Song of the Eagle Show Dazzles Severn Audience

Boy and girl scouts wearing feathered headdresses, elaborate shawls, war paint and moccasins rhythmically stomped and spun to the beat of a giant drum in the Kerr Center for the Arts Saturday evening.

About 50 scouts from three different dance groups—the Kwahadi group of Amarillo, Texas, the Koshare group of La Junta, Colo. and the Kossa group of Sulphur, La.—danced in Saturday’s “Song of the Eagle” show, consisting of several different Native American-inspired dances, including a friendship dance that brought audience members onstage.

The rainbow of costumes and the enthusiasm of the dancers made each dance dazzling to the eye, but most impressive were the hoop and the eagle dances.

During the highly energetic hoop dance, the scouts slipped multiple hoops into one another to create various shapes, such as spheres that were held high for the audience to see and wings that appeared to be attached to their bodies.

The eagle dance was alluring for the costumes alone; three scouts sported convincing eagle costumes with real feathers for wings and headdresses shaped like an eagle’s head.

Throughout the show, 60-year-old Eagle Scout Charles Ritchie of the Kwahadi dancers provided a brief history of each dance that was performed as well as inspirational dialogue encouraging the audience to follow their dreams and to make good choices.

“Don’t quit, don’t give up on your goals—believe in them,” Ritchie said during the show.

Ritchie, who has been a part of the Kwahadi dancers for 50 years, said that he got involved in the show because he was inspired by what a show could do.

“We use beautiful gifts given to us by native friends to entertain and inspire,” Ritchie said.

Although all of the dancers in Saturday’s show were boy scouts, girl scouts, or Eagle Scouts, one does not have to be a scout to join, Ritchie said.

“I’ll take any kid who walks in,” said Ritchie, “but give me six weeks, and they’ll be a scout.”

Being a dancer in any of the three groups is a lot of work. The dancers have to learn and practice all of the dances, and on top of that, are all required to make and pay for their own costumes.

Tami McLean, 15, of the Kwahadi dancers wore a leather dress with ornate beading to Saturday’s show that she said took more than a month to make.

McLean has danced with the Kwahadi for a year and a half and said she joined the Kwahadi because she has “Indian in her blood and she thought it would be cool to do something that she was related to." She plans to keep dancing until she turns 18.

Melissa Waters, 14, has also danced with the Kwahadi dancers for a year and a half.

“I came to one of the shows, and I really liked it,” Waters said. “At intermission, I found Charles and said I would like to be a part of his dance group.”

From there, Waters just had to show up to practice. No audition is necessary to join the Kwahadi dancers.

The Kwahadi group currently has dancers ranging from 5-year-olds to 21-year-olds, said Waters.

The younger scouts actually learn all of the dances from the older ones, Waters said, and they all practice every Sunday for two hours.

In addition to summer performances, the Kwahadi dancers perform several shows in the fall as a part of their “Indian Summer” show, along with shows in the winter for “Winter Night Ceremonials.” The spring is reserved for training.

“It’s very time consuming,” Ritchie said. “This is a very busy, hard-working group of young people.”