The extremely talented, and multiple award-winning Native American dancing troop, the Bear Clan, had taken center stage in the Bradley Center, and they entertained the audience over the course of an hour with the performance of eleven different and unique dances and songs. 

The show had started with a bang, or rather, a bunch of thunderous and rhythmic bangs that engulfed the entire theater. The drummers held nothing back once they started the beating of their rather large drum, and it was only after said drummers began to sing their chants, that the sound of stomping feet and ringing bells soon joined in with the melody the drummers were providing.  

There was a flood of colorful dancers that glided across the stage, each wearing their own eye-catching, and specially designed ceremony garbs. With each movement the dancers made, there were sounds of many ringing bells that one could hear being produced by the garbs themselves. Bells, feathers and streamers galore.  

Even though these dancers were some of the youngest in the Bear Clan, as confessed by Little Eagle, the leader of last Friday’s dance troop, they were still able to make it abundantly clear that they have put hours upon hours into their practices. Little Eagle even went on to explain that most of the members that took the stage had learned multiple different styles of dancing, which he said, “Is no easy task.” 

Due to their lack of members, the group had to make two brief pauses mid-show in order for three of their dancers to be able to make an outfit switch before they continued on with the show. Later on in an interview, Little Eagle explained that the Bear Clan is actually made up of multiple different Native tribes. He specified, “In this particular dance troop today, the Oneida people are represented, as well as the Menominee, as well as the Ojibway people.”  

Little Eagle also a part of the Ho-Chunk nation, as well as having Potawatomi blood.  

The Bear Clan said that they would perform in sun or snow, but they would not perform in the rain. It just so happened that it rained the night of their performance. This caused the event to be moved from the originally scheduled area, in the field between Muelhmeier and the Center for Diversity, Equity and Belonging, to the inside of the Bradley Center. 

To find out more information on the Bear Clan, visit: www.nativevoices.net/bearclansingersanddancers.html