22 years ago, when Jacob Crane’s father first asked his son to be part of a band, Crane “hated it. All I wanted was to go outside, not sit down and practice.” Crane’s father insisted, as he “wanted to have a band, to form a drum group that I’d sing with.” Though Crane initially balked, his father had planted a seed in Crane’s mind that he was a singer, and “after a long time, several years of not wanting to, I started to love it. I learned that singing can be healing.” Crane, who is of the Tsuut’ina Nation, attributes his knowledge of music’s medicinal properties to age and experience: “I didn’t realize it then, but now that I'm older I know that Native singers have the power to bring medicine to our communities through song.”

Years deep in his musical practice, Crane felt called to dance. “My grandparents used to dance for Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show in the 50s and 60s—they were part of that and dancing is in my blood.” Crane’s father had also been a dancer for Brigham Young University’s Lamanite Generation (since renamed Living Legends), and traveled the world dancing with BYU. Crane’s father inspired him to join Utah Valley University’s Cultural Envoy Dance Troupe. “My dad always talked about his time overseas, so I went to China, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, all over the US and Canada, Alaska too.” After a break from performing, Crane “picked it up again in 2017; I wanted to try dancing, to get into it, not just performing, but getting into the art of dancing. It’s creating visual art with movement, how you move your body. At that time I didn’t know it was also a grounding mechanism for spirituality and healing your body…the original Zumba of Turtle Island, I like to joke. Dancing is art, but also a healing journey.”

For Crane, dance has always been an activity that creates connections between the spirit and the body, and between the individual and the community. “My friend Bryson was a champion dancer growing up. Lots of the people who mentored me were champion singers. My community influenced me in how to sing and dance.” His dedication to dance has brought Crane many gifts over the course of his life: “Me and my wife first saw each other at the first powwow I danced at California State University at Long Beach. That’s actually one of my favorite powwows. I’ve been dancing since then, and before the pandemic I was placing in the competition element of powwow, now I’m kinda getting back into it. I see my body going through a healing journey, too—it’s a lot of work to live a certain lifestyle…I practice all the time.”

A year and a half ago Crane started his nonprofit, Cultural Fire Events, as a way to provide more spaces for Indigenous, First Nation, and Native American people to celebrate their cultures and communities. “Now I put on powwows because of singing and dance. It’s been a blessing in my life so I hold that close to my heart. I want to make sure young people have a place to dance, a safe place to be themselves—it's such a small thing and a big thing.”

Cultural Fire Events produces the Intermountain Championship Powwow in Heber and the Red Canyon Powwow in Moab, and Crane describes the gatherings as “our way of giving back to community, inviting people to come spend time in beautiful places, be themselves, and practice a holistic approach to healing.” Crane has also brought a Powwow Healing Sound Series to Summit County in partnership with Mountain Town Music. “It’s an opportunity to share and help educate our general public on Native American ways of life. It’s good to build those bridges; we’re still around looking for allies, thinking about how we can better those relationships on both sides.”

Cultural Fire Events offers dance performances and is available for booking through email at culturalfireevents@gmail.com or by calling 385-535-2793. You can also find out more about upcoming events on their website, facebook, and instagram.

Jacob Crane & Cultural Fire Events: Song & Dance are Community Medicine