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Native dancers at center stage

Joey McLeister, Star Tribune

A young jingle dress dancer was surrounded by Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community dancers and students from Shakopee High School, who joined dancers on stage for the round dance during the 11th annual Young Native Pride presentation. Native dancers demonstrated a variety of dances that were explained by a narrator.

Youth members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community danced for Shakopee High students.

By EMILY JOHNS, Star Tribune

Last update: May 12, 2008 - 9:36 AM

As the jingle dancers stood silently backstage, Michele Knife Sterner spoke to a full auditorium at Shakopee High School.

"If one were to close their eyes as the jingle dancer passes, it would sound as though it were raining," said Sterner, activities presentation coordinator with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

As the drums started, the girls danced one by one onto the stage in their colorful dance outfits.

On Friday afternoon, several dozen youth members of the group presented the 11th-annual "Young Native Pride" to the Shakopee student body. Dressed in regalia and dancing to the Little Six Drum Group, the dancers presented several kinds of traditional dances while a narrator told students of their significance.

There was the Grass Dance, the Jingle Dress Dance, and even one called the Fancy Dance.

That's relatively new, Sterner said, and when the women perform it, their shawls mimic butterflies in flight.

Chance Crooks, 16, said he participates in the dances to "keep the culture going, and teach the kids how to do it." The kids can get pretty rowdy sometimes, he said, but "everyone's out there laughing; everyone's having a fun time."

Joey Saba, 17, a senior at Shakopee High School, likes dancing because he can go to pow-wows and dance with his cousins and friends. Performing at Shakopee High School was a special treat, he said, because he can dance for his classmates.

"I like to carry on traditions and show other people our culture," he said. "So it doesn't fade away."

Emily Johns • 952-882-9056