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Indian Dance Ensemble To Perform In Tarpon
Submitted by TSPAC
Kevin Locke, a member of the Lakota tribe, will perform a hoop dance during Kevin Lock Native Dance Ensemble at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 18.
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Published: October 13, 2007
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - Organizers of a program featuring American Indian dance and music hope their program will not serve as a mere enjoyable escape for audiences, as Western entertainment is often expected to do.
Rather, they want it to touch the spirit.
"In native culture, art . . . is for when people want to connect with reality, that which is good, that which has withstood the test of time, that which is universal," said Kevin Locke, creator of the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble.
His group will perform Thursday, Oct. 18, at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center in Tarpon Springs.
A wide representation of American Indian nations brings a variety of native musical tradition to the performance.
Members of the Plains nations of Lakota and Comanche, of the Woodlands nations of Ojibwa and Oneida, and of the Southeastern Choctaw tribe participate in the performance.
The show's highlight is Locke's hoop dances.
Locke, of the Lakota people, dances using 28 hoops with four different colors – black, white, red and yellow – to symbolize the four different races.
The dance teaches of man's connection both to the earth and one other, said Robin Troup, producer of the show.
"He demonstrates this though the entertaining and athletic hoops dance," Troop said. "This is not a dry cultural exchange."
Locke is a Native American Music Award winner. His dance ensemble has appeared at the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and the World Culture Open at Lincoln Center in New York.
Comanche Edmond Nevaquaya will do a traditional dance representing daily life. He portrays everyday movements such as crouching, stalking and moving through the trees. "It is quiet, graceful, traditional," said Troup.
He and Locke also play American Indian flutes together.
Lakota Doug Foote will do the Fancy Dance, which was created in the 1900s to indicate movement of various animals. "The bustles and feathers are very showy," Troup noted.
As the female complement to the Fancy Dance, Jackie Bird will do the Eagle Dance. Portraying an eagle flying through the clouds, she will illustrate the ascendancy of the human spirit.
The performance also includes a traditional round dance, a kind of friendship dance that was common to many native tribes.
The four basic instruments of American Indian music – the drum, flute, rattle and voice – are included in the act.
Participants keep in mind the image of the "Return of the Thunder" while performing their native music, explained Troup.
According to the thought of some tribes, the return of the thunder in spring refreshes the earth.
In the way that thunder revitalizes the earth, music revitalizes the spirit, said Troup.
The dance ensemble will be at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, 324 Pine St., on Thursday, Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Reserved seating tickets are $22, $20 for members and students.
For more information call 727-942-5605.
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