Ranging from fifth to seventh grade, the dancers showcased different styles such as traditional, grass and jingle dress dancing for the audience with a backing of Native American singing and drumming.

Marc Bluestone, New Town Public School superintendent, introduced the dancers and provided commentary for the grand entrance which begins performances at powwows, which he said Native Americans call, “celebrations.”

“Everyone knows what a powwow is, but at home we call them celebrations because it’s not just the Native dancing and singing that’s going on. What you don’t see is the name giving ceremonies, the planned adoption ceremonies, all the family reunions. All the people come back every year, and all the families that come back,” Bluestone said.

“The Eagle Feather Indian Club has been in existence for many years – 40-plus years. They’ve been doing performances at state tournaments, conferences – they’ve been all over the place. The idea is to get out there and get our children to perform. It’s been around for a long time. It’s really fun. It’s all about the education of people. They don’t know about the cultural kind of things that have been going on from day one with our own Indian people,” Bluestone said.

Charles Crane/MDN
Kingsley Ciddle of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, rounds a barrel during the Stick Horse Race at SRT State Fair Park at the North Dakota State Fair on Monday in Minot.

In addition to sharing Native American culture with the general public, Bluestone felt the club was essential for growing an appreciation for Native American history, language and culture in the next generations to carry forward into the future.

“Even in our school system, there was a time period where we couldn’t teach language, we couldn’t teach culture, couldn’t teach Native history, couldn’t teach Native government. People who spoke for years and taught for years the language and gifted that to our people and made it alive and well, it was considered an experiment to be taught in public schools. It wasn’t until 1995, that’s too very long ago,” Bluestone said. “Sometimes it’s so much easier to live in this day of the cell phone and forget what’s really important, and that’s really about knowing who you are and where you came from. As long as you have that, you know who you are at all times.”