NEW YORK — Corbin Shuckahosee, a member of the Meskwaki Nation and a sophomore at South Tama County (STC) High School, recently enjoyed a rare opportunity to travel to New York City and showcase his fancy dance at the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade alongside his mother Kathy thanks to a connection with another Trojan alum, Larry Yazzie, the owner and founder of Native Pride Productions.

“I really felt that Kathy and Corbin were a perfect fit because of what they represent in the community and what they do in the community,” Yazzie said. “I really wanted to bring family and friends into this year’s Macy’s parade.”

Yazzie, who grew up on the Settlement and attended school with Corbin’s father Charlie before graduating from STC in 1985, is now based in Jacksonville, Fla. He has performed at the Macy’s parade twice before, including in 2013 with Tyler Lasley, a fellow resident of the Settlement.

“I always make sure to come back to my community just to be part of the community with the ceremonies and our local powwows and just supporting family and our community as well,” Yazzie said.

He started Native Pride Productions about 20 years ago, and Yazzie said that for this year’s parade, the Macy’s producers hoped to highlight the multigenerational aspect of Native dancing. Both Corbin and Kathy have been dancing for almost all of their lives — Corbin did the men’s traditional last Thursday, and Kathy the women’s appliqué — so they were a natural fit when Yazzie was seeking performers.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s quite an honor to be asked, and I’m thankful that he did ask. I’m for sure grateful,” Kathy said.

Corbin added that he never dreamt of dancing on such a large stage.

“You don’t really feel it until you get there, so (I was) nervous and excited,” he said.

Kathy described the parade as “iconic” and said it was hard to explain the feeling because there’s nothing else like it.

“We’re used to dancing in front of people all the time. We’re used to performing on big stages, so that wasn’t the feeling I had. Of course, it’s a bigger stage, millions of people, so it was just different. Dancing in the streets and everything was pretty neat,” she said. “It was very nice.”

Both the Shuckahosees and Yazzie are also excited about the chance to raise the profile of the Meskwaki Nation, a relatively small tribe that isn’t widely known nationally the way others are.

“Every time, when I am out performing or doing a presentation or doing a lecture, I’m always highlighting the Meskwaki history, especially with the purchase of our first 80 acres back in 1857,” Yazzie said. “And that’s something that, literally, the audiences are blown away (by) because it’s unheard of for a tribe to purchase their own land back where other tribes were forced onto reservations.”

And of course, they were happy to hear affirmations from the folks back home in Tama County.

“It’s very heartwarming to know that we have a lot of support, positive feedback, a lot of very kind words from all of our friends, family, coworkers that we may have, neighbors, all of our neighbors in our neighborhoods. When you see somebody at the grocery store and they say ‘I’ve seen you on TV,’ it’s pretty cool,” Kathy said.

Corbin plans to continue dancing on the powwow circuit as he figures out his future, and Yazzie is staying busy with Native Pride Productions, traveling all over the world with one or two international tours a year.

“After the parade, our phones have been ringing off the hook, and inquiries have been coming in through our emails of presenting our performance whether it be in K-12 schools, colleges and universities and especially live events and festivals,” Yazzie said. “We definitely want to showcase our culture and break down those stereotypes. That’s one of our missions and goals. We want to be heard. We want to have a platform to educate the world and our country that we are still here, we still exist and we are tied to our culture, which is very important.”

To learn more, visit https://nativeprideproductions.com/.