Parity Pipeline

Genre

Synopsis

The Rocky Mountain Indigenous Dancers are an intertribal Native American dance group dedicated to sharing their cultural heritage through dance. They perform at diverse community events ranging from Denver's National Western Stock Show, Broomfield Days Parade, and Boulder’s Bandshell for Arts in the Park; to Indigenous-focused events like the Harvest of All First Nations Corn Festival in Longmont, Denver’s áyA CON (Indigenous Comic & Arts Festival), Denver Art Society’s Indigenous People Heritage Celebration, Four Mile Historic Park’s Indigenous Family Free Day, and on-stage at the Fox Theater with The Halluci Nation, the multi-award winning Canadian electronic music group from Six Nations.

We want to make a short, creative nonfiction film that features four generations of the Yellow Horse family: 62-year-old boarding school survivor and enrolled Lakota member Theresa Yellow Horse Bryan; 48-year-old co-founder and Tlingit+enrolled Lakota member Thomas Yellow Horse-Davis; 21-year-old enrolled Lakota member Anthony Yellow Horse Martinez; and 7-year-old enrolled Lakota member Sage Yellow Horse Kirby and her 9-year-old cousin Sidian— as Rocky Mountain Indigenous Dancers, preserving their dancing culture. Others included in the film are co-founder/director and enrolled Lakota member Mary Amber Yellow Horse Martinez, and Thomas’s wife and dancer, Kimberly Davis (Yaqui Nation). Unlike many powwow dancers, the Yellow Horse family doesn’t dance for competition or prize money— they dance in prayer for the people. “It’s a healing dance for everyone, not just ourselves,” Thomas says.

We’ve been filming this story for over two years, and are currently raising funds to produce a short film from that footage. The film will help to spread their message to their own Native community, future Indigenous dancers, and non-Native viewers. “Wherever we perform,” Mary Amber says, “we tell the kids: ‘Find out where you come from, find out your culture—  you have a special story too. Bring those stories back to yourself. That matters more than the diamonds and gold that were dug up here.’”