Running Head: Investigation 2

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Investigation #2: Self & Community: Social Dance Susan Thomas UNC Charlotte

Running Head: Investigation 2 Unit #2: Self & Community: Social Dance

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Exploration: Before Attending:

My partner and I will attend a Native American dance/movement performance. Based on my prior knowledge gained from school, particularly in the perspective of U.S. History, I have the presumption that this will be a lively event more than likely performed outside. There will be multiple dancers dressed in buckskin with feathers everywhere. I imagine seeing bright colors and beading as well as moccasins. I imagine everyone being very close knit and congregating together for a celebration. I think that this gathering will commemorate some type of momentous event such a great and abundant harvest. I envision many people with extravagant headpieces; long hair cascading down their backs. I expect there to be great food and musicparticularly tribal drumming. The people will act in reverence of the elderly people of the tribal and may have them seated in the center of the celebration or at a high table. I see the chief officiating the occasion. After attending: It was a warm and sunny day. I sat in the back seat of the car as I anticipated the day and adventure ahead of me. I thought back to my childhood and what I had witnessed in past Native American celebrations but never to truly appreciate the movement in the interaction and what that tells me about their culture. As we drove down the highway towards Rock Hill we began to see signs displaying information that the Catawba Reservation and Cultural Center was near. My preconceived notions of what it meant to be Native American began to flood my mind. What was I

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going to witness? What was the celebration for? What particular instances would arouse my senses and alert my attention? We pulled up to what was described as the Longhouse. There was a large parking lot and bouncing houses off to our left. We walked into the large building and entered into a lobby area that was filled with people. Immediately the smell of barbeque flooded my nostrils. I saw a buffet line off to the left. I walked up to an information table and noticed that there was information there regarding adoption, a pamphlet about asthma in children as well as information regarding other events that took place at the Longhouse. We saw a sign that prompted all visitors to sign in. We crept up the stairs unsure of how to find the front desk; which was not located in the lobby or anywhere near the front of the building. A lady found us wandering and asked if we needed help. Based on our body language, confused looks on our faces and paper and pen in hand she could read that we needed assistance. She politely led us to a room in which the presentation would take place. The room was very cold and I immediately crossed my legs to hold in any warmth I could. I was fortunate to not be out in the heat, where I originally thought the event would take place. I began to engage myself with the environment I was in and tried to make myself one with the location. I looked towards the ceiling as my eyes followed a large, chandelier-like figurine dangling from the ceiling. There was a small skylight in the shape of a hexagon that led out to large wooden beams that made up the ceiling. The room was a large circle and there were chairs similar to that of a theater. It appeared to be a grand meeting space. There was a small circle of space towards the bottom of the room where a projector and respective equipment

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was set up. The set-up of the room forced our attention downwards. There were many children running around and enjoying the openness of the room. There were windows that surrounded the room letting in a great deal of natural light. My attention then fell on the drummers circle to the right of where we sat. There was a group of four men banging on a low drum. They each had long drumsticks and they struck the drum with great force and the sound reverberated throughout the air and bounced off the wooden infrastructure of the room. There was a woman and child there to assist in singing the tribal songs. The chief then called the meeting to order. He called three small girls down to the circle and asked them to introduce themselves. They were each representatives of, Ms. Catawba, a pageant held for the youth on the reservation. They wore moccasins and their bodies were donned with cloth displaying woven patterns. The Chief then asked a member of the crowd to pray. Everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes in reverence and the man proceeded to pray. He thanked Jesus for the occasion and ended by referencing Christ and saying Amen. This shattered my perception of this particular tribe because I assumed that they had their own form of religion rather than to practice Christianity. As I looked around the room I noticed people of different nationalities, males and females, many small children and a few older adults. They didnt appear as a stereotypical Native American. Many had lighter tone skin like that of a person who identifies as Caucasian. They were dressed in modern Western clothing but wore traditional hats of their tribe. Many people had the Catawba Indian Nation seal somewhere on

