Tea Dance

The Scene

The school gymnasium's walls have chairs, hundreds of chairs, lined up by them. The are two or three rows in most places. Each chair has someone sitting in it. The bleachers are packed. At the front, by the stage, the sisters who began and taught our school 50 years ago are sitting. The chief is to their right, my left. He is wearing a large headdress. In the middle of the gym floor there are two long rectangle tables together to make an even longer rectangle. Children occasionally run across the gym floor to other family or friends they see. Everyone is coming and going through the gym doors, though, it only seems as though people are coming. They come to watch. They come to listen. They come to be a community.

The Tea Dance

The Chief is a large man, tall in stature. He has a large voice that is friendly. He smiles and he laughs when he gives his speech. I do not know what he is saying but I can follow along enough because he slips some English words into his speech every once in a while, so I think I know at least what he is talking about. Chief Floyd thanks the sisters for coming. They are in their 80's and not living anywhere near Western Canada...so it is wonderful that they have made the journey to Fox Lake to celebrate with us. He explains the tea dance. It is a rich part of the Cree culture, with a little bit of a faster beat than you would find at a Pow Wow. It makes you feel alive, he says.

Three elders take out their drums. They are all the same type of drum, making the same tone. A teenage boy holds up the microphone to the middle of them. The beat is "Da DA Da DA Da DA" over and over and over again. The men use their voices too. I wouldn't call it singing. to my ear, it does not even sound as though they are saying Cree words. But they are using their voices. The song...the beat, is played for a long time.

The tables in the middle of the gym act as an object for the dancers to dance around. Chief Floyd casually invites some of his friends...or maybe they are other elders...to dance with him. It is like a chain. there is a leader. each person holding hands and following the person in front of him. And it is simple to learn. simply step to the beat. Each individual that I watched danced there own way, so there is no right or wrong way to step to the beat. But, as I watched the chain of men following the Chief, I saw all of the men in that chain dance the same. on the louder beat...not louder, just more pronounced....there knee kicks a wee little, but not their leg. it makes for a very little step. Smaller than a baby step. When you watch, their whole bodies are reacting to the beat. their hands, holding on to those before and behind them, react to the beat. Up and down, up and down. But it is just little. The movements seem to take them nowhere. They very slowly travel in a circle around the table...but the reactions to the beat make it seem like a lively dance. The dance is simple. Children join the dance and they step to the beat. The oldest of elders join and step to the beat. The sisters are dancing. The chief is dancing. I want to join too, but none of the white people have joined...except the sisters.

I wonder, will I get to join one day, or is this a traditional dance rexerved for the Cree people and those who have been adopted into the Cree culture. I am hoping that when another dance happens, that I can join. Today...I simply soak it in.

A teacher and his wife were sitting next to me on the bleachers. I am going to church with his wife and another teacher tomorrow in High Level. he turned to me to talk during the dance and reached into his pocket for a tissue instead. I didn't thing that watching the Tea Dance would effect me as much as it did. Tears flow from my eyes. A Cree woman next to me smiles. I am overwhelmed that I am here. I am honored to have the privilege to watch this Cree dance. I am completely submersed in a culture that prides itself on their traditions and their language. The people here have made me feel so welcome and I feel very comfortable living here. I can only say that as I watched the dance I felt incredibly humbled. Each child here is growing up, learning about their culture, their history, and who they are. The environment is rich for their learning these things. They are Cree and they are learning everyday what it means to be Cree.

I wonder who I am?

I know. I am a child of God.