Giving Indian Women Their Due in Dance : Dance: Some critics claim performances by the American Indian Dance Theatre do not reflect the powerful role of women in Indian culture.

It’s an old story, but still appropriate. An anthropologist studying the Papago tribe in Arizona in the ‘30s commented on the women’s lack of visibility in the ceremonial dances. Said one, with a laugh: “You dance to get power. We don’t have to.”

“That’s one of my favorite stories,” says Rayna Green, director of the American Indian Program at the National Museum of American History in Washington.

Green is among a number of experts who believe the dances and songs now being performed by the American Indian Dance Theatre do not reflect with parity the powerful role of woman in Indian culture.

Of the 430 tribes recognized by Indians, only 18 are represented in the repertoire of the critically acclaimed company, which performs today at the Wadsworth Theatre. Although the six female members of the 20-member troupe perform the traditional Southern Plains women’s buckskin dance and the fancy shawl dance and dance in four other suites, the males perform the lion’s share of 10 men-only suites and solos.

“Sioux women held positions that required them to be assertive, make decisions and ensure the survival of the Dakota culture. They had a lot of equality. I think with regard to (the American Indian Dance Theatre), women aren’t really there,” says Barbara Feezor-Stewart, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology and Indian studies at UCLA and a Yankton Sioux of the Nakota tribe.

But Hanay Geiogamah, director of the company and a Kiowa-Delaware, says that “although most of the dances are done by the men, I think co-equality is recognized.”

A playwright and adjunct professor of Indian studies and theater arts at UCLA, Geiogamah says: “The status of women is very strong. They carried their responsibilities equally with the men. The traditional life has always been structured in that manner. We followed that in our work with the company.”

Barbara Schwei, a New York producer who founded the company in 1986, agrees. “We took the dances that exist at the moment. Many are very ancient, but they are still performed today, so whatever exists in women’s dances is represented. Of course,” she says, “we can’t represent everything.”

Cassie Soldierwolf, a member of the troupe and a Northern Arapaho, would like to see more women’s dances: “When I joined the company I wasn’t surprised. That’s what the dances called for, but where I’m from there were always an equal number of men and women.”

“In cultures where you find that the whole genesis of life is female, you will find an almost equitable presence in dance,” says Green. “Where you have women medicine people, they lead the dances. They are present in great numbers and their presence is essential. Even in the most male-oriented societies, like the Plains, the woman’s presence is necessary. Without them life does not go on.”

Earl Sisto, head of Student Community Relations for American Indian Studies at UCLA and an Apache, says: “In the Apache tribe women are highly respected. They have a different society than men, but they’re equal, powerful. A lot of times the man would be the spoken chief, but the woman called the shots and they would also go out to fight in battle.”

Green, a Cherokee, adds: “There were probably more dances just for women and by women than are now visibly present. But they are not now in the contemporary repertoires of dance because it has been so shaped by the outside world’s intervention and by Pan Indian powwow culture. Some of those old ceremonial dances are now done in private and the Dance Theatre is, of course, public.”

Therein lies the crux of the problem for the company. Although the jingle dress dance, fancy shawl and buckskin dances are seen regularly at powwows, other dances are ceremonial and/or religious.

Some, like the sun dance of the Sioux, in which women participate, and puberty dances “are not for public display. Anything from traditional religion is not to be performed, photographed or recorded,” says Adelle Allison, communications director of the American Indian Registry.

Dancer Leslie Barichello, a Creek and former Miss Indian Oklahoma, 1984, recognizes the problem. “Our tribe has a Green Corn Ceremony every year which celebrates the harvest. One dance for women is called the ribbon dance. It can, in a diluted form, be brought to the stage.”

Geiogamah and Schwei, who have focused mainly on male dance in a “conscious decision” to create a sequential journey of man’s discovery of Indian dance, will put to rest any complaints of inequality this spring.

“We are developing a solo for our ladies,” Geiogamah says, “and Rosalie Jones, a Blackfoot and the most prominent Indian choreographer in the country, is going to dance a solo and create a dance for our ladies. So we are bringing the element of women more strongly into our show.”