Saturday: 1:15 p.m. Penobscot, 8:15 p.m. Penobscot; Sunday: 1:45 p.m. Children’s, 3:30 p.m. Penobscot

Few families have more long-standing ties to the National Folk Festival than the family of Tom Ware, director of the American Indian Music & Dance Troupe. A Kiowa flute player and composer, Tom Ware first participated in the National Folk Festival as a youngster in the 1960s. His father, a champion fancy dancer, performed at the National during the 1940s. His great-uncle, noted artist Stephen Mopope, led Kiowa performances at the earliest festivals – including the second festival, held in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1935. Now, Tom’s 20-year-old son performs with his father as a member of the American Indian Music & Dance Troupe. Four generations and more than a dozen members of Tom Ware’s family have participated in the National Folk Festival over the past 70 years. Current troupe members are from the Kiowa and Comanche nations.

Common symbolic themes permeate the repertoire performed by the American Indian Music & Dance Troupe. The dances contain imagery alluding to animals, plants and forces of nature. Everything – from the talons, bones and feathers in the regalia worn by the eagle dancers to hoop dance designs that represent birds, butterflies, the Earth and sun – has special meaning and honors the natural world and its creatures.

Ware says, “When we beat on the drum, we don’t just hit a buffalo skin. We are calling the spirit of the animal that died. Our dancing and drumming helps call the spirit of the animal to show them respect.” The lyrics of songs that accompany the dances often deal with these subjects or the deeds of fallen warriors and recent veterans.

In addition to the hoop and eagle dances, the group will perform the fancy dance, a more modern powwow standard characterized by intricate footwork and vibrant regalia. Performances also will include the grass dance, meant to represent the wind blowing through the sweet grass of the Northern Plains, and the shield dance, which originated in training exercises used to prepare men for hunting and fighting. The group will initiate a number of audience participation dances, including the children’s rabbit dance.

The American Indian Music & Dance Troupe includes Tom Ware on flute and vocals, his son Thomas Ware III and three other champion dancers.