Dancers' enthusiasm heats up powwow

Page 13

Rain poured on Ryerson University's Second Annual Traditional Powwow on Oct. 2, forcing the seven drum groups, 100 dancers, and more than 100 spectators to abandon the outdoor bleachers in the Quadrangle, and continue the event indoors. Many of the 32 vendors simply cut their losses and left, leaving only a handful behind in the corridors next to the gymnasium, selling the usual crafts and snacks. Some of the food vendors with barbeques decided to stick it out in the rain selling Indian tacos and macaroni chili.

Even though the heavy rainfall didn't dampen anyone's spirit, the enthusiastic dancing and drumming did. The indoor gym became hot as a sauna after just a few songs, and everyone wandered to the drizzly outdoors to cool off. The momentum of the powwow just seemed to drift away with them.

The organizers considered continuing outside, thinking it was better to dance in the damp than have no powwow at all. But then rain poured harder and the dancers seemed in no mood to continue dancing in the hot gymnasium.

Still, a powwow is more than just dancing, drumming and eating Indian tacos; it's a bonding experience for the Aboriginal community. In a city the size of Toronto, the Aboriginal community gets together whenever it can, and the Ryerson powwow was a success purely on the number of spectators, as the gym and hallways were packed with people mingling, connecting with old friends, and children chasing each other at breakneck speed.

Raven Davis, the powwow co-ordinator, took the bad weather in stride and said that the powwow is there to build an awareness of Ryerson's Aboriginal Student Services, as well as to establish a comfort level for the university's community, staff and faculty with Aboriginal people.

Unlike most university powwows, which are usually organized by the university's Aboriginal students, the Ryerson powwow is co-ordinated and funded by the university itself, and it hired Davis to co-ordinate. She's the only paid person there, but she relies on about 60 volunteers to make the powwow a success.

The university, she said, wanted to make itself more accessible to Aboriginal students.

"It's hard for Aboriginal people to get into mainstream education because they usually have little or no high school education and suffer from high drop out rates," she said. This pow wow lets current and future Aboriginal students know that this university cares about their culture and their education.