We were on one of our urban hikes around Toronto, when
we came across a Tlinget dance group. The Tlingets are an indigenous native
tribe that lives in the Alaskan Panhandle, Northern B.C. and the Southern Yukon. They claim to have
10,000 years of history in their songs and dances and today, the men in the
audience were invited up on the stage to take part in the Grouse Dance.
As it was explained, the male grouse performs a very complex
dance to show off all his stuff with the hope to attract a mate. The Tlinget
captured these movements in to the Grouse Dance or as the younger Tlinget’s
call it, “Horny Grouse Looking for Hot Chick”.
We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary this year so a
unique renewal of our vows seems appropriate.
The dance involved getting your body, low to the ground with
one hand shaped like a beak held in front of your face, while the other hand is
held behind your butt and splayed to look like tail feathers.
The dance had you
first threatening other grouse away with your beak then shaking your booty to
attract a mate.
The dance had barely begun when I sensed a change in the force. It seemed one of the Tlinget dancers was shaking his tail feathers at my wife.
I had to act quickly before this whole renewal of vows went terribly
wrong.
Jumping, beak first off the stage, I faced my adversary
down.
It must have be the immense size of my beak for that grouse scurried
off with his tail feathers between his legs.
And as in every fairy tale story, she said yes. Again
I still got feathers.
