by David Flint
As the Grand Entry gets under way at the 5th Annual Rock, Rattle & Drum Pow Wow and Spirit on the Mountain Music Festival Saturday at Gardner’s Field in Stephentown, the Head Dancers will be leading the colorful parade. The Head Lady Dancer this year is Donna Eagle Staff of Eagle Butte, South Dakota. The Head Man Dancer is George Emerson Lee, born in Wide Ruins, Arizona. It’s the job of the head dancers to lead off every song and lead the other dancers onto the field.
George Emerson Lee encourages everyone to come out and enjoy the fun. At the Intertribal
Dance he will be out there urging even spectators to join in the dancing. Everyone is welcome to dance the Intertribal Dance. This is not a type of dance but rather a chance for everyone to take part. Regalia is not necessary for this dance. Just come as you are.
Lee is a member of the Navajo Nation and currently resides in Houston, Texas – when he’s not traveling the country from Pow Wow to Pow Wow that is. In any one year he may participate in up to 40 Pow Wows in the United States and Canada. In earlier days he traveled the rodeo circuit riding bulls and broncos. Then he got married and eventually, following his wife and daughters’ passion, he left the broncs and bulls for Pow Wow dancing. It took him two or three years to design and make his own personal regalia.
There are a number of different types of native dance styles seen at a Pow Wow, foremost among them the Men’s Traditional style both Northern and Southern, the Men’s Southern Straight style, the Men’s Grass Dance and Men’s Fancy Dance. Women’s dances include the Fancy or Shawl and Jingle Dances. Lee dances in the Men’s Northern Traditional Style. He explained that the Northern drum accompaniment has a higher pitch than the Southern drum which has a more deep throated sound. The chanting is the same in both but they have slightly different tunes.
As part of the Northern Traditional style of regalia, Lee will be wearing a feathered headpiece called a roach. He will have a “bustle” of feathers on his back, a neck piece called a choker, an eagle wing in one hand for protection and a dancing stick in the other hand. According to Lee, when the war dance evolved into a friendship dance, the dancing stick replaced the traditional spear and arrows.
The Stephentown Pow Wow is this Saturday and Sunday, August 14 and 15, starting at 10 am both days. Grand Entry will be at 1 pm both days. The theme this year is “Honoring the Seventh Generation, Respect the Family – Celebrate the Children.”
5th Annual Rock, Rattle & Drum Schedule
Saturday, August 14
10 am – Gates Open
10:30 – Storytelling
11 – Native American Flute
11:30 – Wolf Cry Singers
12 pm – Jim Merkel – Key Note Speaker
12:30 – Jerry “Thundercloud” McDonald and Jeannie McDonald, Eagle Dance
1 – Grand Entry
– Pow Wow – Intertribal Dancing
3 – Wolf Cry Singers
3:30 – Irene Bedard and Deni Wilson
4 – Pow Wow – Intertribal Dancing
5:30 – Retire Colors
6 – Irene Bedard and Deni Wilson
6:30 – Joseph FireCrow
7 – Joanne Shenandoah
Sunday, August 15
10 am – Gates Open
11 – Storytelling
11:30 – Wolf Cry Singers
12 pm – Joseph FireCrow – Native American Flute
12:30 – Jerry “Thundercloud” McDonald and Jeannie McDonald, Eagle Dance
1 – Grand Entry
– Pow Wow – Intertribal Dancing
3 – The Good Road Blessing for Health and Harmony for Families and Children
– Irene Bedard and Deni Wilson perform During the Blessing Ceremony
3:30 – Joanne Shenandoah
4 – Pow Wow – Intertribal Dancing
5:30 – Retire Colors
– Joseph FireCrow – Native American Flute
• The Pow Wow schedule is subject to change depending on weather.