Alicia Taylor shares her passion and story with Beaverlodge students

For more than 40 years, Manitoba Arts Council has helped connect talented artists with local students. The program, Artist in the School, currently has more than 60 artists willing to visit Manitoba schools and inspire kids. Many of our Pembina Trails schools have had a variety of artists visiting including poets, painters and dancers.

This year, Beaverlodge School invited Alicia Taylor to visit. Taylor was born in Flin Flon and began hoop dancing at a young age as a way to connect with her culture. For the past decade, she has enjoyed sharing her story and talent with young people.

"Having Alicia as our Artist in the School has been an amazing experience. Our students have enjoyed learning about Hoop Dancing. Alicia's focus on the seven teachings has been another way for us to learn and teach about aspects of Indigenous culture. As part of our work as a Virtues school, we want to emphasize the seven teachings to show our students that positive character attributes are universal to all cultures," shared principal Dawn Thompson.

Students wrapped up their visit with an assembly and performance which was a highlight of the workshop.

Here are a few comments from students who participated:

"I think this activity was really good for my body. I made all the animal shapes on my very first try!"

"I loved to hear Alicia's stories."

"Alicia was so nice and encouraging to us to try new shapes with the hoops."

"My favourite thing was learning about the seven teachings in a different way before looking at the books."

"I love to do the dance."

Learn more about the Artist in the School Residencies Program.