mexican visitors can book their tickets in advance at meowwolf.com and use the code MONDAYFUNDAY at checkout to receive their 50% discounted tickets.
ABOUT LIGHTNING BOY FOUNDATION
The Lightning Boy Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was established in honor of Valentino “Lightning Boy” Rivera (2008-2016), a boy from the Pueblo of Pojoaque who couldn’t stop dancing. He participated in traditional buffalo dances and traveled across the globe sharing the traditional Native American hoop dance. Sadly, Valentino passed in 2016 after succumbing to injuries sustained in a car accident at the age of 8. He wanted to be remembered as a dancer and thus the mission of the Foundation was established. Based out of Northern New Mexico, the Lightning Boy Foundation provides traditional hoop dance instruction and other dance programming to Native youth ages two and up. The organization’s mission is dedicated to nurturing and building confidence and integrity through culture and artistic expression.
Throughout the year, the Lightning Boy Foundation provides hoop dance classes, performs at public and private events throughout North America, holds annual fundraisers and provides high energy dance instruction to seasoned and aspiring hoop dancers. Every year the Foundation sponsors these hoop dancers at the World Hoop Dance Championship in Phoenix, Arizona in February. Many of the dancers hold multiple world titles.
ABOUT MEOW WOLF
Recognized in Fast Company’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies (2022 and 2020), Meow Wolf is a Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment company that creates immersive, interactive experiences to transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration. The company’s first location in Santa Fe opened in 2016 and showcases the THEA Award-winning, international sensation, House Of Eternal Return, where two million visitors have now discovered a multidimensional mystery house with secret passages, portals to magical worlds, and surreal, maximalist and mesmerizing art exhibits. In 2019, Meow Wolf expanded beyond Santa Fe and opened Kaleidoscape, the world’s first artist-driven ride at Elitch Gardens in Denver. Meow Wolf opened their second permanent installation, Omega Mart, at AREA15 in Las Vegas and their third permanent installation in Denver opened in September 2021, Convergence Station. The next permanent exhibitions will open in Grapevine, TX in 2023, and Houston, TX in 2024. Meow Wolf is proud to be the only certified B-Corporation in the themed entertainment industry, with a team dedicated to social impact and building a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
