{"id":48671,"date":"2021-02-10T16:08:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T23:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cnn-features-native-american-dancers-with-ties-to-southern-ute-tribe\/"},"modified":"2021-02-10T23:08:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T23:08:56","slug":"cnn-features-native-american-dancers-with-ties-to-southern-ute-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cnn-features-native-american-dancers-with-ties-to-southern-ute-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"CNN features Native American dancers with ties to Southern Ute tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A two-spirit couple with ties to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe is reshaping traditional powwow dances.<\/span>Durango Herald File<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sean Snyder, who is of Southern Ute and Navajo heritage, has been making history through dance, according to a recent CNN feature.<\/p>\n

Snyder and his fianc\u00e9e, Adrian Stevens, are breaking the mold of traditional couples routines at powwows \u2013 called sweetheart specials \u2013 by participating as a two-spirit couple. A recent photo feature, published by CNN on Feb. 3, shares some of the couple\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir routines and matching regalia \u2013 each embellished with their own handmade beadwork \u2013 have brought them widespread attention,\u201d said CNN\u2019s Jacqui Palumbo in the story about the Native American couple redefining cultural norms.<\/a><\/p>\n

Snyder and Stevens have been together for years and identify as two-spirit, which within North American Indigenous communities, refers to people who possess both masculine and feminine spirits, but it can also be used to represent LGBTQ+ Indigenous people more broadly, Palumbo said.<\/p>\n

Synder could not be reached for comment for this story. Stevens is of Northern Ute, Shoshone-Bannock and San Carlos Apache heritage.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the dancers were disqualified from a Sweetheart\u2019s Special at the San Manual Band of Mission Indians powwow in California. The dancers registered as a man-woman couple \u2013 the only registration option \u2013 to be able to perform their routine, according to The Seminole Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Nevada-based dancers have been able to dance as a couple at other powwows, ranking high in competitions along the way.<\/p>\n

The CNN feature shares the couple\u2019s story through photography by Tomas Karmelo Amaya. The couple, in full regalia, danced and posed in front of an overcast sky in Minnesota\u2019s Prairie Island Indian Community.<\/p>\n

Amaya called his images \u201cvisual medicine,\u201d and spoke about the importance of visibility for the two-spirit community, according to the article.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s story has also been featured in Vogue<\/em>, the PBS Short Film Festival and Salt Lake Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-spirit couple redefine traditional couples dance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[511,28,1765,561,1231,629],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-48671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dance","tag-headlines","tag-lgbt","tag-native-american","tag-pine-river-times","tag-southern-ute-indian-tribe"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48671"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=48671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}