Dora Old Elk

Dora Old Elk (born 1977) is an Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)/Sioux artist who grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Billings, Montana.[1] A dance dress made by Dora Old Elk is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[2] She also dances Women's Northern Traditional dance.[3] Of her dance dresses she has said, 'I see my outfit as an individual itself. When I put it on, there's no other way to really represent myself than to be out there and dancing. It feels really, really good. It's like nothing that I've ever felt before.'[4] Old Elk is married, and now goes by Dora Birdshead.[3]

The band Warscout recorded a Pow Wow song "Apsaalooke Double Beat" for Old Elk in 2008.[5]

  1. ^ Horses, National museum of the American Indian ; edited by Emil Her Many (2007). Identity by design : tradition, change, and celebration in native women's dresses (1st ed.). Washington (D.C.): National Museum of the American Indian. ISBN 978-0061153693. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Woman's dress". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Native Profile – Dora C. Birdshead". PowWows.com. 8 August 2011. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  4. ^ Daffron, Brian (8 August 2007). "Old Elk represents 'Crow style' throughout circuit". Indian Country Today. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Apsaalooke Double Beat (Sung For Head Lady Dancer Dora Old Elk)". Myspace.