IT'S A balm? Sunday afternoon in Ada, Oklahoma, without a cloud in the sky over the home of Gary White Deer of Choctaw Nation. At one end of the property the large grassy garden has a traditional Choctaw arbor, a lattice work of branches woven over a frame of wooden stakes, that provides shelter over a table. On hot days, Gary notes, its leafy shade cools better than the modern air conditioner inside the house.
Nearby, at the centre of a loose circle of trees, a tall pole with a carved wooden fish at the top, forms the centrepiece of a small ceremonial ground, where the White Deers, their friends and convene regularly to dance, or play a traditional Choctaw game, stick ball.
It is just under a month to commencement of the in Atlanta, Georgia, and Gary is busy directing a rehearsal for the group of dancers who will be taking part in Southern Crossroads, the largest thematically linked section in the games' "Cultural Olympiad".
The festival showcases the traditions and arts of the American South, a blend of European, African and Native American traditions. It features a very wide range of music, such as blues, bluegrass, Cajun, country, folk (Ireland will be there in the form of Four Men And a Dog and Cherish The Ladies), rockabilly, gospel, Hispanic, jazz, soul, Caribbean and of course, what Gary White Deer describes with a smile as the country's oldest form of Southern" music and dance Native American.
"There will be about seven different native American groups there," he says, ranging from contemporary sounds, like Rita Coolidge, who is based in Los Angeles, to our own troupe, performing some of the most traditional of South eastern tribal dances."
Although now located in the mid west of the US, the Choctaw and many more neighbouring tribes originated in the South East. Forcibly removed from their homelands in the 1830s to the uncharted "Indian territory" west of Arkansas, they called the new land by a Choctaw name, made up of two words, okla and hama, which translates as "Red People".
"As far as I know, I'm the first Choctaw to have this position at the Olympics and I'm certainly looking forward to being able to present knot just Choctaw, but other tribes as well before such an audience." With this in mind Gary decided on an inter tribal dance troupe, as opposed to a strictly Choctaw one, bringing together a number of different traditions.
The troupe is thus comprised of Gary and his wife, Sarah M. Horse, who is of Kiowa and Commanche blood and their son Quanah White Deer. Ms Wisey Narcomey, in addition to being the most senior member of the group, is also a master finger weaving artist of the Seminole Nation. The Chichasaw nation is represented by Elvis Johnson who is a Cultural Resources Officer for his tribe, and his daughter, Rebecca, the current reigning "Junior Chickasaw Nation Princess" (a contemporary native American tradition). The group is completed by Valerie Harjo and her brothers Johnny and Willie George, who are of the Yuchi tribe.
"We feel very honoured to be a part of this cultural festival, and part of the Olympics, because in fact, Georgia was the Yuchi's original homeland" explains Valerie Harjo. "It's good to be participating with other nationalities, but it's also important to have the culture of the people who were there before.
IN THE United States today, it is a challenge for native peoples to retain their own separate cultural identity. In Oklahoma, traditional tribal ways and languages have suffered greatly under a number of outside influences. Obviously, the North American colonial process began several hundred years ago, but later US government "assimilation" programmes forced native culture further into decline, as did the hugely powerful influence of Bible Belt Christianity.
"Since I was raised in a Christian home, I went to Church all the time," recounts Wisey Narcomey. "It was only when I got to be a teenager, that I realised there was a separate Indian culture. Other teenagers were going to all these dances, but we were told that you either went to church or to the dances that it was unChristian to do both." As she gradually reconciled her faith with her tribal heritage, Wisey began to go to the dances and learn them, and has been instrumental in teaching the old dances, and the lore behind them, to some of the younger dance troupe members.
The last 20 years or so has seen a revival of the older tribal traditions in which some tribes or branches of tribes are more active than others. The Mississippi band of Choctaw (who refused to be removed to Oklahoma) today boasts about 80 per cent native Choctaw speakers and is proud to maintain many other tribal traditions, including singing and dancing. In Oklahoma, the last official Choctaw ceremonial grounds were closed just before the second World War, but individuals and groups like Gary White Deer and the dance troupe are working hard at keeping the traditions alive.
In the afternoon sun, the brilliant hues of the women's traditional dresses and the men's "ribbon shirts" and broad brimmed hats cut a striking tableau as they perform pieces like The Snake Dance, The Friendship Dance, The Tick Dance or the Yuchi Sheep Dance. Performed in a circular, anti clockwise direction, the dances are also done typically around a fire, with many tribal members taking part. They are performed today socially at Stomp Dances, which often take place in an open, outdoor area after official competitive "pow wow" events, and go on all night.
Certain adaptations of traditional ways are evident. The soft shaking sound that the dancers make as each foot hits the ground used to come from empty turtle shells filled with tiny pebbles attached to the dancers' calves. These days, the shells have become specially fashioned, pebble filled tin cans leaving the turtles to go their merry natural way. Another slight variation Gary beats time to the songs with a traditional Indian drumstick on a traditional Irish bodhran, a gift from one of his trips to Ireland.
The arbor provides cool respite after the rehearsal, and as a treat Sarah White Deer and Paula Johnson have prepared traditional dishes like pashofa, a cracked corn dish with beef, and Indian fry bread, a sort of savoury doughnut much favoured among Native Americans. The party has grown to partake of the meal, now including more of the White Deer brood Jensie, Rachel, Jesse and baby Nashoba, and Brenda Johnson, Rebecca's sister.
Discussion focuses primarily on the upcoming event in Atlanta where an estimated two million people will visit the city, and audiences for the Southern Crossroads festival are estimated at up to 70,000 people per day. There is a keen sense of excitement at the prospect, but for all in attendance, from Ms Narcomey to Quanah and Rebecca, it's clear that the opportunity to perform at the Olympics means more than just a trip to the games. Gary White Deer voices this best later, as the dancers' cars disappear down the Oklahoma road in the dusk rehearsal and dinner finally over.
"If you put all the songs and dances together and looked at them, you would see a collective psychological profile a people with a propensity to share and identify as a group and who have a lot of respect for the natural world, because a lot of our dances are animal dances. Those dances and songs help hold our world together. They help us perpetuate our culture, and that perpetuation helps hold together the spirit of who we are. It helps us remain ourselves. Hopefully, that is the spirit we will bring to Atlanta."
