Theater Group Keeps Culture of Tribes Alive : Dance: American Indian Dance Theatre helps preserve traditions of many tribes with acclaimed performances on far-flung tours.

LA JOLLA —  Dance historians generally cite tap and jazz dance as the only indigenous American dance forms. Native American Indian dance gets lost in the shuffle.

“None of the Indian dances have been seen in a performing environment,” said Hanay Geiogamah, director of the American Indian Dance Theatre, explaining the oversight. “ Nobody --Indian or non-Indian--ever got together the money, the organization, the patience, and the know-how to do it.”

Nobody, until Geiogamah--playwright, adjunct professor of Theatre Arts/Indian Studies at UCLA, director of his own theater company, and member of the Kiowa/Delaware Indian tribes--undertook the awesome assignment.

Geiogamah and producer Barbara Schwei launched the American Indian Dance Theatre in May of 1987 and set out to catalogue and recreate the cultural mix of traditional dances representing the various tribes and regions of their heritage. Without a pool of performers to draw from, however, just filling the company ranks was a major achievement. The two founders had to ferret out the artists at powwows and ceremonials.

“The dancers came from all over the country,” said Geiogamah. “It took a knowledge and awareness of where they were just to find them.”

There is a long tradition of transforming ethnic dances into theatrical entertainment, but Geiogamah had to start from scratch with the Native American dances he assembled for the company’s eclectic repertory.

“Our choreography consists of the traditional dances handed down from our ancestors,” he said. “We didn’t change that. All we did was shape and edit them, adding what was necessary to bridge the gap between the choreography and a performance format. We have not tampered with the integrity of the dances.”

Included in this cornucopia of cultural expressions are dances from the Apache, Assiniboine, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Comanche, Cree, Creek, Crow, Delaware, Hidatsa, Kiowa, Navajo, Sioux, Southern Ute, and Winnebago, as well as the confederated tribes of Warm Springs, Yakima, and Zuni.

“Many dances evoke special moods and reflect important aspects of Indian life,” Geiogamah said. “Other dances are very competitive, showy, theatrical. Our production incorporates all these images.”

Among the highlights in this American Indian potpourri is a combative encounter with the warrior society, an eagle dance in homage to the sacred bird, and a spectacular virtuoso turn for one fleet-footed dancer with 40 spinning hoops suspended from his limbs, head and torso.

“Our dances are ritual and ceremonial,” said Geiogamah, “but they are also storytelling--comedies and little dance plays. I’m actually training new dancers now, and we’re going to work on the next step--expanding our vocabulary.”

The 20-member troupe of dancers and musicians dazzled a San Diego audience last year and demonstrated a level of performing brio, technical mastery and pure, unadulterated showmanship that usually takes years to perfect. Unfortunately, there were only a handful of dance watchers on hand for that thrilling local debut.

Thursday evening, aficionados will get another chance to catch the American Indian Dance Theatre in action. The group will kick off the dance portion of UC San Diego’s University Events series at Mandeville Auditorium. Curtain time is 8 p.m.

“We have added a couple of dances that weren’t on the program last year,” said Geiogamah. “One of them is ‘The Warrior Prepares,’ a dance drama that gives the origin of the warrior concept. We have also expanded some of the material to help audiences understand it. But there is no narrative. The purpose was just to put the dances in perspective.”

Although the American Indian Dance Theatre is still in its relative infancy, the company has already performed in Italy, Japan, Canada and various U.S. cities, chalking up rave reviews from critics along the way. And the U.S. State Department is sponsoring a tour to the Middle East and the Gulf states. But the most important by-product of all this success is sociological, as Geiogamah noted.

“People have a genuine new interest and feeling--a new attitude towards Indians. That’s the highest point of achievement for us,” he assured. “It gives people a chance to see that we’re not gone. There are 20,000 Indians in the San Diego community alone, and about 1.6 million in the United States. We’re still happily singing and dancing and dealing with our problems.

“It’s a very positive force for us too,” Geiogamah said. “It gives the Indians a renewed spirit. There’s a very powerful creative energy, and it’s gratifying to see such an enthusiastic response.”

The Indian dancers will arrive in town fresh from a standing-room-only stint in New York’s Joyce Theater. Originally booked for two weeks, the engagement had to be extended by a week to accommodate the early response. But even with the additional dates, all the performances were sellouts--a record many established troupes would envy.

Remarkably, the American Indian Dance Theatre, unlike most arts organizations in this country, is self-supporting.

“We don’t have any grants, but we make enough money on our fees and travel,” Geiogamah said. “During the 1989-90 season, we’ll be on the road about 37 weeks, and every place we go, we’re always invited back.”