Our Dance

"Our Dance" is one short story from Oscar Hokeah's novel-in-collection, Reflections on the Water. “Our Dance” follows the triumphs and failures of two cousins as they turn eighteen-years-old and receive a “per cap” from the Kiowa Tribe. After they make questionable decisions with their spending habits, they attempt to redeem themselves in the eyes of the tribal community. On the surface, this is a story about two young men spending their per cap money, but underneath are the subtleties of tribal kinship that have been practiced for generations. Oscar Hokeah's novel-in-collection, Reflections on the Water, is about the life struggles of Carlos, who takes after his mother like a reflection on the water—born of a different generation but simultaneously doomed by the same self-destructive behavior. The way multiple creeks can feed a single river, tribal members from his Kiowa and Cherokee communities fill Carlos with the strength he’ll need to confront the worst of what he has become. In a polyvocal mosaic of stories, Reflections on the Water, follows Carlos’s transformation from a stubborn, antisocial youth to a young man battling cultural humiliation and finally as a passionate adult inspired to better his tribal communities. Always willing to challenge his circumstances, Carlos’s failures are followed by intersecting currents of influence from a host of tribal members—a distant grandfather shares his ability to overcome fear; an aunt feeds his cultural spirit; an uncle demonstrates the importance of second chances; a dying daughter heals with generous acts of selflessness; and each community member, Kiowa or Cherokee, empowers Carlos to overcome his ultimate self-destruction. Reflections on the Water is unpublished as a complete collection. "Our Dance" is a single story from this collection and offers readers an opportunity to explore Oscar Hokeah's writing style before the complete collection is released.