The University of Illinois’ Spurlock Museum was the place to be this past Sunday, April 15. A beautiful and informative showcase of Native American cultural tradition was put on through the museum’s education department, featuring the Native Pride Dancers, who explained and performed many exciting dances, such as the Native Grass Dance. The stories behind each dance were told before they were performed, and the regalia worn by each dancer explained down to the beaded embellishments.
The stories of this event were told in the verbal tradition of many Native American peoples, and helped to explain the natural miracles of the world around us. The Native Grass Dance originated from a story about a man who loved to dance. Dancing was such a big part of his life, upon suffering an irreversible leg injury that limited his movement, he no longer felt he was a part of the community he once knew. This man went to the top of a hill, from which he could overlook his entire community and watch them play the drums and dance. After coming back to this same hilltop for many weeks, he started to notice the way the world around him changed when the beating of the drums from the community below began. Specifically, he saw how the tall grasses seemed to sway, dance even, to the beating of the drums. He started to move the way the grass moved to the drumbeat, until it became a dance that he could do despite his injury. He went back down to his community to ask permission to perform this new “grass dance”. He was given permission, and soon the entire community was dancing with him again. He was back with his people, doing what he loved, through a celebration of the world around him.
This is just one of the stories that accompanied the dances. Each included a miracle performed, a lesson learned, or a great victory, all of which helped expand the audiences’ knowledge of Native American culture. And as the performance continued, the audience had the opportunity to get up and do the dances with the dancers on the stage, a truly marvelous experience to witness. Between this and the opportunity to ask questions and take pictures at the end of the performance, the audience engagement of this event certainly made it all the more special.
The audience was also encouraged to become vessels of knowledge to the rest of the world. To talk about what they had seen, and what they had learned, whether it inspired them, or surprised them, or made them want to learn more. As the world becomes more connected, we get to understand more about our own cultures as well as those unfamiliar to us. Whether that involves practicing a Native Grass Dance together, talking about truthful representation of cultures nationally, or working to eliminate traces of racism in the US, this event was certainly a catalyst for a more well-rounded Champaign-Urbana.