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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 2016)
LIFESTYLES Thomas Paul coming to Pendleton/3C Germany cheers beer purity law/4C WEEKEND, APRIL 30-MAY 1, 2016 Wild mustangs put to work in Oregon/10C “When we dance, our pride comes back.” — Acosia Red Elk, jingle dancer Staff photo by E.J. Harris Gabriel Danzuka, 5, plays the drums with the men during a recent kid’s powwow at BMCC in Pendleton. More photos online at www.eastoregonian.com The art of powwow By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Logan Quaempts seemed a blur of movement and color. The powwow dancer moved to a driving drumbeat that propelled him around the Blue Mountain Community College gymnasium last week during Arts & Culture Week. Quae- mpts wore a porcupine roach, feather bustle, mirrored head- band and buckskin moccasins with an angora fringe. His style mimicked the antics of a male prairie chicken. “It’s a courting dance to get the attention of females,” he said after leaving the loor. “It comes from the Midwest.” Quaempts, at 26, was one of the older dancers this day. The kids’ powwow connected to an earlier presentation called Powwow 101, meant to decode some of the mystery for those unfamiliar with powwows. The loor held mostly younger dancers, including two-year-old Alex Allen of Lapwai, Idaho, who danced enthusiastically and wore a feather bustle about half his height. On one edge of the hard- wood loor were seven drum- mers providing the heartbeat for the dancers who stomped and swirled nearby. Many of the drummers sported long braids. Unlike the dancers, they wore no regalia, but rather button downs or t-shirts. One read “Keep calm and powwow on” and another bore the likeness of Jimi Hendrix. Devoid of the feathers, bustles and bells worn by the lashy powwow dancers, these men focused on the drum, striking its large top in unison. Their voices melded into melodic, high-pitched chanting, their rhythm changing with each different style of dance. Sitting between two veterans, young Gabriel Danzuka mimicked every sound and movement of the older drummers. The ive-year-old may be little, but he has a ire in his heart for drumming, said his grandmother. “He practices morning, noon and night,” said LaDonna Squiemphen, of Mission. The boy’s drum name is Battle Axe, she said. A tribal drum group named Iron Horse gave Gabriel his irst real drum Staff photo by E.J. Harris A group of young ladies participate in a dance during a kid’s powwow at the Art & Culture Festival recently at BMCC in Pendleton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Camille Spino of Adams works on a lower-patterned piece of beadwork for her boyfriend recently while watching a children’s powwow at BMCC in Pendleton. and he holds it in reverence, covering it up when he’s not beating it. He practices in the family’s living room. The weekend before, Gabriel had joined Nixyaawii drummers for a weekend at a salmon feast in Celilo and earned his irst money drumming. “When they are little, they get drawn to it. They like being around it,” said veteran singer and cultural historian Fred Hill, who gave the invocation. “We don’t want to discourage that.” Gabriel is too young now, but many powwow drummers and dancers hit the powwow trail in the spring and summer, spending their weekends in competition. Prize money is one reason to powwow, but maybe the most minor. “It’s our way to stay connected to who we are,” said Acosia Red Elk, a jingle dancer from Mission. Red Elk, who is a registered member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, has won eight titles at the Gathering of Nations, the world’s biggest powwow. Powwowing brings pride. “A lot of natives feel defeated,” Red Elk said. “When we dance, our pride comes back.” Annie Smith, who taught Powwow 101, said powwows range in size from small to the massive Gathering of Nations. What they have in common is positive energy, drums, dance and certain components. “A powwow will always begin with a grand entry,” Smith said. Smith, Blue Mountain Community College’s Native American liaison, described the grand entry as a procession of royalty, leaders, elders, men dancers, women dancer, teens and then children. An elder carrying an eagle staff leads the way, followed by the American lag and, on this day, the CTUIR lag. BMCC’s fuzzy mascot, Timber, represented the host. Veterans, both tribal and nontribal, were encouraged to walk along. At large powwows, the grand entry can take 30 minutes or more for all participants to slowly enter to the beat of the drums. Once inside, a song honors veterans and an invoca- tion sets the mood. “We start each powwow with a blessing, so everyone will have a good heart while they are dancing,” Smith said. “We want positive energy.” After a welcome by a leader of the host (in this case, BMCC Vice President of Instruction Jim Whittaker), the dancing commences in earnest. This was an abbreviated event to show the lavor of a powwow. Normally the dancing starts with a round of intertribal dancing during which anyone can dance whatever style they like, and then a slate of dancing competitions ensues such as men’s traditional, grass, fancy and chicken and women’s tradi- tional, jingle and fancy. In men’s fancy dancing, Smith said the men exhibit coordination, stamina and strength and wear bustles and roaches with lowing fringe. The style is a crowd pleaser. “They are vibrant and colorful,” she said. “They are very athletic and at just about every powwow are the crowd favorites.” Smith said women’s fancy dancers replicate the light of butterlies. Red Elk’s chosen style, jingle, is an elegant dance with plenty of controlled footwork. She said the women spend a lot of time on the balls of their feet, which gives their calf muscles a workout. As they dance, their dresses jingle from the bells, cones or other adornments sewn onto the material. Red Elk inished sewing about 300 chewing tobacco lids (edges snipped off) onto her black sequined dress before heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the Gathering of Nations on Thursday. Red Elk is a powwow super- star now, but it wasn’t always that way. When she started as a teenager, she learned by watching videos on YouTube, but was too shy to dance in public for a while. “I practiced for about nine months before setting foot into an arena,” she said. Quaempts said he danced in powwows as a boy, but didn’t really get serious until several years ago. He said dancing centers him. “I danced when I was young, but left the reservation and got lost for a bit,” he said. “When I moved back, I started dancing again.” Hill said powwow is a way of participating in tribal culture and “giving our young people something they can be proud of.” ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810.
