The Warriors of Ani Kituhwa’s skin glows primary red, their head-to-toe body paint streaked with sweat, black inset designs on their arms and chest — patterns created to identify individuals on the battlefield — smeared from the movement of dance.

A scream breaks the air — two notes, the first higher than the second, like the sound of a large, angry owl. It is a scream that is not heard, but felt, sharply between the shoulder blades. Half a beat later nearly a dozen unified voices respond to the call with a single cry, a third note, completing the minor chord.

The Warrior dancers’ movements are slow, methodical, intimidating, yet graceful. Together they are bringing back traditional Cherokee dances from 250 years ago, the Warrior Dance and the Eagle Tail Dance, as described in the memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake.

Timberlake saw these dances in the fall of 1762 in the Cherokee capital of Chota. The Eagle Tail Dance is done to honor the bird, which carries great symbolism for the Cherokee.

“We honor the animals,” said Walker Calhoun, a respected Cherokee elder and singer of traditional sacred dance songs who accompanies the Warrior dancers.

However, Timberlake may have misunderstood the intent of the Warrior dance.

“In the beginning they called it the welcome dance,” Calhoun said.

Born in the Big Cove community on the Qualla Boundary, where he still lives, Calhoun learned songs, dances, and Cherokee religious practices from his uncle, Will West Long, who had learned them from Swimmer, among the most well-known of Cherokee medicine men.

Following Long’s death in 1947, Calhoun and his relatives began teaching ceremonial dances to the younger generation. In the 1980s, he formed a family group, the Raven Rock Dancers, and revitalized the stomp dance tradition for the Eastern Band.

The Warriors of Ani Kituhwa are a relatively new cultural heritage and dance group led by James “Bo” Taylor, archivist at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. The group’s name translates to Warriors of the People of Kituhwa. Located near Bryson City, Kituwha was one of the tribe’s most important ancient settlements.

The group, designated as official cultural ambassadors by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has danced at various festivals and events throughout the Southeast including the Great Island Festival held by the Fort Loudon State Historic Area and the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, the 31st annual Mountain Heritage Day held at Western Carolina University, and in Colonial Williamsburg. Dancers include John Grant Jr., Daniel Ledford, John Bullet Standingdeer, Bo Taylor, Daniel Tramper, Robert Tramper, Will Tuska and Pat Smith.

The Warrior dancers will be featured at the 93rd Annual Cherokee Fair held Tuesday, Oct. 4, through Saturday, Oct. 8, at the Fairgrounds in Cherokee. The Warriors are scheduled to dance at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7.