Hoop by Hoop with Patrick Willie
A Navajo storyteller found his purpose in hoop dancing. Now he’s using social media videos to amplify the Native voices of a younger generation.
For more than a decade, Patrick Willie has been posting videos to his YouTube channel. At first, the Orem native filmed himself developing his hoop dancing routines or competing at the world championships. Along with behind-the-scenes moments from his dance performances, Willie included cultural facts to explain Diné (Navajo) culture.
Over the years, the videos took a more distinctive, humorous turn. “I wanted to try a different style of video, my version of ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos,’ Native American style,” Willie says. “That was something I had never seen.” And so he launched the “Natives React” series, with friend and cohost Jacob Billy.
The series became a chance to comment on the indigenous stereotypes they observed in mainstream culture. They began inviting guest commentators to join their videos, always aiming to speak to both Native and non-Native viewers. Willie says: “I get comments all the time that say: ‘That was a funny episode. But also I learned a lot about your culture.’”
Fast forward to 2021, when Willie’s channel had attracted more than 146,000 subscribers, boosting him to the forefront of Native American YouTubers. That earned him recognition from YouTube on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9). “We’re shouting out @patrickisanavajo, who amplifies Indigenous experiences and celebrates Navajo culture with his channel,” read their Instagram post.
Willie aims to use his videos and his hoop dancing performances to tell positive stories about Native culture (Read: “Native Nations in Utah”). He won’t include crude humor or adult language in his videos, and he won’t include any depictions of Natives drinking or using drugs.
Along the way, he’s become part of an informal collective of Utah’s young Native American artists who serve as digital cultural ambassadors. “They’re really comfortable with the format, and they know how to use that media to promote Native culture,” says Dustin Jansen, director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs. “They feed off each other and encourage each other. They help each other out a lot.”
The Distinctive Comfort of Native Humor
When viewers talk about the “Natives React” videos, they regularly underscore the series’ humor, which one viewer labels as “comfortable.”
“Patrick makes it okay to laugh at ourselves,” says Isaac Madson, a subscriber who’s the communications director for the Rural Utah Project, an advocate for the state’s underrepresented communities. “As a person [who] was born and raised on the Navajo Nation, when I watch his videos I feel like I'm hanging out with my cousins or friends from back home.”
Non-native people aren’t always aware of the distinctive nature of Native humor, says Caitlin O'Reilly, a content creator from Casa Grande, Arizona.
“That kind of humor isn’t really seen in the mainstream media, and so it is nice to have a place to go that just gets us,” says O’Reilly, who subscribes to Willie’s channel. “In addition to being entertaining, the content is also educational by highlighting other Natives doing amazing things in their community, as well as certain issues that we face.”
Willie also uses his audience to boost the talent of other Native content creators, such as Jo James, who lives on the Yakima Reservation in Washington state.
“There isn’t anybody I know who makes videos like his,” says James, who posts videos as a creative outlet while juggling graduate studies. “He does a really good job at balancing the funny parts of Rez life with serious subjects. It’s not only his success, but his voice within a bigger platform, that is very important for Indigenous people.”
"There isn’t anybody I know who makes videos like his. He does a really good job at balancing the funny parts of Rez life with serious subjects. It’s not only his success, but his voice within a bigger platform, that is very important for Indigenous people."
– Jo James, Native Content Creator
Representing the Circle of Life
With the stories he tells in his hoop dancing routines and in his videos, Willie aims to be the kind of role model he didn’t have growing up as a “city native” in Orem.
His parents were raised in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation, but there were just a handful of other Native students in the school Willie and his sisters attended. He started fancy feather dancing when he was young, but as a kid dancing was just an occasional thing. “Growing up, we knew a little bit about the Navajo lifestyle and culture but not a lot,” he says. Kids teased him for his long hair, while mistakenly assuming he was Hispanic.
About a decade ago, when he was in his 20s and studying math at Utah Valley University, he rediscovered hoop dancing. He began studying with mentors and committed to rehearsing daily. Dancing became a way for him to more deeply understand his heritage, and to share it through teaching weekly lessons. (Read: “Art Keeps the Native American Culture Alive”)
“He’s letting kids know how far your culture can take you,” says Jansen, because dancing has taken Willie all over the world. He’s performed in China, Australia, Fiji, France, Canada and all across the United States. In 2020, he earned sixth place in the World Hoop Dancing Championships at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, continuing a string of six top 10 finishes.
“The world,” one grade-schooler answers, loudly, so he can be heard over the Native American drum class in the far corner of the cafeteria here at Orem’s Mountain View High School. Another dancer adds: “The circle of life.”
