Thunderbird American Indian Dancers

The dance performance that I chose and went to see was Thunderbird American Indian Dancers. I chose this performance, because of my interest in the Native American culture and deep history in this country. Interestingly, dancing is an important art form in their culture with many stories that go along with them. Nonetheless, this was a performance I exceedingly enjoyed and would see again. On February 11th I went to go see The Thunderbird dance performance in the Theatre for the New City located on the Lower East Side. This group was made up of 12 singers and dancers who come from different Native American tribes located in New York, New Jersey, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Founded in 1963, the American Indian dance company is the oldest in New
One of the dances I saw was called the Stomp Dance. The meaning behind this dance was that many Native American kids were sent out to boarding schools. Like every other school, this boarding school had a requirement to dress a certain way which did not allow these students to wear their traditional clothing. However, during recess, many of the students would gather together at a school courtyard. They would come in a circle a simple walking around with swaying movements and sing. This was a deep connection because dancing and singing were one of the few things that had in boarding
Many of Native Americans were observed the nature around them from the different hunting animals to types of trees and even birds like eagles. Native Americans meticulously observed the eagles movements on the ground and when it flies in the sky. Hence, the eagle dance mimicked the movements of eagles. For instance, many of the dancers wore specific clothing to represent the wings and moved their arms in the same style. In this art course we have studied and thoroughly analyzed about many different dances that dealt with the appearance of a swan and the smooth movement it portrays when it flies. There are some similarities in the swan dance and the eagle dance in the movement of the arms to depict the wing movement also seen in the Romantic Era. However, the greatest difference was in the footwork wherein the swan dance like in the Matthew Bourne’s performance the movements were smooth and not as fast compared to the Native American eagle dance that was more faster with frequent swaying and hop