Sun Dance Drummers Under Jazz Club Sky

Predawn darkness fills the interior of a Palo Negro jazz club where four Native American drummers sit in a tight circle. Street lamps spill orange light across wet concrete floors and the front of the stage, illuminating beaded regalia and rawhide drumheads. Dramatic clouds loom outside the high windows, their gray forms heavy with wet season rain. The low angle view emphasizes the height of the singers against the dark ceiling beams. Sweat glistens on foreheads as hands strike the drums in unison. One beam of yellow light cuts through the haze to highlight dust motes dancing above the lead singer's raised arm.