Kainai fancy dancer's regalia stolen from car in Calgary

A Kainai fancy dancer's regalia was stolen out of his vehicle in Penbrooke Meadows in southeast Calgary on Friday.

A suitcase containing the outfit was in the backseat of Kyle Young Pine's car, parked at the end of an alley by a 7-Eleven.

Young Pine, 33, said that after 10 days straight of dancing at the Calgary Stampede, he might have been absent-minded and forgot to lock the vehicle.

Custom beadwork, a set of hackle bustles and a set of eagle bustles — all part of a personalized, recognizable outfit — were stolen.

"A piece of my soul was gone when I opened that [suitcase]," said Young Pine.

What was taken

Young Pine's regalia includes bustles — intricate strings of feathers attached to a U-shaped board, worn between the shoulder blades, on the lower back, and on each shoulder, along with two sticks.

Young Pine has two sets, which are not worn at the same time: hackle bustles, made of fluff or imitation feathers, and eagle bustles, made up of 65 eagle feathers that he wears to powwows.

The eagle is sacred in Blackfoot culture, as it is the closest connection, other than the sun, to the Creator, said Young Pine.

"When those eagles pass on and leave their bodies behind in feathers, those eagles still need to live. And we show honour to that by dancing with them," he said. "You kind of got to live in that culture to understand how valuable those items are."

He thinks someone might take his outfit to a pawnshop to sell — but pawnshops can't take eagle feathers.

"That's where my heart breaks, where I'm like, I'm never going to see those again, because … if you're not a person of status, you can't be in possession of those items."

Still, Young Pine is trying to be resilient about the theft.

"I know that this is going to be a very dark time in my past, but a very positive one, too, because, you know, I didn't let it destroy me, even though it's a piece of my heart that's been taken."

Replacing regalia will take years, thousands of dollars

Young Pine plans to report the theft to police and scour pawn shops along 17th Avenue S.E. But if his outfit doesn't show up soon, he'll have to rebuild it.

"The eagle feathers are going to be near impossible to replace," he said.

Eagle feathers are rare, and his set of eagle bustles was made in South Dakota.

A set of hackle bustles costs about $1,600; traditional beadwork, about $4,000 and two years of work.

"I've already reached out to a couple of artists," said Young Pine. "They know how passionate and how much I love to dance, right, so I think that they will have my back."

Young Pine started dancing seven years ago. He said the connection between fancy dancers is a unique bond, an automatic recognition and conversation starter. But his missing regalia means he won't be dancing, at least for now.

"To build my outfit to where it is today, I am that fancy dancer that I dream to be," he said. "And now I'm just back to 2013, watching from the sidelines."

With files from Rick Donkers.