The Apache Pow Wow

The Apache Belles took its audience on a journey through a "Night at the Museum" in their annual Spring Show April 3 to 5 in the Wise Auditorium.

For over 60 years, the Tyler Junior College Apache Belles have been a crowd pleaser. Since 1947 when the Belles were first created, they have traveled the world performing their talent.

The Spring Show boasted bright, colorful costumes, crazy skits and special appearances from the Apache Belle Guards, singers from the Harmony and Understanding group and Apache directors, Ruth Flynn and Christy Evans.

This year's spring show was much more than an hour and a half of choreographed dancing, it was the story of a mannequin named Lucy making her way through the world of the Apache Belles learning their history and their daily lives. Lucy came to learn that it takes more to be an Apache Belle than just a pretty smile; she learned that Belles have to be dedicated as well as skilled dancers.

"We've been practicing since last semester, but for the past two weeks we've been practicing every night from 6 to 10 at night," said sophomore Apache Belle Dede Tubbs.

The show filled the auditorium to the very last seat at the Saturday night show. The crowd seemed to love every minute of the performance. There was almost constant applause and cheering from the former Apache Belles that sat in the audience, occasionally shouting, "I love my little!"

"I think this year's performance was absolutely awesome from start to finish. We wanted this year to be different from anything we'd done before," said Flynn. "We've been blessed."

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