Barbara Schwei, 57; Co-Founded American Indian Dance Theatre

Barbara Schwei, a co-founder and producer of the American Indian Dance Theatre, died Wednesday of complications from breast cancer at her home in New York City. She was 57.

Schwei and UCLA professor Hanay Geiogamah founded the American Indian Dance Theatre in 1987. It was the first all-Native American company of dancers, singers and musicians.

Schwei, a native of Milwaukee, earned a bachelor’s degree at New York University. She had been interested in Native American art and culture since she was young.

She was working as a concert and theatrical producer in New York City when she and Geiogamah began planning a show of Native American dancers in 1986. “We were committed to forming a professional company, featuring the best dancers and musicians from the Native American world,” she said recently. “We also wanted to cross tribal lines and create an integrated company of dancers, singers and musicians from a variety of tribes and tribal cultures.”

In an interview with The Times on Wednesday, Geiogamah, the troupe’s creative director, said that Schwei had a “very sharp eye for performance talent, which she maintained through our whole experience together.”

“We went to all the major powwows of the national circuit in the summer of 1986 looking for singers and dancers,” he said. “We were fortunate to find a whole lineup of the very best.”

Cast members, who ranged in age from 18 to 22, came from a cross-section of tribes around the U.S. and Canada.

Over the last 17 years, the American Indian Dance Theatre has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad. It was the first Native American troupe to have its own prime-time national performance special when it was featured on PBS’ “Great Performances” series in February 1990. A second special, “Dances for the New Generations,” was on “Great Performances” in 1993.

The American Indian Dance Theatre will continue under the direction of Les Schecter, Schwei’s longtime collaborator, and Geiogamah.

She is survived by a brother, Peter, of Dodgeville, Wis.

The family suggests that memorial donations be made to the Native American Performing Arts Foundation, 223 E. 61st St., Suite 5A, New York, NY 10021.