Native American dance group "Native Pride Dancers" performed and gave master classes with AUCA Student Theater "Mirrors"

September 9, 2016

On September 6, 2016, the “Native Pride Dancers,”  a Native American dance group from the United States, and AUCA’s student theater group “Mirrors,” worked together to perform “Dancing through Life” and gave master classes at AUCA. The event was organized by the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan. 

Dancers and singers from “Mirrors” opened the event. The voice of our own sophomore Akyl Callagan surprised not only the American dancers, but also the AUCA freshmen. The whole audience danced “Party dance” with Marzhana Kadyrova, a senior at AUCA and a choreographer of the “Waacking” dance style. Kadyrova held a master-class after her performance and opened the stage for the Native Pride Dancers.

The dancers from the USA were in very beautiful dresses, all of which were handmade. The group first performed together and then followed with solos from each of the Native Pride Dancers. The dances were enriched by the dancers’ explanation of its meanings. Some of the dancers even presented themselves in their native languages before giving a translated speech. After the choreographed pieces, the dancers invited audience members to the stage for a master-class.

“My tribe is based out of northeastern Utah and southeastern Idaho. It is really great and honored to be here and share a little bit of our culture with you. As you can see my outfit is a little bit different from the guys’. My style of the dance is called the “Grass dance”. This dance is originated from the Great Plains region. It was often believed that this style of dance was set before the tribe during migrating season and it’s meant to flatten the grass to set up our new home for our lodges, our teepees and our ceremonies. […] The second style of song is called “Crow Hop” and it is a style of dance given to us from the Crow people out of Montana, USA.” told Adrian Stevens.

“The style of dance we are going to perform originates from the warrior society and most tribes danced a very traditional style of dance. It just involved having one pose under hips that they danced with. This step was very simple – a one-two step. People came from the tribes with own experiences, they moved, and told stories. In the early 1900s cowboys sprang up in the Americas and asked younger American dancers to jump around and move faster—more for the show. Soon, that style of dance was adopted into most tribes,” explained William Leonard and Sean Snyder, who performed together.

The Native Pride Dancers were also guests at the World Nomad Games 2016, where they danced in the Opening Ceremony. The dance group said it liked Kyrgyzstan, its people, and culture. Moreover, the dancers said Kyrgyz culture and food is quite similar to their own, making them feel at home, “Kyrgyzstan is absolutely amazing. Honestly, I considered to going to college here. There are so many similarities with our native culture. Nomad Games are so cool. I went to the Opening Ceremony, and who needs the real Olympics when we have nomad games in Kyrgyzstan? Here at the AUCA, the crowd was very energetic and it was really awesome to see everyone trying to dance our dance style and teach the guys,” said Shelby Snyder.

Another member, Matthias Stevens said, “I loved it. Everybody was amazing from this school that performed. I really enjoyed to speaking to the students here. Kyrgyzstan was just beautiful. Especially coming to the Nomad Games, it has been a wonderful experience to all of us. We have got to see a lot of traditional clothing, houses, food.”

“The visit has been amazing. It has been breath taking every day and it is so much we could not expected. We did not think it would be this great. The people have been so hospitable to us, the food was so amazing. What is nice is the food is so similar to our food at home, we were all saying we never be going to homesick being here,” said Sean Snyder.

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