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them whether on a necklace or as part of their headgear. There were many men with long hair and splashes of red, green and yellow all throughout the room. The chief began to describe the purpose of the occasion. The tribe was commemorating twenty years of a settlement agreement that allowed the tribal members to regain a portion of their land from South Carolina. In 1993, members of the tribe signed a treaty with the state government to regain back a portion of the 144,000 acres that were taken from them. He displayed news articles and political cartoons that arose during the time that the Catawba Indian Nation was fighting back for the rights of its people. It was a ceremony of honoring. The chief stated, Today we honor those who gave of their time to help the tribe settle the land claim and regain federal recognition. The drummer circle began to play again. The chief then introduced former Chief Gilbert Blue and Dewey Adams, two pivotal characters during the negotiation twenty years ago. Everyone clapped in reverence to know that there were surviving members from a meeting that ultimately changed the outlook of the tribe. The representatives wept as they spoke and overcome with emotion when they described how far the tribe has come and far they still need to go. Although there is still a constant battle with the tribe and the state about what is allowed on the reservation, especially in regards to being able to game for economic support of the tribe, the Catawba Reservation is still able to provide housing, a health clinic, host education programs (head start), job placement and training, senior programs and other advantageous opportunities for the members of its tribe and nation. He ended the presentation by challenging the members of the

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tribe to think about the future of the nation and how they can continue to fight for what they think is rightfully theirs. The drummers began to drum again and a man dressed in traditional Catawba clothing began to descend the stairs, stepping to the beat of the drum. He had bells around his ankles and wore buckskin pants. He wore feathers on his back that resembled a peacock with the intricate beading but were fanned out like that of a turkey. He had a vest with woven yarn patterns and the same pattern was reflected in the bracelets he wore. He had moccasins on his feet and an elaborate headdress that graced a long ponytail. As he neared the center of the room the drums struck louder. I observed the man repeatedly performing a stomping motion to the beat of the drum. He committed to many short and vibrant movements. His face showed a somber look and he kept his head down throughout the entire performance never making eye contact with the people in the room. The only time he lifted his head was to look up at his hand, which held a feather, as he waved it back and forth in a sharp and short motion. He had a staff strongly clenched in one hand that was decorated with fur and feathers. He moved with such reverence. The cultural presentation closed and we were all invited to partake in the food that had been prepared and set up in the lobby. I began to observe a group of people moving. It was not in a traditional dance format or organized movement but rather the non-verbal body language and proxemics involved in the interaction. They appeared to be a very emotional and intimate group. There was not a sense of personal space when two people were engaged in conversation that may be observed in some traditional American culture. From my perspective, I would have

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felt an invasion of some sort but it seemed that this intimacy helped to develop their conversation and relationship as they began to touch each other and show emotions on their faces of interest in what the other person was discussing. For some you could witness the reunion of a relationship because they would scream out in joy and hug each other with big arms and large motions; rocking back and forth in the embrace. As I began to focus on myself I noticed that my body language was very closed off. I had my papers hugged closely to my chest as if I didnt want people to know I was there observing them. I did not move much or interact much due to the fact that I didnt want to do anything offensive in this new environment. I wanted to complete remove myself from the experience to achieve the most objective view as possible. However, I was not afraid to ask for clarity from the dancer regarding his movement. Individual identity has a great impact on community movement. As stated in Aposhyans, Embodied Relationship, the identity that is expressed in the movement of an individual is unique. It precedes language in individual development, forming a primary basis for both personal identity and social relationships. Movement does not exist alone. We are always embodied. We are always living in relationship. (Aposhyan, 1999) When I observed the individual body movements of the people in attendance, I realized that one interaction led to the next. They used the movements to build on each other and create the moment that was shared. When I took a step back and observed the group as a whole it helped me to develop the thought that this group was an intimate group and that

