Dance Origin: Native American Plains Genre: Native American First Appearance in SF EDF: 1995 Website: www.hoopman4.com
Every Native song, dance, and gesture is an
expression of Native American heritage and life rooted in an ancient past.
Although these Plains dances are social, they are also actions of deep
spiritual significance, the embodiment of prayers to the Creator, danced regularly at inter-tribal powwows throughout the United States.
Some of the songs and yells, calledvocables, come from harmonized
prayer. The drumbeat is the heartbeat of all living things. Dancers wear
traditional regalia, representing nature and spiritual connection. The clothing
is hand-stitched from porcupine hair, quills, seed beads, brain-tanned elk
leather, angora hides, eagle feathers, satin, and animal skins. Feathers
represent an eagle’s strength, and shows that the dancer is in conversation
with the Creator.
Tony Fuentes and
Edwardo Madril founded Four Winds Native American Dance,
celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. The company presents
dance and culture of the United States Plains Indian tribes from Southern
Canada, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska,
and Oklahoma, performing throughout the
western United States.
Eddie presents residencies in Bay Area schools, encouraging appreciation and
respect for Native American dance, music, cultural history, art, and sign
language. He has taught Native American music at SFSU, and was a three-year
recipient of the California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence grant. In 2008, he
was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Best Individual Performance
of the year.
2009 PERFORMANCE
TITLE: Spear and Shield Dance, Fancy Dance,
Northern Traditional Dance, Hoop Dance Dancers: Tony Fuentes, Eddie Madril, Marcos Madril Musicians: Dirk Alphin, John-Carlos Perea, Luke
Taylor
Four Winds presents four dances from the North American
Plains: the Spear and Shield Dance, a
dance of a warrior preparing for battle; the
Hundred Year Fancy Dance, a dance of victory; the Northern Traditional Dance, danced by a warrior to relate his
hunting experience; and the Hoop Dance. Some say the Hoop Dance was given to a dying man from the Northern Plains who
wanted a gift to leave behind. The Creator gave him a series of wooden hoops,
one for each living thing he created. In the Southwest, it is said
cliff-dwelling children practiced this dance for dexterity.
Edwardo Madril describes the Hoop Dance as both an ancient and
contemporary story of creation. The dancer begins with a single hoop, evoking
the circle of life, with no beginning and no end; the circle through which the
first humans arrived; a single cell; the circle of day and night; the Krebs
cycle; the shape of birds nests, of the strongest winds and waters, and of
animals' burrows. Next, two hoops represent man and woman; day and night; cold
and hot; and the balance of life. The third hoop represents the birth of new
life, and four hoops evoke stages of life, four seasons, and four natural
colors and four directions. The dance continues to add circle upon circle,
representing all living beings, and from a single cell, comes one sphere—our
living world.
Traditional live
music by Dirk Alphin, John-Carlos Perea – GRAMMY®Award winner for Best New Age
Album in 2007 – and Luke Taylor of Sweet Water Singers accompanies Four Winds
for this Festival performance.
2006 PERFORMANCE
Edwardo Madril brings his skills as a Native American dancer and
educator, as well as his collaborative spirit, to help create and
perform narrative interludes for Weekend Two of the 2006 Festival.
His work, along with that of Amanda Geroy and Niharika Mohanty, lend a
unique perspective to the idea of Place, and tie together dances from
around the globe, performed here in Northern California.
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