Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion

Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The pavilion in 2021, with arch sculpture in foreground
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Location	U.S. Highway 16
Nearest city	Rockerville, South Dakota
Coordinates	43°58′21.5″N 103°18′47.6″W / 43.972639°N 103.313222°W / 43.972639; -103.313222 (Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion)
Area	less than one acre
Built	1934 (1934)
Built by	Duhamel, Alex, Bud and Peter
Architectural style	Polygonal
NRHP reference No.	95001475[1]
Added to NRHP	December 14, 1995

The Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion is a historic event venue on the south side of U.S. Highway 16 northeast of Rockerville, South Dakota, near the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. Built in 1934, it hosted the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant, a Lakota tourist performance created by Black Elk in 1927. The pageant ran every summer until its discontinuation in 1957. A major attraction in the 1930s, its purpose was to not only profit off of tourism to the nearby Black Hills and Mount Rushmore but also—according to Black Elk—to represent Lakota traditions in a respectful, authentic way. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 as a venue of enduring cultural and religious significance, and for its association with Black Elk.