Piscataway Tribe Dance in Honor of Native American Heritage Month

“You don’t have to dance, but you must be brave, “ said Mark Tayac of the Piscataway Nation to students before asking them to come up to the stage and dance with the tribal group. They’ve performed across the nation for children to diversity groups, and were the second ever to perform at the Kennedy Cultural center for an audience of over 5,000.

The Piscataway dancers performed at MU Nov. 30 in recognition of Native American Heritage Month.

“We travel to promote cultural awareness to our cultures,” said Tayac who seeks to dispel cultural stereotypes from Hollywood movies, sport team mascots.

“Many are very negative images; we try to use our songs and dances,” he said. Each dancer wore a different style of dress that is traditionally associated with the dance they wore, changing slightly for each dance. Some dances involved the audience; the “Rabbit Dance” brought up couples to dance, an “Exhibition Dance” where the dancer Eagle Boy stalked with in a circle of students with a bone axe, swinging but never striking a student.

“[The students] were a little shy at first but I hope they left with a greater understanding for the culture,” Tayac said.

Half the crowd was brought up to dance the “Snake Dance,” a long line where all held hands, weaving, turning, spinning, in a snakelike manner.

The Piscataway dancers represent over 500 different native languages, all very diverse from region to region and each all share their songs.