An internationally known Native American Powwow dance troupe visited Delaware this week for workshops and performances.
A week of K-12 and higher education workshops culminated in a celebratory performance at the University of Delaware on Wednesday night.
Indigenous Enterprise is a leading voice in the Indigenous performance community, sharing their heritage and culture through powwow dancing.
Founded in 2015 by Champion Fancy Dancer Kenneth Shirley from the Navajo Nation, the group has collaborated with artists like The Black Eyed Peas and Mickey Free, and performed at the Sydney Opera House, the 2020 Presidential Inauguration, the 2023 Super Bowl, and on World of Dance.
But Shirley says it had more humble beginnings.
“Gather some friends to be able to enjoy traveling with each other and then showcase native cultures throughout the world and let people know we’re still here,” Shirley says.
Quinton Duran, performer and educator from the Laguna Pueblo Tribe, agrees Indigenous Enterprise’s travels worldwide raise awareness of Native Americans and their culture - as well as the hardships they’ve faced.
“As land was taken, water was polluted, we survived," Duran says. "But the things that you don’t see in the actual media is a beautiful people. All you see is the savage, you know, cowboys and Indians.”
Duran adds there’s another purpose to their work. Throughout the 20th century - indigenous children were taken from their homes and families and placed in boarding schools operated by the federal government and churches.
As recently as the 1960s and the “Sixties Scoop,” indigenous children were taken or “scooped away” from their birth families and communities, usually without the consent of their family, and adopted into predominantly white, middle-class families throughout North America.
Survivors grew disconnected from their families and culture. Indigenous Enterprise works to make sure the next generation is reconnected and the full story is told.
“If you want to give a baby medicine, you hide it in the applesauce," Duran says. "The applesauce is the dancing and everything. The medicine is what we talk about, what we bring to light, the Sixties Scoop, boarding schools, residential schools, all of these things that have gone on that aren’t in textbooks, this is what we bring together. And we did it by portraying our dancing side and sneaking in that little educational side.”
Shirley notes their right to dance and educate people on their history could have put them in handcuffs just a few decades ago.
Now for many - like Manny Hawley, grass dancer and singer of the Chippewa-Cree tribe, learning new songs keeps traditions alive.
“There are different songs for anyone," Hawley says. "Some people have personal songs, there are songs for southern straight dancers, there are songs for veterans, and there are songs honoring families. There are songs for everything, you name it, a happy song, memorial songs, literally everything. And as a singer, it's our job to keep learning it and carry on traditions for these dancers to dance.”
Melissa Anderson was at the troupe’s final performance Wednesday night. Anderson is Nanticoke but says she didn’t connect with her culture until later in life.
“In my 20’s I still hadn’t really connected with my culture, I was beginning to learn about my culture because it just wasn’t something we talked about,” Anderson says.
Anderson now serves on the Nanticoke Tribal Council in Delaware and says it's uplifting to see a young generation of Native Americans out, loud, and proud.
“It was heartbreaking and it was fantastic at the same time," she says. "Heartbreaking because I want to finish off what the young person was talking about, when people think of Natives they think of the 1800's and now there’s a gap. They are filling that gap. Rarely do you see on Native American month or day, do you see the Powwow’s of today, the natives of today.”
Shirley says their next stop is back on the West Coast in California before venturing overseas to Taiwan. He adds filmmaking may be next for the group.
Hawley says they just want to keep their culture alive.
“Dancing and singing is what I love to do," Hawley says. "And we’re spreading awareness that we’re still here.”
