N
Neil Suits
The Corn Dance!
Even though I never got to do it, the Indian dancing at Tosebo always fascinated me. In particular, I longed to do the Corn Dance. If I recall correctly, that was the final dance of the season at the Pow Wow where the hatchet was buried between the Chippewa and the Blackfeet. I memorized the steps and even went out in the forest and practiced it with a friend. I can still remember a few of the steps and I think that with a short refresher course I could probably perform the whole thing. I don’t know why I didn’t just tell a counselor or coach that I wanted to do it. Later on, dancing became an important part of my life. I eventually took up both tap and ballroom dance and even spent a short time teaching at Arthur Murray’s Dance studio in Minneapolis. Much later I taught my wife to ballroom dance and we went on to teach literally thousands of people at the YMCA and at schools that I’ve attended and worked at, including Rhode Island School of Oceanography, Penn State and Colorado State University. However, even though I’ve done a lot of dancing in my life, I never got to perform the Corn Dance.
Even though I never got to do it, the Indian dancing at Tosebo always fascinated me. In particular, I longed to do the Corn Dance. If I recall correctly, that was the final dance of the season at the Pow Wow where the hatchet was buried between the Chippewa and the Blackfeet. I memorized the steps and even went out in the forest and practiced it with a friend. I can still remember a few of the steps and I think that with a short refresher course I could probably perform the whole thing. I don’t know why I didn’t just tell a counselor or coach that I wanted to do it. Later on, dancing became an important part of my life. I eventually took up both tap and ballroom dance and even spent a short time teaching at Arthur Murray’s Dance studio in Minneapolis. Much later I taught my wife to ballroom dance and we went on to teach literally thousands of people at the YMCA and at schools that I’ve attended and worked at, including Rhode Island School of Oceanography, Penn State and Colorado State University. However, even though I’ve done a lot of dancing in my life, I never got to perform the Corn Dance.
