American Indian Dance Theatre - Joyce Theater, December 14, 1993-January 2, 1994

Dance Magazine, May, 1994 by Julinda Lewis

American Indian Dance Theatre, founded in 1987 by theatrical producer Barbara Schwei and directed by Hanay Geiogamah, a member of the Oklahoma-based Kiowa/Delaware tribes, numbers some twenty dancers, singers, and drummers, representing nineteen tribes from across the U.S. and Canada, who perform one another's dances and sing one another's songs.

The dances of the American Indians, once caricatured for movies and television, banned by laws prohibiting pagan rituals, and dismissed by the professional dance world, have nevertheless remained an integral and dynamic part of the lives of Native Americans. Traditional forms continue to be taught even as contemporary forms and variations on the old have developed, often aided by tribal and intertribal pow-wows-communal gatherings where songs, dances, and drumming are still passed from generation to generation and where the contemporary American Indian dancer can compete for cash and prizes.

For the Joyce engagement the company presented "Winter Dances," a repertoire of social and ceremonial pieces. These dances are performed during the winter solstice - after the planting and harvesting are done - when, according to some legends, nature sleeps and the spirits can be portrayed without offending them.

The featured work, Red Cedar Bark Ceremony (Tseka) from the Kwakiutl people of British Columbia, was banned by the Canadian government from the late nineteenth century until 1951. The performances at the Joyce marked the first time the Kwakiutl ritual dances had been performed by non-Kwakiutl Indians, and, to mark the occasion, Bill Cranmer, a Kwakiutl chief, joined the company for the first week of performances.

To the uninitiated viewer, Red Cedar Bark Ceremony appears to contain a thread of narrative. A hinged mask representing a killer whale has movable fins, while two man-eating bird masks cluck eerily. The dancers move with a solemn, unhurried dignity that allows time to admire the costumes and beautifully designed set as well as to contemplate the unfamiliar dynamics, rhythms, and perspective.

To the non-Indian, the elements of these dances are new and challenging, from the simple, steady, march-like cadence of Standing Quiver or Stomp Dance (from the "Eastern Woodlands Suite") to the majesty of Eagle Dance (one of the "Pueblo Winter Dances"). Performed in sleeves covered with closely spaced feathers amid clouds of dry-ice smoke, the latter generates a sense of awe for the eagle, here depicted as a messenger between humanity and the Creator, and a symbol sacred to many tribes.

Elaborate animal masks, intricate silver and turquoise jewelry, colorfully beaded and feathered costumes - are all made by company members or their families. Since the music is not written down, the singers must memorize the several hundred songs in their repertoire that are sung in various languages.

Somewhat less foreign, perhaps because of its circuslike sense of spectacle, is Hoop Dance, in which soloist Eddie Swimmer demonstrated to two students the continuity of nature: By deftly manipulating a series of hoops about his body, he created a bird, a flower, a butterfly, and other shapes before finally stepping out of a perfect sphere that stood on its own.