'It's healing': Powwow academy strengthens identity, culture for Mînî Thnî students

Students at the Mînî Thnî Community School say a special academy offers them a chance to learn to dance powwow and craft their own regalia following Indigenous traditions. (Pexels/Farouk Animashaun)

ÎYÂRHE NAKODA – Needle and thread in hand, Angel Lightning pieces together strips of bright-coloured satin to her fabric canvas and one stitch at a time, her ribbon skirt comes together.

The Grade 11 Mînî Thnî Community School student has dreamed of making clothes since she was a kid learning alongside her grandmother, but through powwow academy, making a ribbon skirt, jingle dress or Pendleton jacket is now a breeze for Lightning.

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“I just feel really at peace when I’m sewing. It distracts me from a lot of things,” she said.

“I started making ribbon skirts … with my Kokum, my grandma. I just wanted to learn how to make more and to do more with it,” she said. “I’ve just been trying to learn how to expand my creativity.

For an hour each day, Lightning and a class of Grade 10-12 students attend powwow academy at Mînî Thnî Community School, where they learn to dance powwow and create their own cultural regalia, from ribbon skirts to jingle dresses and fancy shawls.

“That pride they have for themselves and for their regalia, it’s healing in so many ways,” says Heather Ketchemonia, powwow academy instructor.

“They get to be physically active; they get to be part of a circle. It keeps them busy, and it gives them motivation.”

Running each year as an accredited course at the school, Ketchemonia says most students come in having never used a sewing machine or danced powwow.

“My parents were not powwow people, just like some of these students,” she said. “But they can create that and start somewhere, and this is where they can start.”

Running the class since 2019, it all started when Ketchemonia wore her own ribbon skirt to school.

“The superintendent at the time was like, ‘Hey, I like your skirt. The girls should make those for themselves,’” she recalled.

Having just taught herself to sew and make her own outfits, Ketchemonia began attending powwows with her daughters and soon enough was dancing in them herself.

“I felt like something was missing in our life. I felt like we needed more and then we started attending powwows, watching as spectators,” she said.

Bringing her passion to school, a growing number of students began to show interest in the course that, at first, ran during lunch break or after school.

“It’s something that we really look forward to and I want [my students] to be part of that life because it’s such a good life,” she added, noting the students are given the opportunity to attend powwows and dance at various events, including biathlon races held at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

Kicking off the school year with a supply trip to Calgary, student pick out their fabric and materials and hit the drawing board.

“They’re the designers. It’s up to them how they want to design their outfit,” Ketchemonia said, noting she often informs students on the designs used by various Nations, with Stoney Nakoda outfits known to feature lots of symmetry and geometric shapes.

“It’s kind of part of your roots and your identity when you have those designs that you incorporate in your outfit,” she said, adding that some students in the class are also Cree or Ojibwe and within those Nations, florals are often incorporated into outfits.

As the school year comes to an end, the class culminates in a fashion show where students get to dance and walk the runway wearing their creations.

“I’m so proud of the students and what they have accomplished and not just what they’ve made, but their spirit, their mind. They’re happy and they’ve gone on to another level of accomplishment and self-worth and I see that when they walk the runway,” said Duane Mark, Stoney language and cultural coordinator at Mînî Thnî Community School.

“This activity creates an identity, and they access that identity of being Stoney Nakoda [and] an Indigenous person,” he added.

But the ripple effects of the academy often don’t end when the students graduate, Mark adds.

“It’s a springboard to many other things. It opens up their mind and their heart and their soul and their spirit to many great cultural ideas,” he said, noting many go on to dance in powwows outside of school.

“For some students, it changes their lives greatly.”

Ketchemonia has seen the change many times, but remembers one of her past students who battled with addiction and suicide after the loss of his mom.

“He already dropped out the year before and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna go to school. I don’t know why, but I’m gonna go to school and see what happens,’” she said.

Teachers pointed him to the academy class, and he promptly joined.

“He liked to sing, but he messed up his voice so he’s like, ‘Well, I guess I’m going to learn how to dance because my uncles were all champion dancers,’ and so he came in here and he had no clue how to use the sewing machine and he ended up creating his own full outfit,” she said, adding that the student has now graduated and become part of the powwow circle where he competes.

“He’s like a success story. He’s living a really good, clean life and I’m really proud of him,” she said.

For many students, the class has gone beyond sewing and powwow, becoming a place to build community.

“There’s so many levels to making yourself a better person and [it’s an opportunity] to be part of a group, to be part of a community and to feel that sense of belonging,”

“When I first started here, I made a lot of new friends in this class. I was really scared and [Ketchemonia] really helped me get out of my bubble, too,” added Lightning.

As a new addition this year, students made ribbon shirts and skirts for preschool students – along with their own regalia – to wear at their graduation ceremony and the fashion show being held on May 27.

“I’m so proud of them. I feel like I have my dream job being able to give them opportunities and then letting them shine,” Ketchemonia said.

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.

Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook