I have honey blond hair, sapphire eyes, strawberry cream skin, and I grew up in Utah Valley. My freshman year I went to the Tribe of Many Feathers club expecting free fry bread. Instead, I was invited to join the Native American Hoop club. That night I curled up against the whitewashed wall next to my bed and watched the moon cross the sky through my broken blinds. It was the first time I had been a minority; buckets of emotions poured into my soul. In those twilight hours the dawning of a new chapter of my life rose as I realized that the world is filled with people who I wanted to love but who I knew nothing about. I promised myself that I was going to go back to the dance class and I was going to learn how to speak love in every language.
Today, I dance with group called Remembering Our Culture. We practice multicultural dances hours a week to prepare on the Navajo Reservation, a week tour in California, and at the end of the semester a two week tour through Texas. It is similar to BYU’s Living Legends group, but includes African American and Asian dances. Also, the dancers are not categorized racially and I can perform in the routines even though I am of complete European heritage. Our goal is to encourage students to embrace their unique heritage and to embed a desire for secondary education in high school students. Now, I am accustom to being the only blond and as I learn to dance for cultures other than my own I realize how little I know. More importantly after each practice I come closer to the understanding that love and laughter are universal languages.
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