In one extraordinary evening, Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and world champion Native American hoop dancer Eric Michael Hernandez brings his story from the screen to the stage. The evening begins with a screening of Courage, Eric’s short film based on his life, following a young Native American boy who finds a path toward heritage, strength, healing, and a fuller understanding of who he is and who he can become.

Following the screening, Eric takes the stage, where the story continues through movement, rhythm, and the hoop. A proud member of the Lumbee Tribe and a world champion hoop dancer with more than 20 years of experience, Eric brings an extraordinary combination of athleticism, artistry, and storytelling to the stage. In hoop dance, the hoop is the story, and Eric brings that story vividly to life through an art form that is at once rooted in tradition and unmistakably alive in the present. With each movement of the hoop, the story that began on screen takes on a new shape and significance.

Behind both the film and the dance is a more personal question: What does it take to carry something forward while finding your own place within it? Eric’s journey explores the courage, responsibility, joy, and complexity of embracing who you are.

Cinematic and intimate, celebratory and deeply personal, the evening offers the rare opportunity to experience Eric’s story in two dynamic forms: first through the lens of the filmmaker, then through the movement of the artist whose life inspired it.

Eric Michael Hernandez is a world champion Native American hoop dancer, award-winning filmmaker, and proud member of the Lumbee Tribe with more than 20 years of experience. Mentored by renowned hoop dancer Terry Goedel, Eric performed as a lead artist in Cirque du Soleil’s Totem, touring more than 17 countries. Through dance, filmmaking, and speaking, he works to challenge stereotypes and share contemporary Native American stories and ancestral knowledge. Eric is also the writer and director of the Emmy Award–winning short film Courage, inspired by his own experience learning hoop dance from his Uncle Terry and exploring culture, identity, and belonging through the tradition.

Ticket proceeds make this event possible and support a matinee performance free for local K–12 students.