Two young girls with skillful feet danced to the beat of a Native American drum. Vanessa Concha and Serenity Tyon, with Bernard Cottonwood accompanying them on the drum, entertained the seniors at their monthly birthday lunch at the Commerce City Recreation Center last week. Serenity's mother made their costumes and the girls danced with grace and beauty.

As I watched the entertainment I was transported back to a time in my childhood when I sat in the moonlight watching Indian men dancing with only the light of campfires breaking the darkness. The summer night was warm and quiet and squaws in their long dresses and moccasins rested on the ground beside their tepees watching the bucks as nimble feet danced deftly around in the center of the circle of tents. Small Indian papooses played nearby and the smell of summer filled the air as a large Indian drum in the center beat a tune to the rhythm of the voice that filled the night air.

Seated high in the bleachers of the football stadium, it was a time for my imagination to carry me back to long ago days when Native Americans roamed the land and danced in the nights. But this wasn't an Indian tribe, this was the Koshare Indian dancers, a group of La Junta boy scouts and their troop leader who dressed and performed Indian dances of the past so well that they have become famous for their skill.

The next day these Indians would be the same boys and girls that I went to school with, who had to study hard to keep up with the fast pace of this unique life.

Again in the fall when the leaves of the trees turned amber and gold and the pleasant aroma of bonfires filled the air the Indians once again performed their Indian dances. I never missed them.

More than 80 years ago in my home town of La Junta, named by the Indians the Junction, a young man named Buck Burshears started a boy scout troop. Buck's driving goal was to save the ancient Indian dances so they wouldn't die out. The troop met in a remodeled chicken coop and called themselves the Koshares, which means "Fun Maker." The first performance was in the basement of a church, but no one was especially enthused over their efforts but Buck and his group of Boy Scouts didn't give up. They checked out books from the library and practiced. It took a lot of time and determination and soon they started putting on shows. Profits increased and this distinctive group of Boy Scouts started traveling all over the United States. They studied and learned the native dances of the Pueblo, Sioux and Paiute tribes throughout North America.

At first funds were short, but Buck Burshears borrowed money to help the Boy Scout troop grow and as time passed people began to appreciate this talented group of boys and their exceptional dances.

The Koshares built their own drum out of buffalo hide and named it the thunder drum. One of the largest drums in the world it can be heard from as far away as seven miles. The person who dances on the drum portrays the eagle as he dances wildly. Dressed in the feathers of the eagle he is caught in a trap, trying desperately to break loose. Unable to get away the eagle's dancing slows down until he falls over in despair and slowly dies as the drum fades into the quiet of the night.

One of the dances the Koshares learned was the Taos Hoop dance. The boys dance between four hoops springing with feet as light as an autumn leaf in the wind.

The dance that made my heart tremble was the snake dance. It is a prayer for rain. Each Indian brave dancing in a circle picks up a viper and puts it in his mouth. The brave dances with that snake hanging out of his mouth. Sometimes the women joined in the dancing.

As the Ghost Dance begins, motionless Indian figures lie silently on the ground. The beat of the drum slowly brings the figures to life. They are soon dancing. The Indians believe that the buffalo will someday return to the land, all of their enemies will disappear and the Indians can live in freedom and hunt as in the days now long past.

The Koshares saved trading stamps to buy a bus so they could tour the country. They have appeared all over the world, winning prizes, performing at Governor's conventions and making a movie. I saw them several years ago in Fort Lupton. Buck Burshears was still there and I thrilled to that haunting voice.

The Koshares are considered the world's best interpreters of Indian dances. The scouts spend many hours listening to recordings of Indian singing, watching films and studying books. They travel to Indian reservations and visit tribes throughout the United States to study their dances. Sometimes Native Americans have resented what they consider an invasion of their privacy but they have changed their minds when they understand that the Koshares are trying to preserve a slowly dying heritage.

Because of changeable weather the Koshares stopped doing their dances in the football stadium and started performing inside. They built a Kiva in La Junta, a round room where the Pueblo Indians held their ceremonies. They have steadily added on to this building over the years. The building cost three million dollars and was paid for by earnings of the Koshares and Buck Burshears, their leader. Seating 500 people it is the largest Kiva ever built. Each year scouts visit the Kiva and have slept in what the scouts affectionately call "Buck's Flophouse." Behind the Kiva is an art gallery and small Indian museum that houses some of the best Indian remnants in the United States.

My brother-in-law, Raymond was a Koshare Indian and he played the part well. Raymond was a dark, very tall, thin boy and he spent hours working on beads and feathers. The boys dye beads and string them. They dye feathers by hand and sew them in large headdresses of many colors. Beads decorate their clothes. Each Koshare is responsible for his own costume and have to do the work by hand themselves.

Above the Kiva is a room where there are dozens of pictures of all the boys who have danced with the Koshares over the years. Some of them were killed during the war. Every year a call goes out to past Koshares, scattered throughout the country, to come and join in a dance. Men travel from far away to dance once again to the beat of a drum.

Buck Burshears went to his final resting place a few years ago. He had devoted his life to these "fun makers" who brought understanding of the Indian manner of life. Buck left a wonderful estate to many young and old men who had worked hard to have the opportunity to travel and dance with this group of Boy Scouts.

If you go to southeastern Colorado, and go near the La Junta Junior College you can travel back into time as you sit on bleachers in the Kiva to watch an Indian tribe as they dance the old dances and listen to the beat of the drums. I'll never forget the thrill of those dances in the moonlight.