The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour

Publisher's Description (Freehand Books): 
The hilarious story of an unlikely group of Indigenous dancers who find themselves thrown together on a performance tour of Europe The Tour is all prepared. The Prairie Chicken dance troupe is all set for a fifteen-day trek through Europe, performing at festivals and cultural events. But then the performers all come down with the flu. And John Greyeyes, a retired cowboy who hasn’t danced in fifteen years, finds himself abruptly thrust into the position of leading a hastily-assembled group of replacement dancers. A group of expert dancers they are not. There’s a middle-aged woman with advanced arthritis, her nineteen-year-old niece who is far more interested in flirtations than pow-wow, and an enigmatic man from the U.S. — all being chased by Nadine, the organizer of the original tour who is determined to be a part of the action, and the handsome man she picked up in a gas-station bathroom. They’re all looking to John, who has never left the continent, to guide them through a world that he knows nothing about. As the gang makes its way from one stop to another, absolutely nothing goes as planned and the tour becomes a string of madcap adventures. The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour is loosely based — like, hospital-gown loose — on the true story of a group of Indigenous dancers who left Saskatchewan and toured through Europe in the 1970s. Dawn Dumont brings her signature razor-sharp wit and impeccable comedic timing to this hilarious, warm, and wildly entertaining novel.

Author Biography (Freehand Books): 
Dawn Dumont is from the Okanese Cree Nation, located in southern Saskatchewan. She is the award-winning writer of Nobody Cries at Bingo, Rose’s Run and Glass Beads. Dawn is a keynote speaker, comedian and humourist for Eaglefeather News and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. 

Resource type: Book (Fiction)

Age recommendation: Grades 10-12, post-secondary

Keywords: Humour, Indigenous dancers, The Prairie Chicken dance, performance, dancing, festivals, cultural events, Nation-specific, traditions, Indigenous Knowledges, histories, identities, cultures, tour, Europe, 

Year of publication: 2021

Publisher information: Freehand Books