Dancing with the Land: Zunis Channel their Ancestors at Chimney Rock
by Ansu John
(United States of America)
United States of America
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Balancing traditional clay pots on their head, the women executed intricate steps with their feet covered in bindings of leather and shoes. The dance holding corn symbolized the farming and storing of corn that sustained their ancestors.Children learned to appreciate the power of costume and ritual in donning traditional dress. As they learn to perform the movements, they also learn the imaginative associations and meanings of their dance expressions.As monsoonal clouds gather over the southern Colorado plateau, the Zuni women proudly display the costumes and pottery of their culture that has existed here continuously for thousands of years. Seven year old Jasmine will dance with them as soon as she can balance a pot on her head.The site of the 1000+ year old settlement is a jagged ridgeline, whose prominent rock features frame the rising of the moon and the setting of the sun at certain times of the year. The movements, rhythms, and language seem to be have grown out of the southwestern landscape that sustained their ancestors' lives and nurtured their culture.