Bear dance

Duration: 13

Year Published: 1988

Creator: Britannica Films

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: A Ute boy introduces this film describing the traditional Bear Dance, a romantic courtship ritual that welcomes the advent of spring. After the boy's grandfather blesses the ground to ensure a good year and makes a tobacco offering to the four directions, the celebration begins. A tribal elder explains that the Bear Dance is a ladies' choice dance because it was given to the Ute people by a female bear to honor the women of the tribe. Performance of the rhythmic dance is accompanied by the narration of several young men and women who reveal their feelings of shyness and apprehension in choosing a partner and being chosen as one, as well as the joy experienced when a couple dances in harmony with nature and with each other. With its singing, dancing and communal feasting, the Bear Dance reinforces tradition and inculcates a sense of pride in the Ute people.