Bear Dance

Dancers at Randlett Bear Dance

Skylar Lomahaftewa instructs young dancers

Singers with rasps

Randlett Bear Dance

Randlett (pronounced locally as "Rand-e-lett" with three syllables) is a small town five miles off Highway 40 into the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. Each year the town holds the Randlett Bear Dance, a four-day celebration of spring. There are two Bear Dances that happen each year on the Reservation. One takes place in Randlett and another in Fort Duchesne.

Skylar Lomahaftewa has served as the Bear Dance chief for Randlett. He inherited the role of dance chief from his great grandfather, Henry Cesspooch. There are other dance chiefs as well, including Lloyd Arrive. The role of the chief is to ensure that the dance is well-organized and well-run. They are responsible for taking care of elders and organizing musicians. They also make sure everyone follows etiquette if a dancer falls down (a bad omen). 

The dance takes place in an open field where they build a corral from local cottonwood trees. Musicians sit on three sides of the metal drum with wooden rasps. They sing in unison and rake thick metal pipes over the rasps while they sing. Some groups are more formal, others appear to be a gathering of friends. Children are welcome to participate in the music-making. 

Each dance is fairly short (2-7 minutes). There is a short break between dances, where dancers scatter and reorganize. There are many dances, including the Bear Dance, the Line Dance, and the Cutting Dance. In the Bear Dance, the women choose their partners. In the Line Dance, a “catman” makes sure that each line is perfectly straight. The Cutting Dance starts with lines, but then the dancers are “cut” into couples. The Randlett Bear Dance also held a Chicken/Turkey Dance late on Monday night, the final night of the dance.

Ute Veterans presenting the flag to the Bear Dance Chiefs

Dancers at Fort Duchesne Bear Dance

Fort Duchesne Bear Dance

One week after the Randlett Bear Dance, Fort Duchesne holds their Bear Dance. The two dances are similar, with the same corral construction, music and musicians.  There is also the same four-day structure of line dancing and couples’ “cut” dances. Fort Duchesne does not hold a Turkey Dance, but rather holds a pow-wow on the last night.

AJ Kanip has been Bear Dance chief for the Fort Duchesne Bear Dance since he was 22 years old, twenty years ago. His grandfather gave him the position. 

AJ explained that the line dance represents the early part of the dance, it's a time when you "get your steps in." The line dance represents a bear dancing toward a tree. Later cutting dancers are paired up. The two couples create a bearing with four legs, and the couple becomes the bear.