Fake (wannabe) dance groups

[MayChe]

I think its more of the the first rather than the latter. I can understand not having money to do certain things, but sometimes people just look rediculous and there is no excuse for that. I was talking to my dad on the phone about this thread yesterday....he thought the whole thing was really funny. His opinion is that some people just think they know it all....they don't want help. I agree with that and the not wanting to put in the effort.

Hey you might see my brothers over there. They like to make appearances every now and then. If yu see them...tell them stay outta trouble!

LOL I will do that.

[OneidaDreamer]

Wow, that was a hell of a story niji. See you when you get to Mille Lacs bro.

Peace
OD

[Blackbear]

Honestly I do not go out of my way to be nice and polite. Most of the time it just occurs naturally.

I can believe that!

Seriously though... if people don't start speaking up with people like this... then they end up dominating YOUR native events in your area.

See how KiowaKat talks up about the groups in her area? I know what she says to be true because I lived there most of my life and did'nt know there were so many actual indians in the area because all I ever ran into at "indian" functions were these kooks, and I figured everyone at the few good powwows that you could tell were indian were from somewhere else and either travelled or were hired to dance at them.

Even the "indian" clubs at the college had two or three natives and the rest were these hippy wannabe environmentalist types who had "indian souls". And these were the folks that ran just about everything!!!! Ruined alot of what I could get native community-wise for me.

[crazywolf]

I can believe that!

Seriously though... if people don't start speaking up with people like this... then they end up dominating YOUR native events in your area.

See how KiowaKat talks up about the groups in her area? I know what she says to be true because I lived there most of my life and did'nt know there were so many actual indians in the area because all I ever ran into at "indian" functions were these kooks, and I figured everyone at the few good powwows that you could tell were indian were from somewhere else and either travelled or were hired to dance at them.

Even the "indian" clubs at the college had two or three natives and the rest were these hippy wannabe environmentalist types who had "indian souls". And these were the folks that ran just about everything!!!! Ruined alot of what I could get native community-wise for me.

Wow, there is a lot of good posts comming on here I appreciate it really, miigwetch niiboowah.

Someone down here once talked with me, and I got to thinking about it not too long ago. This man has at least as much ndn blood in him and probably a lot more, and does not show it like I don't either. He is a good man, and I danced for him at some shows that he put on, he hired all natives as dancers and singers save for one, and he was a flute player. His name is Joseph Z, and he does not claim to have a native spirit or claim to have great great great ancestors that were adopted by (insert tribe here), and yet, he does have that ndn spirit in him. I can hear it when he talks and plays his flute.

But anyway this other guy, named Chris Padget was telling me one day, you can fight the white man, and you do it by getting him in the pocketbook. Put on shows, make things he wants to buy. He had ideas of starting a pow wow down here to end all others, the non-native ones. He would hire out of state a committee, bring in big name drums and dancers, make it a native only affair. Oh people can come in and dance intertribal, but all of the politics would be handled by native period. I kinda liked the sound of that, still waiting for him to do it.

My mother wanted to put on a pow wow once, and she never got that chance. We have enough land to put on a small one, 2 1/2 acres, used to have a really nice open area by a pond before dad put a fence across it a couple months ago. had more than enough space for parking. Some Seminoles attend a church a couple houses down and said they would allow people to park there. But the pow wow never got off the ground, never could get anyone to help or support it. I spoke with vendors to see if they wanted to come. I spoke with a couple drums. I spoke to all of my friends that I dance with, and I pretty much got the same answer from everyone. "I will go if you get enough people" Well I guess I never really got enough people. Maybe up north I could have a pow wow in memorial of my mother? Heh thats a good dream.

If I stay down here in Florida, if I cannot find work up north then I will more than likely start a dance troop. I will file for tax exemtion as a non-profit organization and get people to help me with it. It will be a lot better organized than F troop. BTW I called it that because f can stand for so many things, fake failure false et al. I want to have a dance troop that someone holding a big event such as St. Petersburg international folk festival would call me and want us representing the indigenious peoples of North America. I would want to go to colleges during the week, and I would want to see my dancers get paid a fair wage for their time. Any money made as profit would be put in a till, to be used for educating children about dancing, making regalia, hiring drums or MCs, and promoting.

Heck I might just do all of that up north if I can.

Derek

[kissimmedancer]

if you do decide to do that down here in florida i would be interested to learn maybe

[crazywolf]

if you do decide to do that down here in florida i would be interested to learn maybe

Sorry to disappoint ya bro but I am up here in Minnesota with a job now. I do not even know if I can do that up here or not. It would be cool but there is already groups of people doing that here, and they do know what they are doing here too.

Derek.

[twylafletcher]

Looking for Dancers for a school program

My name is Twyla Fletcher and I am the Chairperson for the JOM at the Roland Public Schools in Roland,OK. I am looking for an activity that involves indian heritage. In the past we have had an artist and some artifacts but we would love to be able to show the children more such as dancers and/or costumes. We are always looking for something to encourage of children to be more involved with their heritage. We are open to ideas and opportunities. If you have any ideas or would like to help us please email me at twylafletcher[MENTION=77320]Gma[/MENTION]il.com. Thank You