9/7/2023 0 Comments American indian thunderbirdThe Thunderbird-TNC collaboration began in 1975, when Crystal Field directed a play called “The Only Good Indian.” For research, Ms. A number of Thunderbird members are winners of Fancy Dance contests held on reservations, where the standard of competition is unmistakably high. Within three or four years, they were traveling throughout the continental U.S., expanding and sharing their repertoire and gleaning new dances on the reservations. The troupe made a home in the old McBurney YMCA on 23rd Street and Seventh Ave. Now Louis Mofsie says, “To be going for 60 years is just amazing to me, and to be able to do the work we do.” Members range in professions from teachers to hospital patient advocates, tree surgeons and computer engineers. The company was all-volunteer, a tradition that exists to today. To these were added dances from the plains, including the Hopi Buffalo Dance, and newer dances including the Grass Dance and Jingle Dress Dance. Jack Preston taught the company its Iroquois dances, including the Robin Dance and Fish Dance. They founded the troupe to keep alive the traditions, songs and dances they had learned from their parents, and added to their repertoire from other Native Americans living in New York and some who were passing through. Some were in school at the time all were “first generation,” meaning that their parents had been born on reservations. Prominent among the founders were Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago) and his sister, Josephine Mofsie (deceased), Rosemary Richmond (Mohawk, deceased), Muriel Miguel (Cuna/Rapahannock) and Jack Preston (Seneca, deceased). The troupe was founded in 1963 by a group of ten Native American men and women, all New Yorkers, who were descended from Mohawk, Hopi, Winnebago and San Blas tribes. The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers are the oldest resident Native American dance company in New York. Native American crafts and jewelry will be sold in the TNC lobby.ĪBOUT THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS The dozen-or-so dancers are people of all ages, raging from thirteen-year-old Isabel Cespedes (Mayan) to retirees. More than ten distinct tribes will be represented in the performance. There is a wealth of cultural information encoded in the movements of each dance. Pageantry is an important component of the event, and all participants are elaborately dressed. As the audience enters the theater, they will be serenaded by the Heyna Second Son Singers (various tribes). Highlights will also include storytelling by Matoaka Eagle (Santo Domingo/Chickahominy), a Hoop Dance set to guitar and flute music that will be performed on alternating dates by Marie Ponce (Cherokee and Seminole), Michael Taylor (Choktaw) and Matt Cross (Kiowa) a Deer Dance (from the Yaqui Tribes of Southern Arizona) with Ciaran Tufford (Mayan/Cherokee) and Carlos Ponce (Mayan), and various ensemble dances: a Grass Dance and Jingle Dress Dance (from the Northern Plains people), a Stomp Dance (from the Southeastern tribes), a Shawl Dance (from the Oklahoma tribes), a Fancy Dance (from the Oklahoma tribes) and a Smoke Dance (from the Iroquois). In 2017, he was honored, along with Garth Fagan and Martha Myers, with a Lifetime Achievement Award from American Dance Guild. He was awarded a 2019 Bessie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. An educator, Mofsie plays an important part in the show by his ability to present a comprehensive view of native culture. Throughout the performance, all elements are explained in depth through detailed introductions by the troupe’s Director and Emcee Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago). Traditionally a gathering and sharing of events, Pow-Wows have come to include spectacular dance competitions, exhibitions, and enjoyment of traditional foods. This is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the troupe.Ī Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for Native American students. The event has become a treasured New York tradition for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans. There will be dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. MATINEES ARE KIDS’ DAYS: At all matinée performances, children ages five to twelve who are accompanied by a ticket-bearing adult are admitted for $1.00 (adults $15). Presents 48th ANNUAL THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS’ POW-WOW AND DANCE CONCERTįriday and Saturday at 8:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 PM
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