The Power of a Round Dance

 I have been living and working with Naskapi and Innu people for 4 years. I remember how amazed I was at first by the ethnomathematical gems I would find while partaking in my hosts’ cultural activities or in my daily activities of living in a remote community. I was amazed because I realized that there was so much more to mathematics than what I learned in school and what I was trained to teach. Today, I am a changed mathematician as a result of these gems I have experienced during my time in Kawawachikamach.

This poem is inspired by mathematics I found in Naskapi culture, and my integration within the community. The number of syllables in each line follows the rhythm of a round dance song we usually dance to.

One, two, three, four,

People mobilize to the beat. Points―they all become,

Centrifugal force is the beat.



One, two, three, four,

The curve transforms into an arc,

More points anchor,

The arc grows into a circle.



One, two, three, four,

They are inviting me.

Can I do this?

I’m scared, but the rhythm flows.



Paaikw, niisu, nistu, naaw,

We orbit together―

A flawed circle.

In, we all play a role.



Paaikw, niisu, nistu, naaw, 

One, two, three, four, 

Aastim niimutaw:

You come, we dance, and we stand strong.



Let the beat move you.



This is the power of a round dance.



Note: Paaikw, niisu, nistu, naaw, and Aastim niimutaw are in Naskapi, an Indigenous North American language. The English translations appear in the lines below the Naskapi expressions in stanza 5.