The Jingle Dress Project brings beauty to a beleaguered world.
Like most people around the world in the summer of 2020, Eugene Tapahe was in grief and stressed about the loss of his livelihood due to the crippling economic impact of the pandemic. Adding to his distress, he was unable to return to his hometown on the Navajo Indian Reservation due to a strict quarantine, thus denying him the chance to be in his Tribal community and mourn the loss of his aunt with his loved ones. It was during that bleak time that he was gifted a vision of how to turn tragedy into triumph.
Indian Land, Palm Springs, CA, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians, 2021.
As I spoke to Tapahe from his spot as guest artist at the National Museum of the American Indian, he described the extraordinary dream that inspired Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project, which, by the end of 2023, had traveled over 30,000 miles and visited dozens of national parks, forests, and monuments. In his vision, he sat in a field of green in Yellowstone National Park, steaming water in the distance and buffalo grazing nearby. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of hundreds of tin dress jingles, bouncing and clicking, shook-shook, shook-shook, shook-shook, as numerous jingle dress dancers appeared dancing in front of him. A great sense of peace and love came to him, and he remembers thinking that he never wanted to leave that place. Those feelings of hope and faith stayed with him long after he awoke. After he shared with his wife, Sharon, and two daughters, Erin and Dion, they decided as a family to bring their dancing and spiritual medicine to bless our public lands and the people who visit them. Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project, was born.
Standing in Unity, Teton National Park, WY, Cayuse, Umatilla, New Segovia and Tséstho’e, 2020.
During the fall of 2020, Tapahe and family loaded up their van with dresses, cameras, and sleeping bags, and The Jingle Dress Project hit the road for the first time to visit the sacred place where Tapahe’s dream occurred: Yellowstone. After completing that initial road trip tour through Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Warrior Women, West Coast, OR, Tolowa Dee-ni’ and Siletz, 2020 and the Bonneville Salt Flats, the team knew they had found their calling. The power of Tapahe’s dream, combined with his skill as a photographer and his family’s considerable talent, has brought The Jingle Dress Project national and international recognition and has provided the young dancers with many opportunities to gain valuable knowledge and leadership skills. Although The Jingle Dress Project has become a big hit, their group remains small, consisting of Tapahe, Sharon, Dion, Erin, and their two friends, Sunni and JoAnni Begay. This tight-knit family group has brought inspiration throughout the United States and across both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, participating in noteworthy cultural exchanges with the Ainu people of Japan and performing an honor dance for marathoners in Berlin, Germany (in which Tapahe’s oldest daughter, Erin, also ran).
The Beginning, Bonneville Salt Flats, UT, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2020.
Growing up as a Tribal member on the Navajo Nation, Tapahe always had a strong feeling of solidarity with other Indigenous people throughout the nation. Before starting The Jingle Dress Project, he created Tribal designs and photographed Indigenous landscapes and Native people around the country. The Jingle Dress Project provided him with an opportunity to pass that same spirit of togetherness on to the next generation, in ways that he could literally only dream about.
Tapahe spoke with a full heart about his team of dancers and the road they have traveled together: “The girls willingly have stood out in the snow and heat, have camped in the cold and rain, have done their homework on their phones, have had cold sandwiches for dinner, have put on their makeup in a moving vehicle, and dressed into their regalia in the wild — to heal the land and people.”
[1] Warrior Women, West Coast, OR, Tolowa Dee-ni' and Siletz, 2020. [2] Granite and Grace, Yosemite National Park, CA, Miwok, Northern Paiute, and Kucadikadi, 2020.
Time and again the family also benefitted from the magical element of fortuitous timing — signs along the way that they were doing good work for the right reasons. He emphasized this when speaking about the nature of the project. “The Jingle Dress Project is not a performance project,” he says. “It’s not meant for entertainment or done for profit. It’s a family healing endeavor.”
As with all great projects, this one started with a vision, and is done from the heart.
Nizhoni (Beautiful), Monument Valley, AZ, Diné, 2020.
Follow Tapahe, his family, and The Jingle Dress Project in their journey throughout the West at tapahe.com/project.
This article appears in our April 2024 issue.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy Eugene Tapahe
HEADER IMAGE: Togetherness, Sisters, Bonneville Salt Flats, UT, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2023.
