amy hastings / NL   amy hastings / NL American Indian Dance Theatre and Alaska Native dancers performed at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which was packed to capacity for the Oct. 11 event.   amy hastings / NL Dancers collaborated to show visiting the dance company some Alaska Native traditional styles.

Alaskan performers co-star with American Indian dance group

By Sally Carraher
Northern Light

The American Indian Dance Theatre group came to Anchorage last week to share their form of cultural expression through modern dance. Making the experience unique, the Alaska Native Heritage Center got to co-star in the performances by complimenting AIDT’s dances with examples of Alaska Native dances.

Upon their arrival Oct. 7, the group was greeted at Ted Stevens International Airport by a group of Alaska Native dancers from the ANHC. Other Alaska Native performers got the chance to meet and share the floor with AIDT, including local band Pamyua member and ANHC dance group instructor Phillip Blanchett. Blanchett and his brother Stephen work with the high school dance groups from the ANHC.

“The center was packed. It was really well received,” Blanchett said.

The public showcase was like no other in Anchorage history. The Oct. 11 performance at the Heritage Center gave audience members a chance to see many different styles of both Alaska Native and other Native American traditional dances. It was also set up so that the two dance groups, ANHC and AIDT, switched roles and got to learn and execute each other’s styles of dance.

“We got together with one of their dance captains and we talked about how everyone would collaborate Saturday at the Native Heritage Center,” Blanchett said. “It was an onstage opportunity to showcase the two styles of the two groups. Their company represented the Indian nations styles of dance down south, and ours represented Alaska Native dance.”

AIDT began in Colorado Springs in 1987 when more than 20 Native American dancers, singers and drummers joined to create a revolutionary dance company that celebrates diverse Native American traditional dances and ceremonies through the modern expression of the theatrical setting.

Barbara Schwei, a producer from New York, joined forces with playwright and director Hanay Geiogamah of the Kiowa and Deleware tribes of Oklahoma to create “the nucleus of the American Indian Dance Theatre,” Grenn said.

“I wondered why every country except the United States had its own national dance companies representing diverse segments of their cultures,” Schwei said.