On Oct. 2, the Weis Center for the Perfoming Arts hosted the Lakota Sioux Dance Theatre, a performing group that focuses on cultural production in a way that intertwines both dance and storytelling.

The Lakota Sioux performance gave insight into their rich culture. The combination of narrative and performance helped to ceremoniously construct a vision of their heritage. The introductory speaker emphasized that the Lakota Sioux are not people of the past with their native culture dead like many believe, but instead are those who keep strong ties to their heritage.

The audience was composed of mostly Lewisburg children and families, and some University students. Filled almost to capacity, the room fell instantly silent as the lights focused on a man adorned in bright fabric playing a large wooden flute. In stunning contrast to the calm flute, another man dressed almost identically spoke the single world “life” in a booming voice. He repeated the word again in the same tone, and then went on to explain the Lakota Sioux beliefs on the story of life.

Following this narration, the stage filled with men and women dancing to the beat of drums. This back-and-forth between dance and story continued throughout the rest of the performance, with the second half of the show focusing on the word “death.”

“I liked how after each snippet of story came a physical interpretation. I’m a dancer, so I found it compelling to watch them act out their culture through their movement,” Alex Puleo ’18 said. 

Overall, the show interested the audience and showcased a heritage that many do not experience in their daily life. The integration of dance and music created a hypnotic show that contrasted life, death, and tradition with the modern.