Essay On Native American Dance

During the beginning of the 20th century, Native American tradition, art, and culture was suppressed by governmental bans of Native American customs. One of the commonly misunderstood forms of these Native American customs is dance, which plays a significant role in Indigenous tradition. It was viewed at the time as threatening and hostile as many referred to Indigenous dance as a “war dance” without understanding that each dance holds different importance's. The bans of these kinds of cultural expressions ultimately leads to the decline of knowledge and possible extinction of tradition. In book Reginald and Gladys Laubin, American Indian Dancers by Starr Jones, Reginald and
Gladys Laubin, married cultural historians, decide to partake in …show more content…
He would teach himself to build tipis and bows by feeding his curiosity with Indigenous texts and history. Reginald had knowledge of his German ethnicity but it was always rejected by his parents because they were immigrants that regarded the culture useless in America. Reginald soon met his wife Gladys and with their similar interests, they started their intellectual endeavors by researching every document they could find on Native Americans. With the knowledge gained about Indigenous culture and dance, they started to preform at different schools and museums which received praise from the audience and credible anthropologists as well. This was the first step to reaching audiences across the country to reveal the diverse culture and art. The Laubins were also recognized by Native Americans for their efforts and were even adopted into the
Sioux tribe personally by the chief. These relationships made with different tribes and cultural experts opened up many opportunities and strengthened their connection with the culture by many personal experiences with the Native people. Their notoriety lead them to a defining moment in their career when