Celebrating Native American culture with dance
The sun was shining and wind was dancing in the grass as Ramsey Elementary School students created a circle around the drummers.
With young dancers surrounding her, fancy shawl dancer Katrina LaRock-Rousseau instructs them on the steps of her dance. Photo by Tammy Sakry
They were there to celebrate and learn something about a culture likely foreign to them.
With Anoka-Hennepin School District 11’s Indian Education Coordinator-Cultural Adviser Brenda Davis to guide them, the students learned about Native American dances, songs, the drum and the regalia May 22.
The event was part of the visual art curriculum the students have been learning in art this year, Davis said.
During some of the classes, the students have been learning about the various bead stitches, what the designs represent and the designs created by the different tribes.
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- Lone Eagle Drum and Indigenous Performing Artists kept the rhythm for the dancers.
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- John Oakgrove’s grass dance imitates the movement of prairie grass.
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- John Oakgrove’s grass dance imitates the movement of prairie grass.
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- With the jingles swinging on her dress, Kassondra Davis of Brooklyn Park performed the women’s jingle dance.
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- Yishmael Graham, East St. Paul, moved quickly during his fancy feather dance, which is a warrior’s dance.
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- Katrina LaRock-Rousseau demonstrates the fancy shawl dance for Ramsey Elementary School students May 22.
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- John Oakgrove leads a group of willing dance students in the steps of the grass dance. Among his eager students are Sam Whaley, Kyan Burns, Dillon Pederson and Anthony DeLarco.
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- With young dancers surrounding her, fancy shawl dancer Katrina LaRock-Rousseau instructs them on the steps of her dance.
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- The celebration ended with a Circle Dance.
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- With young dancers surrounding her, fancy shawl dancer Katrina LaRock-Rousseau instructs them on the steps of her dance. Photo by Tammy Sakry
Tammy Sakry is at tammy.sakry@ecm-inc.com