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they cared about the lives of those who were also in the tribe with them. It shows that this idea of nation is the first priority rather than the focus of individual concerns. I thought about the Native American history and culture overall. A group of people who were oppressed and stripped of their native land. Many tribes to this day maintain a sense of their culture and that is evident even in how they conduct movement in interaction through dancing and in conversation as a group and even as a community. Whereas the American culture prioritizes the individual to be the idealistic focus of life, this Catawba tribe, as displayed through their motions, foster a sense of community and build upon that individual identity to create the communities they live and grow in. Through the individuals and groups movement, culture was transmitted and expressed to those, for instance myself and the others who traveled with me, who are not familiar with the practices of the tribe. Through three of Aposhyans five modes of embodied contact (1999), I will describe the culture that was communicated to me through the movement observed. In regards to proximity, many of the peoples conversations I observed showed that they didnt mind a close proximity, maybe due to a more intimate relationship with the person they were communicating with. Although they were in conversation and interacting with someone else they didnt seem to feel as if their individual identity and contact with themselves was compromised. It made me think back to my positioning and facing in regards to my relationships with others. In this same instance of the tribal people, when I feel that more familial connection I will lean closer to what or who I am trying to engage with and in a more impersonal or formal setting I will create that

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distance so that I can adequately read the persons movements I am communicating with as well as be aware of the movements I am conducting. For embodied touch, the principle that touching is a physical conversation, (Aposhyan, 1999) reigned true for the groups I observed. Some people welcomed the occasional grasp of the shoulder or the holding of hands in a conversation. They would reciprocate by imitating the gesture on the person they were interacting with or even show a feeling of contentment on the face of the person receiving the touch. Lastly, eye contact was evident in the interactions of group members. They maintained eye contact and did not look away much in conversation as though to say, I am here and I am listening. It was harder for me to observe embodied speech and listening in this context as not to interrupt someones conversation or level of comfort in sharing with someone who wasnt intended to hear the conversation. For this specific event, I will focus on the individual movement of the dancer/ performer in regards to significance of the cultural communication. In this movement, the dancer moved in circles, always clockwise. He described this dance as a dance of honor and that for each aspect of their culture they had a dance. For celebration of life and death, for an abundance of food, as well any other momentous occasion in the tribe. He said that they never dance backwards in a dance of honor and only a veteran could do that in a performance. In that instance, even if they moved backward, they would retrace their steps to move forward. When the hard beats rang out from the drum it was to show reverence and that would prompt the dancer to wave the feather in the air and look upward.

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Movement served a great role in this community because it helped to keep their culture and the importance of the Catawba culture moving forward. It helped to create another level of meaning beyond just words. It gave evidence to what the Chief described in his PowerPoint presentation about the togetherness of the tribe and how it took truly a village to continue the nation. In review of my preconceived assumptions, many of the thoughts I had were validated in regards to the closeness of the tribe and the gathering together for a celebration of some type. I did have a sense that things would occur outside and that multiple people would participate in the actual dance movement but that changed. I felt I would see a great deal of traditional Native American clothing but I was able to realize that many people still wore modern clothing even for a cultural celebration. I had the opportunity to not only hear about the culture but also observed the culture through movement and this helped to shape my perceptions of the Catawba Indian Nation. I understand now that these individuals help to create this sense of community and that there is not a cookie-cutter format to how people interact. Through this experience and analysis I learned that I have the ability to observe a culture and try to remain as objective as possible but my own experiences, thoughts, interactions with others, and awareness of self have all shaped my being and can not be removed from my interpretations. This experience helps me to remember the importance of discovering movement and how it helps to build interaction amongst a group of people. I think that for the future, when I know I will be placed in a situation

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where I feel like an outsider or where I may not fit in, I will try to do a little research before the situation occurs and think about what I expect to see before I go. I will write down all of feelings before the engagement and then proceed to the event. I have learned the importance of being in tune with myself before I can really begin to build an interaction with someone and so I will take the time to listen to my mind and body. I will make myself aware of the movements I portray and messages my body is giving off in my interactions with a new group of people. I will make note of how what I am saying matches with how I am actually interacting. I also will think more about how people move rather than why they move to gain a different perspective on the interaction.

Running Head: Investigation 2 References

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Aposhyan, Susan. Embodied Relationship In Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1999.(Chapter 3, pp. 36-59)