Native American Series 3 | Observing, Experiencing, and Researching the Bear Dance | Emily Soderborg
35. Native American Series 3 | What I learned about the White Mesa Community Bear Dance | Emily Soderborg
Episode Summary
In this episode, Emily Soderborg shares her experiences attending the Bear Dance with her family on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. Emily shares what she learned about the White Mesa Community and their Bear Dance stories and traditions.
Episode Keywords:
Native American, classroom, arts, artists, teachers, culture, authentic voices, students, indigenous pedagogy, Native American art, Native American Curriculum Initiative, elementary arts education, fry bread, arts integration, Bear Dance, community, White Mesa Community, Native American pedagogy.
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Episode Notes
Cally Flox
Welcome to the Artful Teaching podcast. We are back again in our Native American curriculum initiative series. Today we are talking to Emily Soderborg, who is one of the researchers and writers on our team as the project manager in the Native American curriculum initiative. As part of her research, Emily recently attended a Bear Dance, and she's here to share her story.
Emily Soderborg
The Bear Dance is done at different times of year with the different Ute nations. So just so people are aware, there are three federally recognized Ute nations. One of them is the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, sometimes also known as the Northern Ute. Then you have the Southern Ute, and then you have the Ute Mountain Ute. The Bear Dance travels from different communities. It starts in Randlett, in the Uintah area, and then it goes to Whiterocks, and then Fort Duschene. Then it goes down to Ignacio, in the Southern Ute area. Then it goes to Towaoc (toy-yak). In Towaoc, by that time, because they do the dances on different weekends, it's around June.
The dance is performed in sequential order. Each Bear Dance has its own Bear Dance chiefs. So not just one, but they have multiple chiefs that are in charge of knowing the songs of organizing the events. Out of those, each of them has specific people that sing different songs, but they also call it the Bear Dance circuit. Because the Ute people, no matter which nation they're from, some travel with and go to every single Bear Dance. They feel like the bear is actually traveling with the Bear Dance. As the dance is performed in Randlett, with the first thunder, the bear starts to wake up, the bear is growing, it's waking up—coming up out of hibernation. And it stems from this story. This is the story I heard. I talked to Jack Cantsee Jr., who is one of the White Mesa community’s Bear Dance Chiefs. He said, ‘There were two boys lost in the forest. A mother bear found them and she raised them. As they reached adulthood, she sent them back out. She taught them this dance. Then, they went and taught the dance to the communities that they were in.’ This is part of a ceremonial dance, but it's also a social dance. When the White Mesa Community was trying to figure out how they were going to fit their Bear Dance in with all of the other Bear Dances, they turned to their elders. This was Jack Cantsee Junior's grandpa and his great grandparents. They said, ‘We haven't had a chance to do our Bear Dance.’ As a community, they decided that their Bear Dance would be done in the fall, and instead of bringing the bear out of hibernation, their Bear Dance was to send positive energy with the bear to put it back to sleep as the last Bear Dance of the season. There are no Bear Dances from June until Labor Day. On Labor Day, I went down to witness the White Mesa community Bear Dance. They were sending the bear to go back to hibernate.
Heather Francis
Bear Dances only happen from September to June?
Emily Soderborg
No. They happen from the first thunder in the spring, which is usually March. So you have Randlett, Whiterocks, Duchesne, Ignacio and Towaoc. All five of those happen in the spring, in March, April, May, and June on different weekends. The White Mesa communities’ dance is on Labor Day weekend.
Heather Francis
There's a big break there in July and August.
Brenda Beyal
My understanding is that there are times that the Bear Dance Chief decides whether the Bear Dance is going to be held or not.
Emily Soderborg
Yes. Jack Cantsee Jr. said that the Bear Dance chiefs, he, and three others decided to cancel the dance the first year of COVID, which they hadn't done in a really long time. Last year, they decided that it would only be Ute members of the White Mesa Community that were allowed to participate. It was very small. Prior to that, and then this year, for the first time in two years, the Bear Dance was open to the public: anyone was able to come and watch and participate. As I went down there, I didn't know exactly where I was going. I had talked to the education director, and I told her I was coming. She's the only one from the White Mesa Community that I've actually met in person. So I was going—not knowing where we were going. They just had big signs that said, ‘Bear Dance this way.’ So I just followed them. I was going partly because I was doing research. But I was also just going with my family over Labor Day weekend with my husband and my two little girls. We were giving our girls this opportunity to experience something new and different. Just because in my work with NACI, it's kind of changed the way I view things, I want to give my children more opportunities to see things through different perspectives. That's part of the reason we went. I had no idea where I was going, what I was doing, I just followed signs, because I knew that it was happening on Labor Day weekend. Thankfully, they didn't start on time, which happens as people are setting things up. I had 45 minutes to talk to Jack Cantsee Jr. I am not in any way, shape, or form an expert, I am just sharing my one experience talking with Jack Cantsee Jr. and then watching what was going on. He explains the dance. The Bear Dance is done in a corral that they've built. It's a round circle, with an opening facing the east. They framed the corral with wire, and leaned juniper trees up along the wire, all the way around this huge circle. Jack was telling me that as you enter from the east, and you go to the left, that that's like the circle of life. It is birth. As you get around to the back, directly across from the entrance, is the stand where the singers are singing with their notched sticks. They didn't use any drums, they were just using the notched sticks. That part of the circle represents adulthood. As the dance keeps traveling around, it goes to the elders. It's just this cycle of life happening. Being there and seeing the corral that they were in made me recognize this dance is a really, really simple dance. It's easy to do. But—the setting, and the symbolism can't be replicated without the Bear Dance chief. It can't be replicated without the tribal members building that corral and having those specific things in place. I recognize that, even though this dance might want to be replicated by teachers, because it is a very, very simple dance, it's just walking forward and backward—without the setting that it's in, it would totally change the feeling of the Bear Dance.
