# 3072-76 - 1996 32c American Indian Dances

US #3072-76
1996 American Indian Dances

• Set of 5 picturing traditional dances
• Dances represent tribes from all over US

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  American Indian Dances
Value:  32¢, First-Class mail rate
First Day of Issue:  June 7, 1996
First Day City:  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Quantity Issued:  27,850,000
Printed by:  Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method:  Lithographed
Format:  Panes of 20 (5 across, 4 down) from printing plates of 120 (8 across, 15 down)
Perforations:  11.1

Why the stamp was issued:  This set of five stamps were issued to pay tribute to traditional Native American dances.  The dances were chosen to represent different areas of the US.

About the stamp design:  Keith Birdsong, an illustrator from Oklahoma, painted the stamp images using airbrush, acrylic, and colored pencils.  These were the first stamp images Birdsong produced for the USPS, though he had previously designed souvenir envelopes.
The artist based his artwork for the American Indian Dance stamps on photos of dancers.  The faces and costume details were changed to prevent portraying a living person on the stamp.
Special design details:  The band at the bottom of each stamp is from digital clip art.  USPS art director Carl Herrman added color to the black-and-white clip art.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue ceremony took place on the opening day of the Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival held in Oklahoma City.  The festival includes juried art and dance competitions.
About the American Indian Dances set:  The cultural heritage of Native Americans was celebrated on these stamps featuring five American Indian dances - the Fancy Dance, Butterfly Dance, Traditional Dance, Raven Dance, and Hoop Dance. The Traditional, Fancy, and Hoop dances are attributed to many tribes across the United States and are primarily performed at pow-wows. A ceremonial dance, the Raven Dance is only performed in the Pacific Northwest, while the Butterfly is performed by Southwest Pueblo tribes.  Each stamp shows a Native American in traditional dress for each dance.

History the stamps represent: 

Fancy Dance: The Fancy Dance follows the Traditional Dance and is an adaptation of two western Oklahoma dances. The Grass Dance celebrated victory in war while the Ghost Dance, created after conquest by the Europeans, conjured up spirits and led to trances, enabling dancers to relive the good life of the past. The United States government prohibited both dances.
Combining and camouflaging the two dances, the Indians created a new dance that was quickly adopted by other tribes. Costumes became more and more elaborate as the many tribal contributions were incorporated. In time, the dance came to be called the Fancy Dance.
Today, Fancy Dancers wear face paint and garments laden with metallic beads, sequins, and ribbons, over which are worn elaborate feather bustles on the back, shoulder, and arms. Care is taken to elongate and color-coordinate the feathers that become an explosion of color and motion when dancers spin, twist, and leap. 
Outfitted just as elaborately, the women celebrate their own Fancy Dance. As they jump and whirl to the fast beat of the drums, their long-fringed shawls come to life and look like exotic birds in flight. 
Though modern, the Fancy Dance connects Native Americans with their rich and ancient culture.

Butterfly Dance: The Butterfly Dance, native to the Tewa Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, is a dance of life. To them, the butterfly’s dramatic life cycle – from larva, to caterpillar, to pupa, and finally to a colorful, graceful butterfly – symbolizes the physical and spiritual renewal of life and growth.
Appropriately, the Butterfly Dance is performed in the spring by a couple chosen by the tribe. The maiden wears a white embroidered dress, beaded leather boots, and a massive array of eagle feathers on her back in imitation of butterfly wings. On her head she wears a butterfly-shaped tablita, decorated with feathers and crafted by her dancing partner. The youth, painted gray and white, wears a white kilt embroidered with the symbols of clouds, rain, and life. His kilt is belted with a rain sash and bells. On his back he wears a fox pelt; on his feet, beaded moccasins with skunk fur at the heels.
Facing each other, the couple moves back and away with small jumps. Pivoting, they travel backwards, toward each other. These movements are repeated many times as a symbolic re-enactment of the miracle of life.

Traditional Dance: Native Americans gather yearly at powwows to reaffirm their shared heritage in dance. Tribal dances have been combined to create four distinct Pan-Indian styles: Traditional, Fancy, Grass, and Jingle-dress.
The first dance performed at powwows honors the animals and birds of land and sky – the creatures that provided sustenance to the Native Americans’ forefathers. Indians in general, and Plains Indians in particular, survived by hunting, and believed animals willingly submitted themselves to the hunter. They were therefore duty-bound to honor animal spirits in dance. In the dramatic Traditional Dance, some dancers imitate the movements of animals and birds; others, the hunter. 
Appropriately, the dress for the Traditional Dance features leggings, vests, and quivers made from deer and elk skins, decorated with porcupine quills, cowrie shells, and elk teeth. Headpieces and bustles (a semicircular display of feathers tied to the lower back or arms), adorned with eagle and hawk feathers or fur from otter, wolf, and other animals, make the dancers resplendent.
Women in long-fringed garments dance after the men. Following the rhythm of the drumbeat and chanted song, their movement and clothing portray the harmony between man and nature.

Raven Dance: The Raven Dance of the Pacific Northwest Coast is shrouded in mystery. Some say this is because the dance is too sacred to be revealed, others say there is no such thing as the Raven Dance. 
Traditionally, Native Americans have relied on storytelling to transmit tribal beliefs and traditions. Raven originated as the chief protagonist in the stories of Tlingit people of southeastern Alaska. A playful trickster, full of intelligence and curiosity, Raven is sometimes the cultural hero and sometimes an alternately clever and stupid bird-human whose voracious appetite and eroticism leads to violent and amorous adventures. Raven stories, primarily designed to teach children their lineage and proper behavior, are told by dancers wearing elaborate and sophisticated Raven masks mimicking the movements and sounds of this very expressive bird. 
Because Raven stories deal with clan origins, they are the property of the clan and are not well suited for general usage. Consequently, there is no universal Raven Dance but a series of clan-specific Raven dances.
Raven dances, as well as Coyote and Mink dances, are held sacred by some tribes and not by others. For the tribes that revere them, they are the principal ceremonial events performed during the long winter months.

Hoop Dance: A 20th-century dance designed strictly for entertaining non-Indian audiences, the Hoop Dance is a showy, crowd-pleasing spectacular. Performed solo or in pairs, the dancer manipulates a dozen or more whirling hoops over and around his torso, legs, and arms, creating designs that represent elements of nature such as birds, turtles, and the earth. The Hoop Dance, performed to the beat of the drum but no song, requires acrobatic skill, quick footwork, and years of practice.