About Us Lakota Dancers
Venturing Crew 476 - OA Lodge 175
[ Mission | History | Scrapbook ]
The Lakota Dancers is a youth group whose purpose is to learn Native American culture with the hope that we may all appreciate the values of what it has to offer. Members regularly participate in Native American Pow Wows where dances and traditions are handed down from generation to generation. Members are also responsible for building their own dance clothes which demands skills from bead-work and quill-work to the art of bustle and hair-roach making be learned and hopefully mastered.
Another important aspect of our mission is to share what we have learned with our community. Through our many Native American friends, we have gained tremendous insights into the depths and richness of the Native American culture. To share these insights we provide educational (and hopefully entertaining) performances for other organizations ranging from libraries and community museums to Cub Packs and Indian Guides.
In 1982, John Zeller, an adult Eagle Scout and adopted son of a Lakota Sioux family on the Pine Ridge Reservation, moved to suburban Chicago where he joined the local Scouting program. He became active in the council's Order of the Arrow lodge, appropriately named the Lakota Lodge, and on March 10, 1983 the Lakota Dancers was founded as an O/A lodge dance team.
As a dance team chartered by an O/A lodge, membership was available to young men 12 to 21 years of age. Three years later, on May 1st 1986, our circle grew when the group became dual chartered as an Explorer Post which allowed not only young men, but also young women between the ages of 14 and 21 to join.
To support the youth dancers, the adults formed the Lakota Singers (men) and the Fringed Benefits (women) who collectively sing the songs at the performances as well transport the youth to Pow Wows, performances, and other cultural events.
In 1985, the Lakota Dancers sponsored their first Pow Wow at Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The Pow Wow has continued as an annual event and grown over the years with our Pow Wow most recently being held in Elgin, Illinois.
In 1987, 1989, and 1994 the dance team took summer trips to South Dakota. Along the way we saw Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Mountain Carving, Wall Drug for some free ice-water, the Bad Lands of South Dakota (a great place to camp if you like rattle-snakes), and climbed Devil's Tower in Wyoming (well some of us climbed at least). The highlight of the trips were participating in the Pine Ridge Reservation Pow Wow.
1997 was a year of "firsts" for the team. In April of 1997, the Lakota Dancers made their Cable TV debut during the annual Easter Seals Telethon for the local Joliet, Illinois area (not far from the home of Wayne's World, and yes the cable appearance was pretty much like that). In 1997, the Lakota Dancers received Northwest Suburban Council's " Explorer Post of the Year " award.
In 1998, the team became a Venturing Crew and in 2003, the team won the Colgate Youth for America Award. In 2005, the team continued to evolve, chartering a Learning for Life group for the 11-13 year olds interested in learning Native American Culture and to prepare to be on the dance team.
Over the years, many of our boys have earned the Boy Scouts of America's highest rank, Eagle Scout, as a member of the crew or as a member of their Scout Troops. Many of the boys are in Order of the Arrow with honors of Brotherhood & Vigil and are officers or chairmen in the Lodge. Several of the young women have earned their Girl Scout Gold Awards. And in 2003 one of our young women was awarded the Council Venturing Leadership Award - and again in 2005, one of our young men was awarded the VLA.
See some of our favorite photos in our
Scrapbook.
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Call 847-882-1644 to restart the team.
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