Reznet

Little Wound School dancers perform in Eagle Butte, S.D. Reznet Photo by Sandra White Shield

Lakota Dance Fever

By Sandra White Shield

KYLE, S.D.—The Pine Ridge Reservation's Little Wound School has had a dance team since 1998. For Susan Big Crow, this marks her fourth year as the sponsor and mentor of the Lakota student group.

"The modern dance of the group offers a new activity for students," Big Crow said, "something other than volleyball, basketball and track."

The dance practices keep kids out of trouble and in a safe place, she said. Parental support in the activity has been essential to the program's success. All students are encouraged to join.

"When they get out of high school, I hope that some will seek out ballet or modern dance as an ongoing activity," Big Crow said. "The immediate benefit is actual experience of performing before an audience."

Every decision from costuming to music to choreography is worked out between the students and the coach. The Little Wound Dance group, comprised of four boys and five girls, usually performs at home basketball games.

Big Crow has coached the dance team for the past four years and the level of involvement can vary a great deal, she said. In some years even grade school students have gotten involved. Big Crow also works as an aid in the Little Wound Independent Living Quarters of the high school.

Freshmen students Helene Stilson and Liandra Young Bear and senior Kyra Reub agreed that it's hard to perform in front of their peers. However, the students said that if they can overcome their fear, it will help them with their routines.

When the group performed at a basketball game in Eagle Butte, on the Cheyenne River Reservation, about 170 miles northeast of Kyle, the dance team showed no fear.

In unison, the boys began street-style dancing to rap music, doing backspins on the floor, leaps over one another's backs while keeping pace to the fast beat of the music. They were soon joined by the girls who began with animated movements they did in unison, transforming into a flowing presentation set to popular modern music.

Abruptly the dance ended, and the crowd broke into applause.

Sandra White Shield, Rosebud Lakota, is a student at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Freedom Forum's 2006 American Indian Journalism Institute.