Hard work garners hoop dancer first place

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Winning first place in the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest in Phoenix, Arizona is not an easy feat. Just ask 28-year-old Lisa Odjig. But she did it.

She brought a trophy and $2,500 home after the first place win at the thirteenth annual contest held on Feb.1 and 2. Odjig competed against 18 men in the adult category to win the coveted title.

"It was great, there are a lot of friendly people in Phoenix. Since I've competed there I've met a lot of people. I'm so excited taking first place. This is something that is really exciting to me," she said.

Odjig who lived in Calgary for eight years is originally from the Wikwemikong First Nation, Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. She began dancing the hoop dance 12 years ago. An accidental comment started Odjig's journey.

"My uncle taught me. He offered to teach me and at first I had said yes, but I kind of didn't take him seriously when he'd offered to teach me. Then he showed up at my door, and asked if I was ready? I asked him, For what? And he goes, 'I was going to teach you hoop dancing remember?' So I thought what am I doing? So I grabbed my runners and my work out gear, and I started working out, and that evening he taught me first 12 hoops and ever since that time, I can hoop dance. I love it. It is a part of me. It is a part of my life," she said.

Odjig said that traditionally the hoop dance was done only by men, but within the last 50 years women have been able to dance.

"I'm finding that a lot of women are finally entering hoop dancing styles," she said.

Odjig, who has been competing at the Phoenix competition since 1997, took second place in the first three years she's entered. Then in 2000, she won first place. She was the first female ever to take home the title. A couple of other women entered the competition this year, but did not make the finals.

Odjig says that before entering the competition, she gets herself ready mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically.

"I have to be balanced. I go by the medicine wheel and I do a lot of working out. I jog, do a lot of sit-ups, light weights and I practice with my moves throughout the year," she said.

"My mom and my dad encouraged me to dance. My family is very excited. They are very happy for me. They all support me 110 per cent," she said.

"I want to say to the kids who want to hoop dance, follow your dreams. Follow your dreams because you do matter. This is your life. It is all within you, and the Creator. You've got to ask for help if you want help. You've got to ask the Creator for it. You've got to pray. If you do not ask, it is harder. It would be hard to do it on your own," she said.

"I truly believe that having a drug and alcohol free lifestyle is important. I've never drunk or did drugs in my life, so that is what I say to the students, when I talk them in school and in workshops. I always let them know that I promote a drug and alcohol free life. I also do not smoke. I say to the youth that if your friends ask you to do drugs or drink with them, they are not your real friends because if they were your real friends they won't pressure you into doing anything negative and what you don't want to do."

Odjig said that her inner strength and her mom and dad not drinking has helped her to deal with peer pressure.

"I was not brought up that way that is where I got the strength not to do drugs or alcohol. I had a good upbringing. I don't believe in going out and drinking, getting stoned and drunk and all that stuff, because that is not what we are about. That is not what Aboriginal people are all about and I'm tired of seeing that. I have been around people who drank and I've had that strength where I've said No."

"It is like reaching down and saying 'OK, is this what I want to be? Is this what I want my life to be like?' No, of course not because life is so beautiful, you only have one chance, and you make the best out of it. Take care of yourself, respect your body and espect yourself. You only have one life and you only have one body and it is not even yours, it is only being borrowed.

Everything belongs to the Creator. This is our one chance. Don't blow it. It is not worth it. I believe in that," she said.

More than 8,000 people attended the two-day hoop dance contest, said Wendy Weston, contest co-ordinator.

"Lisa is a fantastic dancer. You can tell she loves what she does. It really shows when she dances. The crowd just loved her. She is a great girl. She takes hoop dancing seriously, a very accomplished athlete, and an accomplished artist," Weston said.