The Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts will host the Five Moons Dance Festival on Saturday to honor the co-founder of the OU School of Dance and the Five Moons ballerinas.

The The Five Moons Dance Festival will pay tribute to OU School of Dance co-founder Yvonne Chouteau, one of the Five Moons, five internationally celebrated 20th-century Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma.

The festival features several public events, including panel discussions, a Native American arts market, and a Shawnee stomp dance. The festival concludes on Sunday with a dance performance for which tickets are required.

Maggie Boyett, communications director for the Shawnee Tribe and a graduate of OU Modern Dance Performance, expressed her excitement about the festival in a Press releaseShe wrote that it was an honor to work with the Chouteau family.

“We have deliberately highlighted other Shawnee artists and cultural figures in the festival program and also included representatives from all other Five Moons tribal nations,” Boyett wrote in the press release.

According to Boyett, this year’s festival, which has been in the planning stages since 2023, is the first of its kind in Oklahoma. Boyett said she is pleased that the Jacobson House Native Art Center and the First American Museum contribute to the success of the event.

The festival begins on August 24 with an exhibition at the Jacobson House Native Art Center showcasing artists from the Ballerina Tribal Nations, followed by a panel discussion on Cherokee-Quapaw composer Louis Ballard Sr. and two of his ballads.

The evening continues at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City with a panel discussion featuring Shoshana Wasserman and the current chiefs of the Five Moons Tribal Nations. The evening concludes with the Troy Little Axe Sr. and James R. Squirrel Memorial Stomp Dance.

On August 25, the festival will feature a performance at the Reynolds Performing Arts Center featuring contributions from the American Ballet Theatre, Oklahoma City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and students from the OU School of Dance.

For more information about the festival, visit https://dance.ou.edu/fivemoonsfest.

This story was edited by Ismael Lele, Anusha Fathepure and Ana Barboza. Natalie Armour and Avery Avery edited this story.