American Indian Dance Theatre

Barbara Schwei, a co-founder and producer of the American Indian Dance Theatre, died Wednesday of complications from breast cancer at her home in New York City. She was 57. Schwei and UCLA professor Hanay Geiogamah founded the American Indian Dance Theatre in 1987. It was the first all-Native American company of dancers, singers and musicians. Schwei, a native of Milwaukee, earned a bachelor's degree at New York University.

Cast as a Native American shaman or seer, Doug Scholfield used the smoke from a clump of burning sage to consecrate the stage of the Tom Bradley Theatre on Thursday -- opening night not only of a four-performance engagement by American Indian Dance Theatre but also of the newly reconstituted and upgraded Los Angeles Theatre Center downtown. Throughout Act 1, that stage remained a sacred space, with Scholfield seeming to call dancers from many tribal cultures out of his memory.

The American Indian Dance Theatre looked sensational when it introduced two new works on an otherwise familiar program Thursday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. In the new Eastern Woodlands Suite, a group of young men good-naturedly wooed women through competitive solos that grew increasingly daring, humorous and even up to date, with Lloyd Yellowbird galvanizing the audience with Michael Jackson moonwalk steps and arm-in-the-air poses.

Barbara Schwei, a co-founder and producer of the American Indian Dance Theatre, died Wednesday of complications from breast cancer at her home in New York City. She was 57. Schwei and UCLA professor Hanay Geiogamah founded the American Indian Dance Theatre in 1987. It was the first all-Native American company of dancers, singers and musicians. Schwei, a native of Milwaukee, earned a bachelor's degree at New York University.

No one-hour telecast can rectify all the neglect and misunderstanding suffered by Native American culture--and by assuming this mission, "American Indian Dance Theatre: Finding the Circle" spreads itself painfully thin. This conceptually flawed, lavishly produced PBS "Dance in America" episode airs tonight at 9 on Channels 15 and 24, at 10 on Channel 28 and Sunday at 10 p.m. on Channel 50.

In 1921, the Canadian government took a look at the sacred ceremonies of the Kwakiutl people of the Northwest coast and promptly freaked. The authorities arrested participants, banned the events and blackmailed the remaining tribal members into surrendering their masks and artifacts by threatening further arrests.

Many Los Angeles artists stand with a foot in each of two different worlds, traveling back and forth between the entertainment industry and their home cultures. But Saginaw Grant knows what it means to make the trek on a weekly basis. A member of the Sac and Fox tribe of Oklahoma, Grant is both a traditional Native American dancer and a working TV and film actor. And for the past 10 years, he's juggled his weekday acting assignments with weekend trips to tribal gatherings where he dances.

Cast as a Native American shaman or seer, Doug Scholfield used the smoke from a clump of burning sage to consecrate the stage of the Tom Bradley Theatre on Thursday -- opening night not only of a four-performance engagement by American Indian Dance Theatre but also of the newly reconstituted and upgraded Los Angeles Theatre Center downtown. Throughout Act 1, that stage remained a sacred space, with Scholfield seeming to call dancers from many tribal cultures out of his memory.

The American Indian Dance Theatre looked sensational when it introduced two new works on an otherwise familiar program Thursday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. In the new Eastern Woodlands Suite, a group of young men good-naturedly wooed women though competitive solos that grew increasingly daring, humorous and even up-to-date, with Lloyd Yellowbird galvanizing the audience with Michael Jackson moonwalk steps and arm-in-the-air poses.

Dance historians generally cite tap and jazz dance as the only indigenous American dance forms. Native American Indian dance gets lost in the shuffle. "None of the Indian dances have been seen in a performing environment," said Hanay Geiogamah, director of the American Indian Dance Theatre, explaining the oversight. " Nobody --Indian or non-Indian--ever got together the money, the organization, the patience, and the know-how to do it."

In the really bad old days, you'd probably get your ideas--wildly inaccurate ones--about American Indian culture from Hollywood films. In the not-so-bad days, you could get a realistic view if you were willing to travel to powwows and reservations. That all changed in 1987 with the creation of the American Indian Dance Theatre.

* American Indian Dance Theatre presents an evening of dancing, drumming and chanting drawn from traditional cultures Nov. 23-25 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine, (949) 854-4646. $26-$32. * Running Nov. 28-Dec. 9 is the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival at the Vogue Theater, 6675 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 962-1599, (212) 777-7100.

Something wonderfully thought-provoking happened near the end of the latest American Indian Dance Theatre program--it got minimalist. After an evening of sumptuously costumed traditional dance, with contemporary edges glimpsed here and there, "Modern Fancy Dance" came along--six young dancers in black T-shirts and shorts, dancing without an overlay of symbols, stories or decorative adornment.

At its birth nine years ago, American Indian Dance Theatre resembled the long-established Moiseyev, Bayanihan, Ballets Africains and Ballet Folklorico companies in its emphasis on variety. Like those pioneer predecessors, it offered an array of theatricalized regional suites: ethnic vaudeville, strongly performed. Increasingly, however, its programs have focused on a visionary pan-Indian identity more than the histories and traditions that make each tribe unique.

Many Los Angeles artists stand with a foot in each of two different worlds, traveling back and forth between the entertainment industry and their home cultures. But Saginaw Grant knows what it means to make the trek on a weekly basis. A member of the Sac and Fox tribe of Oklahoma, Grant is both a traditional Native American dancer and a working TV and film actor. And for the past 10 years, he's juggled his weekday acting assignments with weekend trips to tribal gatherings where he dances.

It's an old story, but still appropriate. An anthropologist studying the Papago tribe in Arizona in the '30s commented on the women's lack of visibility in the ceremonial dances. Said one, with a laugh: "You dance to get power. We don't have to." "That's one of my favorite stories," says Rayna Green, director of the American Indian Program at the National Museum of American History in Washington.

Wiltern Seeks Major Artists: George Cree, the new executive director of the Wiltern Theatre, said he is determined to broaden the range of entertainment at the theater, and is negotiating to attract major soloists, orchestras, dance companies, operas and stage productions. Cree made the announcement on the fifth anniversary of the Wilshire Boulevard theater's restoration and reopening.

Swimming majestically through sprays of light on the the stage of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, a masked whale-dancer opens a hypnotic North Coast initiation ritual presented by American Indian Dance Theatre on Thursday. Worn as a sculptural crown, the whale mask is both a family crest and an effigy representing the connection between humans and the natural world.

In 1921, the Canadian government took a look at the sacred ceremonies of the Kwakiutl people of the Northwest coast and promptly freaked. The authorities arrested participants, banned the events and blackmailed the remaining tribal members into surrendering their masks and artifacts by threatening further arrests.