Small children ran around, old friends greeted each other warmly and young people registered to vote. Dancers adorned in bells and intricate embroidery twirled clockwise around drummers while newcomers were welcomed.
Approximately 150 students and community members from all cultural backgrounds converged at Dejope Residence Hall to unite around the Native community on campus and participate in traditional Indigenous dances and music at Indigenous student organization Wunk Sheek’s Powwow Monday night.
“It's important just to represent Indigenous people on campus to show that we're still here and still practicing our culture in so many different ways,” said Miinan White, Wunk Sheek President and Ho-Chunk Nation and Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Ojibwe member. “I think community is most important in Indigenous culture so this is just a really beautiful showcase of it.”
Kalista Cadotte, Wunk Sheek social activism chair and LCO Ojibwe member, said the Powwow was the largest turnout since she has been in college.
Attendees ate sandwich boxes and received commemorative T-shirts from Wunk Sheek. Oneida member Artley Skenadore emceed the Powwow, whose even tone often gave way to quick wit, with live music from Ho-Chunk Station, a four-member band who did more with a single drum than some individuals do with a whole set.
“You feel everyone bringing in that good energy for a good powwow. You can really feel that good energy,” said Micahel Gilpin, one of the regalia dancers and a member of the Nebraska Ponca Tribe.
The dances began at 6:30 p.m. with a grand entry in which dancers dressed in their traditional regalia trotted around the central floor. After the grand entry, dancers and the Ho-Chunk Station honored veterans with the veteran song.
Then, the regalia dancers were given the floor to themselves to show off their skill. Much of the regalia was covered in bells jingling in rhythm with the drums.
“If you don’t applaud, we’ll charge you $5,” Skenadore told the crowd. Unfortunately for Skenadore and Wunk Sheek’s pockets, the audience was energized the whole night.
Though the regalia dancers were the stars of the Powwow, the night mostly held dances for guests.
During the plain clothes dance, a competition between attendees to see who danced the best, a poncho-wearing individual with electric spins won the loudest applause from the audience and $200.
At the potato dance, partners were tasked with keeping a potato pinned to their foreheads while being ordered to spin by the emcee. The couple Ivan and Costanza were one of the last contestants before their potato slipped from their forehead’s grasp and fell to the ground.
“Because I am from Peru, I reconnect this part with my heritage, and that was very beautiful,” Ivan said.
Another form of community building at the Powwow was a table set up by Wisconsin Native Vote. Guests registered to vote or checked their registration. Anne Egan-Waukau, the table’s worker and a member of the Menominee Nation, told the crowd about the time she was almost turned away from a polling station because the worker falsely believed that Native Americans couldn’t vote.
The night ended with a traveling song, a way to wish everyone safe travels on their way back home and a message from Skenadore to “remember, every day is an Indigenous day.”
