The Eagle Dance is not one of the regular ceremonial dances, but one performed by the curing societies of the San Juan, Santa Ana, and Ildefonso tribes. The Eagle Kachina is associated with the air and hence with freedom and movement, and because the dance is physically taxing in its effort to duplicate the flight of the bird, it is usually performed by thin dancers who work in pairs, just as the eagles themselves to.

The costume for the dance is among the most graceful of the traditional Kachina costumes. The headpiece duplicates the regal head of the eagle, with stern eyes and fierce beak. Actual eagle feathers are carefully prepared and assembled into majestic wings which spread along the dancer's arms, and more feathers drape down his back, ending in a fine tail attached as a bustle.

Wearing this assemblage, the men almost become eagles as they mimic the eagles flight, swooping upward with mighty, beating wings, to soar in the air currents, gliding, turning, dipping and then diving toward the ground, only to flash upward again in an endless cycle of elegant movements. The costume flexes, each feather smoothly sliding over the next, all aiding in the illusion of flight.

The Eagle Dance is performed with such devotion because the eagle, riding on his massive wings, flies higher and closer to the celestial home of the deities than any other bird. He is thus able, in his spirit form, to carry messages for the Indians, to tell the gods that rains are needed or that someone is ill. If the dance has been done well, the feathers of the costume will be infused with the strength and freedom of movement so much a part of the eagle, and the sick will be brushed with them to restore their health and well being.