Heather Francis
You had a family member who got to experience the Bear Dance?
Emily Soderborg
Yes. As I was talking with Jack Cantsee Jr., I was asking him, “So who is allowed to dance in this?” He said, “Well, anyone can dance.” But I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt because it was 103 degrees. It was really, really hot. He told me, “Well, you would need to be wearing a skirt. And you would need to have a shawl to be able to dance.” As a female, I wasn't participating. But, it is a female-driven dance. The females are the ones that ask the males to dance. Jack Cantsee Jr. said, “If your husband's here, he needs to be ready and willing to dance because if he gets asked, he can't say no.” It's just part of the dance that males have to dance. I asked Jack, “Do males need to wear something specific, like the females need to wear skirts and shawls?” He said, “The only stipulation is that he shouldn't be wearing shorts.” Well, my husband was wearing shorts. But since we'd stayed overnight, he actually had pants. I said, “Hey, would you be okay changing into pants in case anyone asks you to dance?” He changed and he was wearing pants. I had my five-year-old and my three-year-old, and we were just watching. We took our camp chairs with us. We had a big umbrella. We were just sitting. You just sit right on the edge of the corral. Most of the time, three or four women dancers would go ask men that were sitting in a certain area really near the singers to dance. But they did a special memorial dance for someone who had passed away. And Jack, who was one of the Bearer Dance chiefs, invited all of the women who were ready to dance to ask someone to dance. Then, 40 or 50 women were dancing instead of four or five. Almost every single male there was asked to dance. My husband got asked to dance. He went out, and they lined up men across from women. Then, there is someone who taps them on the shoulder. That tap tells him that he can break away from the lines, so he can start moving forward or backward. Thankfully, they actually did a song first with him just standing in line. My husband was able to watch. Since he was in the middle of the line he was actually able to watch as they were going back and forth. But he was happy to participate. He wasn't seeking out the opportunity to dance. But he was happy that he was able to be there and do it in the correct way. He knew that it was respectful to not say no, that he just joined in the dance when he was asked to dance. Jack was also telling me that even if I could dance, I wouldn't have been able to dance with my husband. The Bear Dance [is described as] a family dance. It's a way that they get to know other people. It's a social dance. The women are meeting with their aunties, their cousins. And they say, “Okay, I'm gonna go ask this man to dance.” And the women say, “Nope, you can't. That's your cousin, or that’s your uncle.” You can't dance with a male-person in your family, [but the dance is family oriented and] is a way of getting to know other people in the community.
Brenda Beyal
Emily, one of the questions that we ask teachers to ask themselves when they are looking at maybe a book or a resource that they want to share with their students is, “How will this enrich my students' understanding?” I want to ask you that question: how did this enrich your family's understanding?
Emily Soderborg
It was just incredible to be immersed in it, not just to watch it. Even though I wasn't dancing, I was still immersed in it. I got to watch how the families were interacting. I got to show my children how families were interacting. Witnessing the dance from a different point of view, I think, enriches our understanding that it's not all done the way that we think that it should be done. I was sitting next to a Navajo woman who was from the Blanding area, and she said, “Oh, I'm not going to dance. But I come every year, because I want to support them.” Recognizing that it wasn't all Utes there, that there were so many different people who were coming together. And she said, “I've missed it!” One of the reasons she wanted to come was for the feast—because the Bear Dance goes Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, they have it for four days. But on Monday, they have a feast that the White Mesa community shares with anyone who comes in. So she said, “I have missed their frybread and their beans! No one makes them quite like that.” Which was so fun. We didn't get to eat together because they still had COVID protocols. We had a drive-thru feast. We drove through, and they were giving us boxes of food, but they had meat and beans, fruit and corn, and frybread for anyone. It was free for anyone who was there. Applying this to things that I took away from this experience—Jack Cantsee Jr. was telling me how this feast was unique and special, just for the White Mesa community. All the bear dances are different. We can't assume that because a Bear Dance is done in Randlett that it's going to be the same in White Mesa. They did a special dance right before the feast. It was called the Frybread Dance. Jack said it was the mother bear trying to entice her two sons that she had raised—the human sons—back to her and so the dancers go around the entire corral with a piece of fry bread in their mouth, dancing with fry bread in their mouth, saying, “The feast is ready,” but it's also the mother bear trying to entice her her sons back with her because she missed them so much that she wants to be there with them. This story helps me recognize that, even within cultures, different communities have different stories. If I want to seek truth, I have to ask for multiple perspectives. I can't just say one person's story tells the whole story; it's one person's story tells that person’s story. That's why I'm excited about this. I'm going to be working on the white Mesa Community bear dance lesson plan. I'm not writing a Bear Dance lesson plan for all of the different communities. I'm focusing on the White Mesa community and telling that specific story.
