Dora Old Elk

{{Short description|Artist from the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana}}

Dora Old Elk (born 1977) is an Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)/Sioux artist who grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Billings, Montana.{{cite book |last1= |first1= |title=Identity by design : tradition, change, and celebration in native women's dresses |date=2007 |publisher=National Museum of the American Indian |isbn=978-0061153693 |editor-last=Her Many Horses |editor-first=Emil |edition=1st |location=Washington (D.C.)}} A dance dress made by Dora Old Elk is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.{{cite web |title=Woman's dress |url=https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/objects/NMAI_282042 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207231747/https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/objects/NMAI_282042 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=National Museum of the American Indian |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} She also dances Women's Northern Traditional dance.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=8 August 2011 |title=Native Profile – Dora C. Birdshead |url=https://www.powwows.com/native-profile-dora-old-elk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625174755/https://www.powwows.com/native-profile-dora-old-elk/ |archive-date=25 June 2022 |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=PowWows.com |language=en-US}} Of her dance dresses she has said, 'I see my outfit as an individual itself. When I put it on, there's no other way to really represent myself than to be out there and dancing. It feels really, really good. It's like nothing that I've ever felt before.'{{cite web |last=Daffron |first=Brian |date=8 August 2007 |title=Old Elk represents 'Crow style' throughout circuit |url=https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2007/08/08/old-elk-represents-crow-style-throughout-circuit-91231 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109094951/http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2007/08/08/old-elk-represents-crow-style-throughout-circuit-91231 |archive-date=9 November 2016 |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=Indian Country Today}} Old Elk is married, and now goes by Dora Birdshead.

The band Warscout recorded a Pow Wow song "Apsaalooke Double Beat" for Old Elk in 2008.{{cite web|title=Apsaalooke Double Beat (Sung For Head Lady Dancer Dora Old Elk)|url=https://myspace.com/warscouts/music/song/apsaalooke-double-beat-sung-for-head-lady-dancer-dora-old-elk-49158905-122042720|website=Myspace}}