((PKG))  BEAR DANCE 
((Popup Banner:  Enduring like a Bear))   
((Reporter/Camera:  Arturo Martinez)) 
((Map:  White Mesa, Utah))    
 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
My name is Jack Cantsee.  I work for the Ute Mountain Ute 
Wildlife Department and I'm a White Mesa Bear Dance 
Chief. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
We patrol the exterior boundaries of the tribe and then we 
also patrol land owned by the tribe. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
We are down in Cottonwood area, home of the Utes.  Like 
down there, it's all Ute land, down in the bottom there.  No 
trespassing, entering Ute Mountain Indian 
Reservation.  Restricted area.  Violators will be subject to 
prosecution, search and seizure of property under tribal and 
federal law.  Now how can you not understand that?  It's 
telling you, you're not, you’re not welcome here if you're not 
tribal member. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
You know, we check for trespassers anywhere within the Ute 
Mountain Ute Reservation. 
Way back when the first Anglos got here, the Utes were 
everywhere in their territory.  
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
This place was a thriving place way back.  You know, people 
lived here. 
One right here. 
This is old, old stuff that you're looking at.  Broken pieces of 
pottery.  Even though they're scattered over here and stuff 
like that, that still doesn't give you the right to pick it up and 
take it with you.  So, you just gotta leave it, look at it and 
leave it.  Put it back down where you saw it because this 
stuff could land you in jail. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
Oh oh, something going on up here.  That vehicle is not from 
the res(ervation).  I don’t recognize it, and it’s out of state, 
non-Indians.  Did they go this way? 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
I think they went up in that side because I don’t see no 
tracks down here. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
I feel really blessed to have this job, to take care of this land, 
to keep people that aren't supposed to be here out.  That's 
how it was a long time ago with all native tribes.  But now, 
modern days, you know, you can't kill them anymore and 
stuff like that, but that's what would have happened a long, 
long time ago.  
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
This cemetery has been here for a long time.  It's all 
native.  It's all Ute people that are buried there.  But we are 
not on Ute land.  We are on BLM land.  So, how was this 
land taken over by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management)? 
Because this is their place, their ancestral homeland.   
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
The federal government divided this up into three Ute 
reservations.  How are we supposed to get our food when 
you're confined to that one area?  I know the ancestors prior 
were very upset with it.  You know, that’s what a lot of 
people back those days drove to alcoholism because there 
was no other way to release it. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
I fell into that rut myself at one time.  Being around it all the 
time, seeing it all the time, and then it was like a way 
out.  But I was able to climb out of it, what everybody says, 
"climbing out of that bottle." 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
There's a bear print right here.  He's walking that way.  We 
say, it's going home from the Bear Dance.  Maybe, he's 
gonna go find himself a den, get ready for the winter, walking 
away from White Mesa, going back to the mountain to where 
he lives at. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
Well, Bear Dance is coming and this time I thought about it 
and I said, I want this to be one of my best ones because my 
journey, as a law enforcement officer, is going to come to an 
end, and I’m ready to move on.  I want to have time for 
myself, for my wife, for my kids.  I’m ready to hang out my 
gun belt and give it over to somebody else, and I want to 
have something to bless me, as far as coming back into 
civilian life, you know, not having to wear the uniform and the 
badge anymore and just coming into a new life.  
((NATS)) 
((Aldean Ketchum, Bear Dance Chief))   
Hey, Ute people, come here everyone.  Right now is the 
Bear Dance.  Right now we’re cutting the line.  Come here 
everyone, come on out, Ute people.  So, hope you guys can 
hear us out there.  So, come on out.  Hey, Ute people, come 
here everyone. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
This dance has been here for many, many years.  It happens 
here in this community once a year, and that’s the fall 
time.  That bear wakes up, the spring thunder wakes him up, 
and he’ll be looking for something to eat and they say he’ll 
travel to community to community.  They’ll have a Bear 
Dance for him and then, but the time he gets over here, it’s 
fall time. 