There's a little tiny pocket that is the White Mesa Community that is reservation land, most of the Ute Mountain Ute land is actually in Colorado. There's just a little pocket right in between Blanding and Bluff that is also reservation land of the Ute Mountain Ute.
Heather Francis
I love it, you went to their space, to their land, to their experience that you were invited to. And really, really participated. I like hearing the story too, because all of our lesson plans that we've done have this kind of research involved where we're talking with partners, we're getting accurate, authentic voices we're visiting on reservation land. As a teacher listening to this, I'd be like, Wow, I don't have so many weekends to go out. But we do encourage teachers to seek out these experiences.
Brenda Beyal
Actually going and experiencing these kinds of activities will give you a new perspective on why, and maybe how, or they give you reasons that you can tell your children, that though the Bear Dance is a simple dance, it's a sacred dance: it should be done in a space that the Bear Dance Chiefs see that it should be done in. Not just, you know, anywhere and by anyone.
Emily Soderborg
Jack Cantsee Jr. had gone to Blanding Elementary, the week before, because on the Friday of the bear dance, they actually bussed students to the corral that were not Ute. They bussed the students there so that they could participate in the Bear Dance. Jack had talked with them. I'm teaching them what the bear dance was meant for, but also the need to be respectful. One of the stories he did tell me is that there was a little boy who was goofing off, and he fell down. And he pulled his partner down while they were dancing. They stopped everything. They stopped the music, they went and they blessed that boy and that girl, they drew a circle around them, and they wouldn't let them stand up until they had finished blessing them with the instruments, because they wanted them to recognize that anytime anyone falls down during the Bear Dance. They wanted them to recognize the significance of being respectful, and of helping the person that you're dancing with. Because one person is constantly walking backwards, and you switch off, one person is walking forwards while the others are walking backwards and then the other way. They brought it into the community—they brought them to their Bear Dance corral, to dance there. They didn't just go dance at the elementary school, they brought them there to have helped them have that experience there.
Cally Flox
There are local opportunities for teachers to experience Native American dances at powwows. There are many powwows available. Teachers, don't get discouraged when you can't travel to specific pieces. Enjoy what we have in our own communities and find a close by powwow and start there. Emily, thanks so much for sharing your story today. Do we have any final comments?
Emily Soderborg
I just thought it was so fun. I'm glad that I'm able to share the joy that I had in learning more that it's not just research, like book research, but it's in-person research and talking to people and going and doing things I've never done before and not being afraid of trying something new because I get scared doing things but I it was it was great.
Heather Francis
I love that you didn't even know Jack Cantsee Jr. You didn't even know him. But you met him and you took the opportunity. It seems like he enjoyed talking to you too. You weren't interrupting his space or time but you were acknowledging and honoring him by letting him tell you the stories that he told you.
Brenda Beyal
Yes. One thing that really interested me is that Emily is somebody that's on time all the time. If it starts at three, she's there five minutes till three, or before three. She's somebody that keeps me on time. But she's learning that time doesn't always have to be linear, that time can be circular. There's such a thing as circle time with Native American people. We start when we're ready to start. We finish when we're ready to finish—when everything has been accomplished, rather than saying, “We're starting at eight and ending at nine.” Because she was in the White Mesa community space, Emily honored it. Because her husband said, “We've got to be there, we're going to be late.” Emily said, “No, it's okay. We'll get there when we get there.” Because as soon as she knew she was entering into the White Mesa community, she was on circle time—which means we start when we start, and we don't finish until everything is completed. Because she was willing to be on that circle time, she was able to meet with Jack Cantsee Jr. and she was able to spend 45 minutes. And this isn't because Emily Soderborg was coming and therefore we're going to hold off for 45 minutes. It's just the way it happened. For Jack Cantsee, having somebody interested in what he had to say was as important to him as it was for Emily. I know that because he wouldn't have spent all of that time unless he felt like there was something he needed to say, because he is one of the Bear Dance chiefs down in that community.
Cally Flox
Thank you for joining us on this episode of artful teaching. We wish you joyful learning and artful days.
Brenda Beyal
Thanks to James Huston for editing this podcast. Music was generously provided by Connor Chee, a Navajo Diné composer and performer.
Cally Flox
Special thanks to all of the teachers who are changing lives every day while serving in schools.
Wishing you an artful journey.
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