Embassy Events

Native Trails and Ambassador Goldberg at ExpoCruz

Native Trails and Ambassador Goldberg at ExpoCruz

Native American Dance group “Native Trails” touched the hearts and minds of indigenous peoples throughout Bolivia during their U.S. Embassy sponsored tour September 18th through 24th, while at the same time dispelling long held myths of Native Americans. In Santa Cruz on September 23rd, the musicians performed at on the main stage at ExpoCruz for a crowd of over 5,000 excited fans.

Ambassador Goldberg welcomed the group to the stage and encouraged the crowd to enjoy the show.

Robert “Tree” Cody, leader of the group, danced traditional dances, played a beautiful song on his flute, and spoke to the crowd about his culture in his Dakota language.  The group danced and sang several more traditional songs, enthralling the crowd with their beautiful music and costumes.

The group toured 4 cities in Bolivia, sharing their culture with over 8,000 Bolivians in settings as varied as a solstice festival in Batallas, a rural indigenous community, as well in Cochabamba for excited guests of the Centro Boliviano of Cochabamba.  The program broke stereotypes of Americans at every event. Most telling was a comment made by a small child in Batallas to Tree Cody, “But uncle, I thought all Americans were gringos”.