Smoke Signals 5
SEPTEMBER 1,2007
TirobaD Youth Play Growing RoDe dot. Pow-wow
U Some spend hours getting
ready while some just a few
minutes, but they all dance
their hearts out
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff miter
Tribal members Orin-John
Allen, 17, and Peter Nelson,
12, share a family interest in
pow-wow dancing.
While pow-wows are a southwest
Indian tradition, the Grand Ronde
Tribe has taken them on in a big
way and made them traditional
here. Both Allen and Nelson have
been dancing at Grand Ronde
events just about since they could
walk.
"My grandparents, they just al
ways encouraged me and got me
outfits," Allen said.
His grandparents are Tribal
Elder and Tribal Council member
Cheryle Kennedy and Vernon Ken
nedy (Burns-Paiute).
Allen is a grass dancer. "That's
the one I really got going on," he
said.
He has had as many as 10 outfits
over the years. "I have three that
fit me now and I change whenever
I want a new outfit. It's like going
shopping.
"When you're dancing," Allen
adds, "you try to create your own
moves. You're after a unique style
with having old-style moves to it,
too. Usually, over the years, you
adapt to what you think looks best.
Once you're out there, it just kind
of flows together."
For Nelson, "I learned that when
you dance, you're praying. And
when you're praying for particu
lar things, you'll dance a little
harder."
Allen and Nelson are two of
more than 30 Grand Ronde youth
dancing in pow-wows nowadays.
Not so many years ago, said Tribal
member and pow-wow organizer
Dana Leno Ainam, there were only
a handful who danced.
"In just the last few years," said
Tribal member and Culture and
Language Specialist Bobby Mer
rier, "we're seeing more and more
kids, and they're not just dancing.
They're competing and placing.
Several are really doing well."
This year, Grand Ronde youth
dancers placed second in teen girls
traditional (Leah Brisbois), third
in junior girls fancy (Nakoosa
Moreland) and junior boys fancy
(Nathan Ream), and fourth in teen
boys grass (Orin-John Allen).
For Allen and Nelson, success is
following a dedication to the dance.
They're both out almost every sum
mer weekend participating in pow
wows across the Northwest.
'This month," said Tribal member
Reina Nelson, Peter's mother, "he
went to Siletz, and before that the
Veterans Pow-wow and later this
month he's going to Sauk-Suiattle.
Almost every weekend, we're gone.
When we get back from Sauk
Suiattle, we've got MacLaren, the
Agnes Pow-wow and we usually
go to the contest dancing event at
the Pendleton Roundup, where the
ft
117
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Grand Ronde youths Orin-John Allen, above, and Peter Nelson, below,
danced in the 2007 Contest Pow-wow held Aug. 17-1 9. They are among
more than 30 Grand Ronde Tribal members who participated this year. Allen
finished fourth in the teen boys grass dance competition.
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'7 learned that when
you dance, you're
praying. And when
you're praying for par
ticular things, you'll
dance a little harder. "
Tribal member
Peter Nelson
other side of Peter's family lives."
And while Allen dresses for danc
ing in five minutes outside of the
car when he gets to a pow-wow, Nel
son and Reina work on his regalia
for an hour before dance time.
In many ways, family is what
dancing and pow-wows are all
about. Peter Nelson started with
traditional dancing, and he still
does it because of the family influ
ence. "My grandma raised me very
traditional," said Reina, "so I raised
Peter the same way. There are
things you don't get with grass
or fancy dancing. They came on
later."
And for Allen, the family connec
tion extends as he travels from pow
wow to pow-wow. "I like traveling
and have a lot of pow-wow family
around," he said, referring to those
he meets again and again on the
circuit.
Both boys' families are generous
in providing regalia along with
traveling and entrance fee money,
and for Allen, he said, "When I win,
I give back some of the money."
He travels with his cousin, Tribal
member Leah Brisbois, and other
family members who dance as well,
but he insists that it takes no com
mitment "because I love it."
On the other hand, the actual
dancing is physically challenging.
"Usually, there are two songs a
session, each about three to five
minutes," Allen said. "Some might
think it's easy, but when you get out
there and try it, it's hard."
Peter Nelson's sweat-soaked face
and regalia after one dance at this
year's contest pow-wow says that
he thinks so, too.
The effort is also a balancing act.
Part of the time the boys are danc
ing they're in school and having to
make up for lost Fridays.
"I try to get my homework on
Thursday and do it then so I won't
have any during pow-wow because I
know I wouldn't do it," Allen said.
Mercier attributes the growing
success among youth to "making
it more visible in the community.
Kids see other kids doing it and
they want to dance. It's the domino
effect."
Also, he said, "a lot of parents are
my age and we grew up pow-wow-ing
for how many years, and now
we've got our kids dancing."
For Tribal Council Secretary Jack
Giffen Jr., it's just as well that more
children are dancing.
"They're the cutest anyway," he
said.