Journal Article

Borrowed dances: Appropriation, authenticity and performing 'Identity' in Prescott, Arizona, 1921-1990

Lynette Russell

2011

Overview

In 1921, a group of white businessmen decided to include native dances into the financially embattled annual Wild West rodeo of Prescott, Arizona. These dances, which came to be known as the Smoki (pronounced: snoke-eye) 'ceremonies', ran from that first performance to its seventieth show held in 1990. The Smoki was much more than an annual performance of native burlesque and borrowed dances. The Smoki was in fact a large, well-connected group of up to 500 people who saw themselves as a 'tribe' or a people. They rehearsed, researched and studied native dances in an effort to present an 'authentic' native experience. The Smoki functioned like a club or fraternal order with initiation rites, leaders (chiefs), head women (squaws), and various regalia and insignias intended to denote these roles. Full membership was by invitation and members - both men and women - were tattooed on the outside edge of their hands in order to mark their membership. By the wearing of the tattoo, a Smoki was literally member for life. Being a Smoki was central to the identity of these men and their families, and to this day they have annual reunions and get-togethers.

• Publisher: Australasian Association for Theatre Drama and Performance Studies,La Trobe University at Bundorra
• Subject: Anthropological aspects / Cultural identity / Dance / Native North Americans / Performing artists / Performing arts / Snake dance / Social aspects