Date:25/09/2010

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First Nations Dance Company (FNDC) was founded in 1991 by owner and director Richard Donaghey, who is an enrolled member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. FNDC operates under its parent company Donaghey Media International. FNDC first performed on the Dutch television program “Tienke” in April of 1992. The company is based in Fort Defiance, Arizona, on the Navajo Indian Reservation. FNDC performs traditional Native American pow-wow music and dances. This also includes the works of Native flute musicians.

The company consists of champion pow-wow dancers who compete at pow-wows throughout the United States and Canada. The performers come from a variety of Native tribal nations. The tribes represented in the 16 year history of the company represent the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Maricopa, Zuni, Caddo, Delaware, Navajo, Shoshone-Bannock, Lakota , Dakota, Blood, Blackfoot, Cree, Choctaw, and Cherokee Indians.

First Nations Dance Company has been featured in a variety of venues, ranging from live theater performances, public events, television, radio, and printed media. From 1994 to 1999, FNDC was a main feature of the “Western Lifestyle” television program. This program was produced by Dutch television producer Bob De Jong, Veronica Television, and was aired on RTL-4 in the Netherlands. It is from the media exposure from this TV program that First Nations Dance Company became one of most well known Native dance company in Europe.

First Nations Dance Company has toured and performed in a variety of European countries. Some of the countries FNDC has performed in are Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Algeria, and Turkey. Video productions of the company are viewed worldwide, and have won regional awards in the United States. Some notable venues have been the Earthquake International Dance Festival in Belfast, the Western Experience exhibition in Den Bosch, the International Mystic Music Festival in Istanbul, the ZDF Festival in Frankfurt, Native Pow-Wow Festival exhibition in Bristol, and the Festival of Desert Peoples in Timimoun.

In 1998 First Nations Dance Company had its first international tour in Western Europe and performed in over 24 different cities. In November 1999 the company had its first performance in Istanbul, Turkey at the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall. FNDC was also on featured on Turkish television TRT for the first time in 1999, with Seynan Levent. In 2000, the company had its second tour and performed in notable venues in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Brussels. First Nations Dance Company continues to perform internationally.

One source of pride in the company is we do not come from Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York. First Nations Dance Company is geographically located on an Indian Reservation in Arizona, and is one of the few Native dance companies in the United States or Canada that can make that claim. FNDC continues to be one of the premier professional Native American dance companies in the world.