Owens dances at the old Memorial Day Pow Wow in Cherokee, N.C. (Photo contributed)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Sitting at a table in the Qualla Boundary Public Library, Keredith “Tooter” Owens looks over a pile of her photographs documenting her career as a fancy shawl dancer at pow wows.
“The Lamanite Generation came here and performed at ‘Unto These Hills’ and at the Ceremonial Grounds and I saw the fancy dancers. I was probably about 8 and I was like, ‘oh my god, I want to do that’.”
Owens is shown with friend, Laverna Thompson, at the Little Pine First Nation Pow Wow in Saskatchewan, Canada on July 31, 1991. (Photo contributed)
Her late best friend, Becky Walker, asked her if she wanted to learn how to dance. It was a question that Owens would answer with a resounding “Yes!” and one that would take her around the globe.
She began traveling with Becky and her mother, Amy Walker, and General Grant doing shows as “The Junior Moonshadow Dancers”.
“We would use the Yellowhill building, the small one, and we’d have practice. I got my outfit together…and it just took off from there. I loved it so much that I kept doing it and kept doing it.”
The American Indian Dance Theatre was formed in the late 1980s and toured the world showcasing pow wow dance styles and other tribal dances. That concept appealed to Owens immensely.
“I was so enamored and I was like, ‘I’m doing that’. So, at 17 I went to Reston, Va., where they were at, watched them do a show and I got an audition…that fall, after I graduated, my actual first show was in Portland, Ore., and I had two days to learn the whole show. I was rehearsing constantly, and I did it because I had seen the show so much, I just picked it up. It just took off from there. My first show was sold out – 5,000 people.”
Owens, third from right, is shown with fellow American Indian Dance Theatre members learning the Buffalo Dance from the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo contributed)
In her seven years with the Dance Theatre, she performed all over the United States, Canada, Italy, and Australia.
During a trip to Australia, she and the other members learned dances from the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre in Melbourne. “It was awesome. Going to Australia, it’s like modern times. But when you get with these guys, it’s like the Indigenous people in Australia were 150 years behind us as Native people, still fighting for their land, being disrespected. It was crazy…the aboriginal people were just like us. They’d come and find us, and they’d take us on picnics, bring us food, cook for us, dance for us, and share their music.”
Owens would also be a part of a 1996 PBS Great Performances/Dance in America special featuring the American Indian Dance Theatre entitled “Dances for the Next Generations”.
Pow Wows have always been a form of expression for Owens. “Dancing and expressing your own unique style – I had my own unique style…I had spins like nobody else had. And I could say that those were mine that I made up…I would just get in this mode of not seeing anyone else around me. I knew they were there, but you just listen to the drum and it’s just you and that drum and your creativity.”
Owens, second from left, is shown with fellow American Indian Dance Theatre members at a performance in Italy on March 22, 1992. Shown, left to right, are Bonnie Tomasah, Owens, Danelle Tailfeathers, and Cassie Soldierwolf. (Photo contributed)
Her favorite pow wow is Thunderchild in Saskatchewan, Canada. “Their pow wows, back then, were out in a field and everybody camped. It was hot and we danced until like two or three o’clock in the morning and I’d never experienced that in my life…a lot of good dancers came. That one was just a really nice pow wow. It was just good feelings. It wasn’t big, fancy, like Gathering or Red Earth, but it was just a good feeling.”
Owens dances in the jingle dress category at the Eastern Band Cherokee Pow Wow held at the old Cherokee High School site in Cherokee, N.C. on June 29, 2018. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photo)
Owens is an accomplished bead artist and seamstress having started learning at age 8. “My grandma Josie Swayney Saunooke always sat in front of her big window. She had her beads out and she’d make daisy chains. She’d make bracelets, or whatever. She’d be sitting there working on her loom, and I’d just be watching her. My great grandma on my dad’s side, I’d take my Barbies…and of course growing up in the Depression Era, she always had scraps of everything – paper, wrapping paper, everything. So she’d make me little patterns, and I’d cut them out and she taught me how to sew and make Barbie doll clothes. So, from there, it just took off. I was beading everything…but I was 8 and now I’m doing the (Kananesgi) fashion shows.”
When asked who she’d like to thank for helping her over the years, Owens commented, “My mom, for everything. My mom and my dad. My mom for always making my dresses and making sure that I looked good. They were my cheering section. And my sister – I couldn’t live without my sister. She would drive us there and we’d camp. Of course, we’d fight and argue, and I’d get her back when I braided her hair…and I can’t ever forget Becky (Walker) because she’s the one that just said, ‘Do you want to dance?’…my biggest fans were my mom and my dad, and my sister and Becky.”
Owens summed up her pow wow time, “It’s been an amazing journey – getting to go all these places, learning songs, learning different cultures and ways.”
