By Cathy Spaulding
As members of Whittier Elementary School’s yearbook club, sixth-graders Dacey Shiew and Shalee Allen made sure they got plenty of pictures of Native American dancers when the All Nations Indian Youth visited their school Wednesday.
Leaders of the dancing group did not object.
“This is a form of education, not entertainment, so it’s okay to take pictures if you are going to educate people,” said Alice Whitecloud, who narrated the dances. “But if you go to a powwow, you just can’t go up to them and want to touch them and get pictures. But it’s okay to come up and just say hi.”
Whitecloud has been sharing all sorts of information about Native American thoughts and traditions this week. All Nations Indian Youth is one of several Native American groups making presentations at Muskogee schools. November is Native American Heritage Month.
Five teen-age dancers, wearing the costumes of various nations visited Whittier on Wednesday. They represented such nations as Cherokee, Navajo, Keetoowah, Chippewa, Omaha and Choctaw.
Whitecloud said the term “nations” is preferred over “tribes.”
“The government calls us tribes, but tribes sounds barbaric, like a tribe of lions,” she said.
She reminded the students that Native Americans, or First Peoples, hosted the first Thanksgiving dinner. They were the ones who greeted the Pilgrims in 1620, she said.
Whitecloud said the dancers, who come from across Oklahoma, must be in good shape to be able to dance.
“Every weekend, they go from powwow to powwow,” she said. “The kids get to know each other and they also do contest dances for money.”
At Whittier, the dances were accompanied by a steady beat of a drum.
Whitecloud said everyone has a drum inside their body. “Do you know what it is?”
Several kids replied “heart.”
Whitecloud said the drumming is the heartbeat of the dances.
The All Nations members danced individually and in group dances. The drumming continued even after the dancers filed out of the small Whittier gym. Whitecloud asked students to sit quietly until the drumming ended.
“The dance does not end until the drumming does,” she said.
Other Native American groups or individuals visiting schools this week included Ataloa Lodge museum director and musician John Timothy, storytellers Sequoyah Guess and Laurette Willis, motivational speaker Brian Jackson and dancer Mike Pahsetopah.
Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email
