The World of Light: Kevin Locke and Madison Mullen

June 29, 2018

Kevin Locke, an Indigenous folk artist from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, learned to hoop dance from his mentor Arlo Good Bear, drawing on lessons passed down for generations. In this conversation, Locke joins StoryCorps facilitator Madison Mullen to discuss the meaning behind the hoop dance as a way for him to connect with the hopes and visions of his ancestors.

This story was produced by Alero Oyinlola.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Kevin Locke: My benefactor, his name was Nachbe Sesegids. He said, he told me, "Brother," he said, "Brother," he says, "this dance that I have, this hoop dance that I have," he says, "I'm going to give this dance to you. I'm going to give it to you." I said, [foreign language]. I said, "This dance that we have, this hoop dance, long ago, the people of old times, where did they receive this?" And I said, "You yourself, where did you receive this dance from?" Then he said, and I'll just say it in English, basically, what he said was, he said, "This dance," he said, "It doesn't come from this world, right here. This world, this shadow world that we are experiencing, now, this dark place that we live in, right now." He says, "This dance comes from out there. It comes from that world of light, the world of beauty, the world that never fades," he says, "the same place that we all come from, where we all originate from."

Madison Mullen: How has learning this dance changed you?

Kevin Locke: Ah, well, it's really transformed my life, because, Indigenous culture, we use the arts to do the opposite, to connect with reality, to connect with that which is good, to remove the barriers, artificial barriers, that we perceive might block is out from our ancestral heritage, whatever it is. So, the visions that they had, the dreams, the hopes, the prayers, we can realize those, fulfill them on their behalf. I'm talking about our ancestors. So that barrier is erased. Even future generations, we look out there in the future and those yet unborn, but we connect with them, you see, through the real world.

Madison Mullen: So, for people, obviously they can't see this.

Kevin Locke: Yeah.

Madison Mullen: Will you describe these hoops for me?

Kevin Locke: Oh, the original hoops that I have, they're just made a wood. They're wooden hoops. And the hoop is the world's most universal, world's most ubiquitous archetype. So, for all people on the planet, it represents basically the same thing, represents everything good, everything holy, everything with continuity, everything with order, harmony, balance, everything that's unified, everything real. It's all symbolized by the hoop.

So that's why, here in Indigenous North America, the people have always used this as their overarching field of perspective. People's homes, their lives, everything is centered around that circular shape.

Madison Mullen: And so, it seems like we have a little bit of time left. I did want to give you the opportunity to play something, if you wanted to.

Kevin Locke: (flute playing and singing)