“What do we dance for?” asks Willie, who has been teaching classes for 5-to-12-year-old students at this school for nearly a decade.
“For our families,” one young dancer says.
Other answers: “For our friends.” “For our parents.” “For our school.” And finally: “For our ancestors.” (Read: "Nourished by the Land: A Shoshone Perspective")
On this cold winter night, students watched as Willie rode up to class on his bike. After teaching four dance classes, Willie biked home, too, because he loves cycling, but also because he doesn’t own a car. Riding his bike offers Willie the chance to model healthy living in a culture that often faces health challenges such as diabetes. “He’s the future of Indian young people,” says his boss, Jeanie Groves, who coordinates the Alpine District’s Title VI Indian Education programs.
Willie likes “to think outside the hoop,” inventing movements inspired by nature. He’s perfected a unique pickup of his first hoop, where he appears to jump inside the circle and lift it with his feet. “There’s not anybody else I know of that does that,” says Terry Goedel, one of Willie’s mentors. Goedel, a world-champion California hoop dancer, is a legend in the Utah dance community, and his son often dances and teaches with Willie.
Native American hoop dancing is particularly popular in Utah, thanks to the strength of the American Indian studies programs at Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University, and the prominence of BYU’s Living Legends performance group. Also significant is the Intermountain All-Women Hoop Dancing Competition, the only all-women hoop dancing competition in the world — which was launched at Salt Lake City’s This is the Place State Park.
“He’s totally in it for the kids,” says Amy Ieremia, a dancer who previously taught at Mountain View, and whose children now take Willie’s classes. “It’s all about passing on what he knows.” (Read: "Paying Rapt Attention to Utah Shoshone’s Winter Storytelling Traditions")
She adds: “My kids love to watch his YouTube channel. They quote it.”
"Native American hoop dancing is particularly popular in Utah, thanks to the strength of the American Indian studies programs at Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University, and the prominence of BYU’s Living Legends performance group."
“Don’t call this a costume,” Willie often tells students, because American Indian dancers aren’t characters playing dress-up. “We prefer ‘outfit’ or ‘regalia.’”
Photo: Samuel Jake
‘Don’t Call This a Costume’
One of the first original moves Willie created involves spinning four hoops on his arms, then adding a fifth hoop spinning on his leg. “When I do that move, I hop on one foot, and then I dance backwards,” he says. A friend said he looked like a hummingbird. “And then I found out the hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards, which adds another layer.”
In 2017, Willie launched a service project for Native American Heritage Month in November, borrowing the idea from one of his hoop dance heroes, Tony Duncan. Willie volunteered to present free dance performances at local schools, and in one month, Willie biked more than 200 miles to perform at 27 schools, including one four-performance day.
In his dance presentations, just as in his videos, Willie talked about contemporary American Indian culture in an effort to combat what he calls “TV stereotypes.” There are 562 tribes in the United States, and all tribes are different, he told students. “Don’t call this a costume,” he says, because American Indian dancers aren’t characters playing dress-up. “We prefer ‘outfit’ or ‘regalia.’”
Storytelling Outside the Hoop
Willie’s most popular video, now five years old, showcases his original moves as he dances at some of Utah’s most iconic locations — at the State Capitol, in Provo Canyon, on the shores of the Great Salt Lake and in Monument Valley.
It’s worth watching to see Willie’s sophisticated hoop movements and his colorful regalia in contrast to Utah’s blue skies and red rocks scenery.
But the most fascinating part of the video is the ending, which highlights the joy of Patrick Willie. He’s dancing on a beautiful fall day, and as he steps on a hoop, he flings a handful of hoops over his head, a move he’s performed thousands of times. But this time, one hoop escapes to lodge high in the tree leaves above him. It’s a dramatic moment, and the video keeps going as Willie stops dancing to look up for his missing hoop.
Hoop dancing reflects life, and things don’t always go as you expect. Maybe police officers will stop you when you’re filming a video for Native American Heritage Month. Maybe you’ll have a conversation about unity with protestors after dancing at the Utah State Capitol. Or maybe you’ll bike two hours to film on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, and you’ll find yourself with an audience of fishermen.
“When you drop a hoop, you have to adjust on the spot,” Willie tells his dance students. “When you adjust, you’re changing the story."
In the video, the camera watches Willie as he laughs and keeps laughing as he walks out of the frame. The story of this Utah dancer has just changed, and it’s a moment worth watching over and over and over again.
Read the stories
-
A Navajo Artist Finds Her Beat and Shares It
Rhonda "Honey" Duvall is a leader in Salt Lake City’s Navajo community, elevating the presence of indigenous culture through music and dance.
