Bree Burkitt

bburkitt@thespectrum.com

Last Friday’s halftime performance by the Mohey Tawa Cedar High School drill team has drawn criticisms for the depiction of Native American dress and culture.

The CHS drill team danced to “tribal” music filled with eagle sounds, traditional singing and drumming while wearing braided wigs and fake feathers during last Friday’s basketball game.

The drill team has performed the dance “on several occasions,” according to Iron County School District Superintendent Shannon Dulaney.

The routine came under fire when a video was posted on Facebook by Teyawnna Sanders, a parent of one of the basketball players.

“Why should I have to explain why a non-native is dancing that way?” Sanders commented on the video. “If asked, Cedar’s answer most likely be that they are honoring us. Please do us a favor and don’t. Honor our sovereignty, our treaties — honor us by getting cultural diversity training. But please stop with this.”

The video has been viewed more than 20,000 times.

A group of tribal members confronted high school officials about the routine Monday morning.

Paiute Tribal Charwoman Corrina Bow said that the dance imitates the ‘Graceful Shawl Dance,’ which is typically performed by young women during pow-wows or gatherings.

“The performance of the drill team showed no comprehension of this dance style,” Bow said in a statement issued by the Tribal Council. “The way it was performed, with the dancers wearing wigs, holding fans and making dramatic movements, such as legs raised high and bending over, misrepresented the beauty and graceful style of actual fancy shawl dancers. I can empathize with tribal youth students and their parents who found this to be offensive.”

Dulaney said the drill team had approached the Tribal Council in April 2015 for input when planning the routine.

According to the Tribal Council, concerns were expressed over the use of headdresses, eagle feathers, face paint or wings as they would be considered offensive.

The council then recommended that the team communicate with a cultural resource director for the tribe and asked to approve anything before it was performed.

The tribe asserts that the drill team did not follow up on the recommendations.

“Cedar High School and the Paiute Indian tribe have enjoyed a long and mutually supportive relationship,” Dulaney said. “It was in this spirit that the leadership of the Cedar High drill team first approached the Tribal Council several months ago to seek support and collaboration on a dance to be performed by the drill team.”

Dulaney said drill team leadership left that meeting believing they had full support of the dance and costumes from the Tribal Council.

The team has since pulled the routine.

Despite the controversy, both Dulaney and Bow are optimistic they will continue to foster the positive relationship between the Paiute Tribal Council and the school district.

“This was unfortunate it happened, but we must not let this hold us back in moving forward and demonstrating how the tribe and the school can come together and learn from this lesson,” Bow said.

Follow Bree Burkitt, @BreeBurkitt. Call her at 435-218-2241.

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