The Round Dance, Friday night

The Round Dance is similar to the Tea Dance, but there are noticable differences.

In the middle of the gym floor, three long tables were put together to make a big square, and chairs were put all around. The tables are full of handmade drums. The gym walls are lined with a couple rows of chairs. The bleachers are out. The elders are sitting on the stage behind a row of table with the microphone. They call up the first group.

A bunch of men from the community approach the table and find their drum...or the drum they wish to use. The men are young, teenagers, and old, elders, and every age in between. There are about half a dozen. They all stand behind their chair and begin their singing, all sining at the same time in unison, all banging their drums at the same time, in unison. There is a leader. All night long, whoever the leader is...the video camera is on him and a tape recorder is held up near him.

The dance looks the same as the tea dance. Everyone is in a chain and side-stepping. Men and women are mixed, it doesn't seem to matter. The children are so eager to get up and dance. They seem to form the middle circle that is dancing around the men in the middle. There are toddlers who can barely walk who are dancing and they can because they are being held up on either side by other children. Every chain dances in the same clockwise way. Yound and old dance. Some people have no expression on their face...the older ones. The young adults and children all laugh and smile and chat during the dance. The gym is loud, with the sounds of the singing and drums, the sounds of our feet moving to the beat, the sounds of children laughing and playing, and eveyone talking and enjoying the community being all toether in one room.

I dance. I am not nervous to join. There are no other white staff here tonight, so I can't wait for the comfort of seeing a non-local up there dancing too. The children all come to where I am sitting and beg me to join them. The locals next to me give me looks of affirmation...that yes, I should go. I dance. I am smiling because my children are smiling huge smiles at me the whole dance. No one looks at me like I don't belong. Instead, I see people I know in every corner of the gym and they wave at me as I dance with their children. I am a Fox Laker for the first time today. It's because I have joined with them without the company of non-locals.

I bought my students pop and chips and chocolate bars. We sat on the dirty gym floor and ate together. Children are not allowed to sit on the chairs because there are not enough and they must respect their elders. A child should not be on a chair if someone older is standing or sitting on the floor. So I join them and they love our picnic. After, a woman makes her teenage son move from him chair. She has poor english but she says something to the effect that I am his elder, so I should sit. I am honored.

The round dance is faster and less formal than the Tea Dance, and I love it. I love the music.