((NATS)) 
((Erik Wells, Bear Dance Chief)) 
This is one of the oldest dances in the United States.  It's 
been here with the Ute people for generations and 
generations.  It's not written down.  It’s all handed down 
verbally.  This is the last one every year.  We end up putting 
a bear back to sleep. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
With this here, you're making a growling sound, like how that 
bear would growl.  The Bear Dance singers are in charge of 
providing the music.  There's four of us in our band to 
represent each family that's out there, different family that's 
out there.  However, we invite other groups to this ceremony 
over here. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
The Ute language that they sing, they sing about the 
animals, the female bear.  It was all about nature, how to 
take care of it, how to survive.  And so, with those teachings, 
we as Indian people, we survived.  You know, we survived 
and it's still here.  That's what this place is about, is living, is 
life. 
((NATS)) 
((Singers)) 
John, you can sound like him. 
Take it easy. 
((NATS)) 
((Ute member speaking on microphone)) 
Wherever you’re hurt, come out and dance, participate, 
enjoy it.  It does many to make you feel good.  Your health, 
your hurt, come on out, dance.  Come on out.  Thank you. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
We've got ancestors that used to dance in here that used to 
do this Bear Dance over here.  We pray, we pray for them, 
that they watch over us, that they take care of us, they guide 
us, they do all these things for us.  We can't do it ourselves, 
we can't do it ourselves.  And if you see it, sometimes, you 
know, the bear, he stands like this, and if you see them, 
some of those dancers go like that too.  Their hands are like 
this when they are going back and forth doing the line dance. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
We also allow non-tribal members to come here and dance, 
you know, like, we don’t care what color you are.  You’re 
welcome to dance in here and participate as long as you 
adhere to the rules.  The female is the one that does the 
choosing.  She’ll choose who she wants to dance.  She has 
to understand that she can’t dance with anybody that’s 
related to her. 
((NATS)) 
((Sarah Cuch, Northern Ute dancer)) 
The guidance of the song is learning who you are.  A woman 
needs to learn who she is, by herself, taking care of herself, 
have respect for all of the men.  That’s why I can dance with 
all of the men, you know?  Can’t dance with relatives.  You 
can dance with exes.  The men are the wisdom that help out 
a lot and support the women.  And right now, they are 
sharing their wisdom of their songs and their energy, to help 
the women keep going and going.  It’s a ceremony of love.  
((NATS)) 
((Erik Wells, Bear Dance Chief)) 
So, we'll go Friday all day and Saturday all day.  We end on 
a Monday, after four days.  We end up having a feast and 
feed everybody that came to dance and participate here, and 
then we’ll have the end dance, which is endurance between 
the dancers and the singers, kind of a contest, if you will.  
And a lot of these people will dance for four days straight. 
((NATS)) 
((Erik Wells, Bear Dance Chief)) 
You come in here with the problems out there in the world 
and you come in here.  As soon as you come through this 
door and sit in here, just like the ceremony here, you know, 
by the time it's all done and you leave, all that negative 
energy will be gone.  You feel renewed and a lot better when 
you leave here.  
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
Being part of the Bear Dance ceremony, it helped me in that 
way, to lift my spirits.  It showed me a way to confront my 
problems, without having to go consume alcohol.   
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
You feel that power, the energy that's built up in here, can 
heal them, can make them happy and make them go on with 
life. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
Our ancestors fought for this thing to keep going, for the 
young ones, for the little ones.  We were the little ones back 
then, and now we'll fight for our little ones too, you know, 
when they grow up.  Maybe, some of these little guys that 
are going to be over here, that's going to be sitting amongst 
us, they're going to pick it up, they're going to catch on.  We 
don't want it to go.  We don't want it to die off, you know, 
because it's our life.  It's our life blood. 
((NATS)) 
((Jack Cantsee, Bear Dance Chief)) 
After all these years, after many, many millennial years, of 
our people surviving, we are here.  We're still here.  We're 
not going nowhere.  No one's going to take us anywhere. 
((NATS))