the eagle dances

With Buddy Big Mountain

Directed by Guy Masterson

Written by David Rowe

The Eagle Dances tells the incredible, humorous and thought-provoking nineteenth century story of a white man, George Catlin, who devoted his life to recording the culture of Native American people. This was a time when most of the “civilised” nations were trying to rid the world of the Native “savages”, and when Native Americans realised that they were not the only peoples put on the earth by the Great Spirit. During the 1830s Catlin explored North America, seeking out those Native Americans who had not been affected by the immigrant Europeans. He contacted more than 40 tribes, learned many different languages, and attended cultural and religious ceremonies, becoming the only white man ever to have witnessed certain rituals. Catlin collected artefacts, completed hundreds of paintings of the people and the places he discovered, and wrote at length about his experiences.

During the 1840s, Catlin travelled with his collections in Europe, and was joined at various times by groups of Native Americans, who were both fascinated and appalled by the supposedly civilised European world they discovered. This unique performance uses Catlin’s remarkable story to contrast the spiritual, ethical and moral values of the Native American people with those of the white Europeans, the latter of whom believed that their way of life and moral framework was infinitely superior to that of the Native American, and strikes a highly relevant contemporary chord as it examines notions of civilised worlds. The show contains elements of drama and performance, still and moving images, sound, humour, ventriloquism, and authentic Native American music, dance and costume.

The production stars Buddy Big Mountain, an internationally acclaimed Native American performer who has performed around the world in theatre, television, radio, circus, variety and cabaret and appears on stage as actor, ventriloquist, comedian, dancer and puppeteer. A registered member of the Mohawk of Kahnawake Tribe and of the Iroquois Nation, Buddy’s knowledge of and respect for his heritage has made him a role model for many young Native Americans today. Buddy is one-quarter Comanche, one-quarter Apache, one-quarter Mohawk, and, remarkably, one-quarter Welsh, for Buddy’s grandmother left Wales for North America more than a century ago. Buddy’s great-grandfather worked in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and toured Wales in 1904. Director Guy Masterson is a highly successful and critically acclaimed actor and director.