American Indian Troupe Will Perform Thursday

American Indian Dance Theatre Spokane Opera House, Thursday, 8 p.m. Tickets: $18.50, $15.50, $12.50

The American Indian Dance Theatre will stage a sampling of dances and music from the more than 250 tribal groups in North America Thursday night at the Opera House.

The company was founded in 1987 and has toured in the United States, Europe, Japan and North Africa, performing genuine tribal dances in authentic costumes.

Among the tribal groups represented in the troupe are the Apache, Assiniboine, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Cree, Chippewa, Comanche, Hiditsa, Kiowa, Northern Arapaho, Sioux, Warm Springs, Yakima, Zuni and Navajo. The dancers and musicians were selected from important festivals, ceremonies and powwow competitions.

Live music will be performed by an all-male drum group accompanied by a female singer, a break with tradition in which only men drum and sing at ceremonial gatherings and powwows.

Thursday’s program includes a group of dances called “Eastern Woodlands Suite,” which features a stomp dance, an Iroquois women’s dance, a raccoon dance, a smoke dance and a stick dance.

Other dances include: “The Plains Suite” and “Pueblo Dances.”

Members of the Kwakiutl Tribe from British Columbia will stage a red cedar bark ceremony.