Finding My Dance
Follow Ria Thundercloud as she shares her journey to become a professional Indigenous dancer and take pride in her Indigenous heritage
Themes: Identity fulfillment, achievements, heritage/tradition
About the Author and Honored Guest
Ria Thundercloud (she/her) is from the Ho-Chunk Nation and Sandia Pueblo. She holds strong ties to her kinship in the Southwest and North, practicing both styles of traditional dance. She started training in classical dance at the age of thirteen, went professional at sixteen, and has traveled internationally as a cultural ambassador and professional dancer. Ria is a 2019 graduate from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Indigenous Liberal Studies and is a holistic yoga teacher from the Healing Lotus Center. Her art is influenced by the women who came before her, reclaiming stories of matriarchs that highlight the resilience and knowledge of Indigenous women.
Bio taken from Penguin Random House.
About the Illustrator
Kalila (Huh-LEE-luh) J. Fuller is an illustrator born and raised in Portland, OR. She graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art with a BFA in Illustration in 2019. Her style focuses on graphic shapes combined with rough details. Her personal portfolio centers on themes surrounding civil and social inequality within the United States, her heritage, and her childhood experiences growing up in Oregon. Kalila’s early art was traditionally based in drawing and oil painting. Her current work is primarily digital with analog mixed media. She loves dogs, watching cartoons, and drinking chai lattes.
Bio taken from Fuller’s website.
Discussion Questions
- Ria Thundercloud discusses how dance was and is a form of expression for herself. Are there any “non-traditional” ways you express yourself?
- Thundercloud discusses how she struggled balancing the rigid rules of traditional dance with more freeform interpretations. Has there ever been a time you’ve had to find the balance between two opposing forces?
- Thundercloud discusses how she felt like an outsider in many environments of her life. Have you ever felt like an outsider? How did you navigate that?
Learning Activities
Look up where the closest lake, river, or ocean is to you. Try to organize a trip with your family, friends, or school group to go there and thank the water.
Follow the information in the back of the book and send a letter to the real-life Nokomis, Josephine Mandamin.
- Looking through the book are there any details you can pick up of Thundercloud’s culture and identity?
- How do you think Ria Thundercloud’s culture and identity influenced her experience not only with dance, but with the wider world?
- Research the different dances that Thundercloud mentions. Compare and contrast their similarities and differences.
Explore More
- Learn more about the tradition of the jingle dress in this interview with Brenda Child from the University of Minnesota.
- Watch this jingle dress dance performance from a 2023 Powwow.
- Watch Ria Thundercloud perform her Eagle Dance in honor of Secretary Deb Haaland.
- Watch Ria Thundercloud read aloud her book in this video.