-
Ancient Pictographs, Petroglyphs and Timeless Mysteries
Exploring Horseshoe Canyon isn’t for everyone. First of all, the effort to get there is an adventure in itself, but those efforts make the reward — namely, the chance to see up close some of the most significant pictograph panels in North America — even more noteworthy.
-
Art Keeps the Native American Culture Alive
Utah artist Al Groves launches a new art collective as he works to keep indigenous traditions alive.
-
Exploring Mule Canyon: House on Fire and Cave Tower
Driving the up the dusty, terracotta-colored road toward Mule Canyon in Cedar Mesa, you get a sense that this is a special place, though you might not be able to put a finger on why.
-
Following the Markings of Native American History
This road trip across Utah to view ancient petroglyphs and pictographs will give you an incredible window into the past.
-
Great Salt Lake Needs Your Visit
While you visit this mysterious natural wonder, you can also help save it.
-
Historical Sites in Utah
Explore Utah's fascinating past with our guide to historical sites and hidden gems. Uncover pioneer and indigenous stories at these Utah heritage hot spots.
-
How to Visit Rock Imagery Sites Like an Archaeologist
There are untold thousands of rock imagery sites across Utah, and hundreds of thousands of archaeological sites of every stripe. Learn how to explore these sites with the respect and deference they deserve.
-
Insider's Guide to Hiking Rainbow Bridge National Monument
From choosing the best season and trail, to understanding logistics and history, here's what you need to know to hike Utah's Rainbow Bridge National Monument located off the south coast of Lake Powell.
-
Meet the Fremonts: Unearthing an Ancient Civilization
Did you know that interstate highway construction created Fremont Indian State Park? Visit the park and Museum for a peek into Utah’s past, plus hiking and ATV trails.
-
Navajo: Fry Bread, Tacos, Pizza
Despite its troubling origins, Navajo fry bread is an inspired food of the nation’s people, and it can be found in many forms with various names around the southwest.
-
Nourished by the Land: A Shoshone Perspective
Darren Parry learned from his grandmother about the plants, places and worldview that sustained their Shoshone ancestors.
-
San Juan and the Trail of the Ancients
At almost 8,000 square miles, San Juan is Utah's largest county, nearly the size of New Jersey. Between the Needles district of Canyonlands and Four Corners there are vast lands of incredible wilderness, national forest, the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and beautiful rivers and...
-
Spirits in the Rock
Spectacular pictograph panels, ingenious cliff-hanging architecture and the mysteries of Range Creek Canyon’s first inhabitants, the Fremont.
-
The 46 Miles of Nine Mile Canyon
Follow Nine Mile Canyon Road into the rugged and remote Book Cliffs, where messages from the ancients interface with settlers of the West and modern ways of thinking.
-
The History of River House (and How to Experience It Today)
Looking for items to add to your Bears Ears Monument itinerary? Explore the history of the River House Ruin site here and see it for yourself. Visit Utah.
-
The Navajo Basketmakers
Meet the Navajo artists behind this labor intensive and traditional practice.
-
The Petroglyphs of Comb Ridge
Comb Ridge in Southeastern Utah offers dramatic galleries of ancient petroglyphs engraved on sandstone cliffs by Ancestral Puebloan artists over 1,000 years ago. Learn more about Comb Ridge and its unique rock art sites, including the famed Procession Panel.
-
The Story of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Ancient erosion and modern cinema joined forces to elevate Monument Valley to one of the world's most iconic places to visit — but it's also the sacred home of the Navajo people. Learn more about the history, size and scenes that define the Monument Valley Utah experience.
-
The Voices of Bears Ears
Bears Ears National Monument is at the heart of southeastern Utah. These lands are imbued with layers of culture — layers of life. In this four-part video series, meet the locals who connect with the land in their own distinct ways.
-
Touring Utah with the State’s Most Well Known Women Writers
The diversity and beauty found in Utah has often been captured by women. Here are the places that seven of Utah’s most well known women writers knew and loved most.
-
Twin Rocks Trading Post
A must stop! The shop has museum-quality ancient art as well as handcrafted Native American and Southwest art.
-
Utah’s Unexpected Pit Stops
You’re doing it wrong if you think road trip pit stops are boring layovers on your way to more exciting destinations. How many of these hidden gems have you been to? Here are 11 mini-adventures to check off your list next time you’re road-tripping through Utah.
-
Why Your Kids Need a Utah Trip
Discover where adventure and learning converge across iconic rivers and ancient canyons.
-
Wintertime Storytelling With Shoshone Tribal Elders
We’re shining a spotlight on elders from the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation who keep tribal history alive through the stories traditionally told and retold in winter months.
