UTAH—Celina Cada-Matasawagon, originally from Sheshegwaning, took the first place title in her division at a first of its kind, all-female hoops dance competition held in Salt Lake City, Utah this past weekend.
“I took the (first place) title at the Inter-Mountain All Women’s Hoop Dance Competition on Saturday,” Ms. Cada-Matasawagon told the Recorder on Tuesday. She was competing in the senior (40 plus) age division.
Altogether there were 42 hoop dancers who took part in the competition in the various divisions.
“Basically the (competition) format was the same as it was in Phoenix (Arizona) at the 2017 World Championship Hoop Dance competition), where there was a grand entry to open up the event, and then everyone dances in the first round, and the judges posted how many points we received. Then you are put in a certain category-division and dance again in the finals.”
“It was an all female competition, there were no male hoop dancers participating,” she told the Recorder. “And the judges were all from the Salt Lake area,” explaining, “Scores are based on such thing as precision, timing, speed, coordination, agility, creativity and more.”
Ms. Cada-Matasawagon garnered 45 of a possible 50 points in round one that qualified her for the finals.
“No, I hadn’t competed against the other competitors in my division before, I didn’t know them at all. But I wasn’t too worried, I’ve been competing in hoops dance competitions for a very long time,” she said. “It’s different than other type of dances. And the criteria they use to judge the competitors is the same as they use for the Olympics.”
The judges, except for one, were all female, Ms. Cada-Matasawagon told the Recorder.
Competitors had to dance in temperatures soaring to 100 degrees and higher, she said.
“It didn’t bother me, because I am in great shape due to my training, and I handled everything alright,” said Ms. Cada-Matasawagon.
“I am pretty happy to win this competition,” said Celina, who also finished third in the senior adult category in the World Championship Hoop Dance competition, held earlier this year in Arizona. “I’ve had a pretty good summer,” she said, noting that she also took part in the provincial body building championships (Natural OPA Competition) held on August 12, in London, Ontario. There were a total of 375 competitors taking part in the event, where she finished third overall in her division.
“This was the biggest provincial body building competition in history,” said Ms. Cada-Matasawagon, who has now qualified for the Nationals (All-Ontario championships) being held next year.
