WIIKWEMKOONG––Lisa Marie Lavallee, a Wiikwemkoong band member, recently returned from Templin, Germany where she represented the Anishinabe and presented Native American dance at El Dorado Templin.
El Dorado is a western theme park located just outside of Templin, Brandenburg, Germany. Each year El Dorado hosts “Indianertreffen (Indian Days)” for their opening weekend.
Ms. Lavallee and six other Native American dancers travelled from Canada and the United States to participate this year. In addition to Ms. Lavallee they were Derek and Naomi Martin representing Mohawks of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Matthew Issac, and Ojibwe/Pottawatomi from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Adrian Harjo of the Kickapoo Tribe from Oklahoma, Melody Cardinal, a Cree from Saddle Lake, Alberta and Lowery Begay, a Navajo from New Mexico.
There were also six Native American dancers present who were living in Europe as well. These were Nita Anishinaabe and her daughter, Anishinabe of Kitigan Zibi by way of Paris, France; Kevin Dust, an Apsaalooke from Crow Agency Montana, also by way of Paris; and Maria, Jasmine and Kendall Old Elk, Apsaalooke of Crow Agency Montana by way of Templin, Germany.
Ms. Lavallee was the only one to represent Central Ontario, Manitoulin Island and Wiikwemkoong specifically. This was her second performance at El Dorado, the first being in 2017. Some of the dancers had been there for several years and the Old Elk family performs there for the entire season.
Ms. Lavallee’s involvement at El Dorado stems from relationships that began nearly three decades ago on the powwow trail. “I have always been a powwow dancer, since I could walk,” she explained. “My family brought us to many different powwows clear across Canada and the United States.” Her parents are Sharon Lavallee and the late Harvey Bondy-baa. “I was raised in southern Alberta and returned home to Ontario in my teen years. While at home in Sudbury my family would do dance presentations at schools, galas, banquets or benefits. I was raised around the stage as my mother was studying theatre arts at Laurentian University.”
Ms. Lavallee attended Sudbury Secondary School, a performing arts school, and majored in theatre arts. In her early 20s she began doing performances with Kanata Native Dance Theatre out of Brantford, Ontario. “With Kanata I travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. among other places. The artistic director at the time was Naomi Powless (now Naomi Martin) who I had known for years from powwows. In 2009, Naomi was contacted by Kendall Old Elk of the Crow Agency Reserve in Montana to perform at several festivals in northern Italy. Unfortunately, she could not attend and Kendall asked her for a suggestion to take her place. My name was put forward and I was available.”
Soon after she was in Italy for 20 days with two other Native Americans from the USA, travelling throughout northern Italy showcasing the Anishinabe jingle dress. Eight years later, Kendall contacted me to ask if I was willing and able to travel to Germany.” So began a beautiful friendship between Ms. Lavallee and the people, staff and guests of El Dorado Templin.
“My experience at El Dorado has been unbelievable!” she said. “It comes with quite a learning curve as the park is in a remote location. Our dorm is located just outside the main gate and all meals are served in the park. We have no wifi and the data connection is not great. I feel this allows us to forget about the outside world and focus completely on the park and Indianertreffen.”
“We are constantly sharing ideas and brainstorming what we can do for the next year (even though we do not know if we will be back), as we all want to make these few days we have to share our culture, our true culture, the best!”
This year, El Dorado saw one of the best days they have had in a while. 2018 was the first time the park hosted Indianertreffen for two consecutive weekends. The final weekend saw record-breaking attendance for the park.
Some of the regular staff had never seen such long line-ups to get in and out of an overflowing parking lot.
The dancers presented three shows daily plus a fourth showcase on Saturday nights. The first was a ‘meet and greet’ presentation, a short 30 minute show consisting of a grand entry where each dancer was introduced by name, their Nation and where they were from. This show also included a hand drum song and one dance style. A meet and greet followed, with opportunity for pictures and questions.
The second daily show was presented on Main Street and incorporated a story into the dances. The third show was called ‘Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show’ and included the main cast and stunt crew of El Dorado along with the dancers. It was based on actual Buffalo Bill shows of the past. The additional showcase on Saturdays consisted of social dances, including the Crow push dance, the Iroquois alligator dance, the rabbit dance and the round dance. The Saturday shows required audience participation.
The group that has been there these past two years has been asked to return for 2019. “I am sure we will all have artistic contributions to the new presentations for the 2019 Indianertreffen,” Ms. Lavallee said.
Kendall Old Elk is El Dorado’s Native American ‘Artist in Residence’ and has been with the park for several years. One of the things Ms. Lavallee appreciates about El Dorado is that they listen to Mr. Old Elk. “They (park management) do share with him what they would like to see, which can be Hollywood or television versions of Native American people. Kendall will educate them on the true Native American stories, songs and dances, and will suggest a more factual way of presenting these.”
It is because of this, she believes, that employees of El Dorado and regular guests have a greater understanding of the Native American people and, in fact, are quite educated on the different tribes, their regions, artwork and language. “I have found that if there ever is a visitor to the park that speaks to any of the Native American dancers in a degrading way or with mockery, the people there, employees or regular guests, will stand up for us or at least translate while we explain why making noises with your mouth is not appropriate.”
Ms. Lavallee explained that the German obsession with Native Americans began with Karl May’s ‘Winnetou’ novels. Mr. May wrote the wild west based novels, featuring a Native American protagonist, having never been to North America or meeting or seeing a Native American Indian. Mr. May created an entire people with his imagination and the people of Germany grew up reading these novels in school. When they learned these novels were not factual, they strived to educate themselves on the true people.
What Ms. Lavallee enjoys most is the after show moments when they are available for photos. That’s the time when she may be approached by a teenage girl asking why she dances, or a young man asking the men about their war clubs and the meaning of them. An older couple may ask why the designs on Ms. Lavallee’s Anishinabe beadwork and the design’s on Kendall Old Elk’s Crow beadwork look so different. “To share my true culture is why I love travelling to international locations and representing the people of the Anishinabe, of Wiikwemkoong and Manitoulin Island,” she said.
