Comanche Nation Youth Dancers Participate in National Convention

Comanche Nation Youth Dancers participated in National Indian Child Welfare Association’s (NICWA) 44th annual meeting held in Oklahoma City at the convention center.

Dominic Yackeyonny dances gourd and is learning fancy for Comanche Nation Youth Dancers.

“I started last year around maybe October, but I've been dancing ever since I was a kid with my family,” he said. “We always go out, have fun, support everyone and have a great time.”

Yackeyonny said it was great to dance for the NICWA meeting.

“It's a good feeling, you know, seeing everyone come out, support us, and we can dance for them, show them our dances…and it's really great,” he said.

 Yackeyonny said it’s important to present the culture to others.

“I think it's important because we can show them and, you know, support. We can show them how we dance,” he said. “They can probably, if they want to dance too, they can come out, and they can dance with us, too. Because, such as the snake dance, they can, you know, join with us. And if we have a round dance, they can come join us too, like last night, and hopefully they feel loved and welcomed.”

Director of Operations at NICWA, Lindsay Early, a tribal member, said having the youth dancers is a reminder of why they continue their work to help families.

“We travel to different locations every year. It's good to be in Oklahoma,” she said. “It's my home state, and to see youth dancers from my tribe, it just reminds us of what is possible when we come together to protect families and protect culture and ensure that our kids grow up in our communities.”

Early said seeing people come together is powerful, and there were communities from across the globe at the event.

“It's a time to come together, to be able to really share best practices, to talk about programs that are working successfully,” she said. “It's a time to network, for tribes to come together, exchange ideas, change, you know, partnerships and networks. And it's a time to also share advocacy and policy alerts. We know that social work is challenging.”

Early began her work eight years ago and is passionate about federal policy and children.

NICWA trains workers and leaders and provides resources to social and child welfare workers. 

To get involved, Early suggested people volunteer with ICW programs to join communities.