UA’s Moundville Park Boasts Dance, Demonstrations at Annual Festival

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Visitors to The University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in Native American culture and history during the 26th annual Moundville Native American Festival.

The four-day festival, which runs from Oct. 8 through 11, boasts music and dance, food, arts and crafts, storytelling, demonstrations and more. The festival began as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Jones Archaeological Museum’s opening; the museum marks its 75th anniversary this year.

Grammy-nominated musician GrayHawk Perkins returns to the festival’s Native American Stage. In addition to being the emcee, Perkins enthralls audiences with his storytelling, connecting with visitors young and old. His band from New Orleans performs on Friday and Saturday of the festival. The Grayhawk Band’s original music is a unique blend of blues, funk, jazz and rock intertwined with tribal rhythms and themes.

With its Native American roots planted firmly in the diverse musical landscape of New Orleans, the band represents a new cross-cultural subgenre of music that has been referred to as ‘tribal funk.’ If you listen closely, you will detect the influence of musical icons ranging from James Brown to the Rolling Stones. It’s an earthy, upbeat sound that appeals to a wide range of audiences.

Lyndon Alec, a member of the Coushatta Tribe (Livingston, Texas) is a hoop dancer featured on the 2014 festival poster and one of the festival’s favorite performers. The “Chicasa Hithla” dance troupe (Oklahoma and Texas) perform stomp dancing, one of the oldest and most traditional types of dances for many Southeastern Native American tribes. “Chicasa Hithla” literally translates to Chickasaw dancers. The group formed in 2013 to educate, preserve and restore Chickasaw traditions.

Joining them are the Mystic Wind Choctaw Dancers. Led by Daniel Issac, of Choctaw, Mississippi, the group performs Choctaw social dances, many of which imitate animals. Issac’s group also demonstrate a kind of drumming frequently found at powwows, a popular Native American event that focuses on Indian culture in general.

Amy Bluemel will spin stories for visitors, both on stage and at the storytelling arbor nestled away by the park’s recreated Indian Village. Bluemel is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and lives in Joshua, Texas. She was the featured storyteller at a spring celebration for the museum’s 75^th anniversary. Other performers include flutist/storytellers Billy Whitefox, Charlie MatoToyela, Jimmy Yellowhorse and Sydney Mitchell and Cherokee culture and language specialist Shirley Oswalt.

Multi-talented Paula Nelson also shares Cherokee stories on stage, intermingling them with her original songs. When Nelson isn’t on stage, visitors can see her living history display where she recreates herself as a noblewoman from around the 1300s – the time when Moundville was at its peak. Raised in the Kolanvyi Community, Nelson is a multimedia visual/textile artist, performance artist, singer/songwriter and published poet.

Her creativity lends itself well to her 13-year career as a living history educator and is evident through the quality of her displays and historical clothing. Well-known in the Southeastern Indian communities as a performer and songwriter specializing in composing songs and lyrics in the Cherokee language, Nelson has a discography of four CDs to her credit, and she has won numerous awards for her art and publications.

Most recently, she has received certification through PBS as a cultural educator through musical media, and teachers all over the nation have access to her music and performances to utilize as a teaching tool for children and adults.

Representing a noble warrior from Moundville, Eastern Cherokee John “Bullet” Standingdeer meets and greets festival visitors this year. Dressed and ornamented like the prehistoric people who once lived at the mounds, Standingdeer serves as the festival’s ambassador.

He has previously performed at the festival with the Warriors of AniKituwah, a traditional Cherokee men’s dance troupe organized by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. He was also a model whose face was cast for one of the lifelike figures featured in the recently renovated exhibits within the Jones Archaeological Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park.

Living Historian Diamond Brown and his wife, Sandy, (Eastern Band of Cherokees) will set up a display that includes a traditional bark shelter, a type of structure that could well have been used during prehistoric times. Immensely talented, Brown teaches visitors about historic and precontact Cherokee culture, using a multitude of artifacts he’s fashioned.

Sandy Brown is an accomplished fingerweaver. Without a loom, she painstakingly fashions sashes typical of the 18^th and 19^th centuries in a manner similar to, but much more complex than, braiding. In addition to sharing about their culture, the Browns also discuss various Cherokee lifeways, including basketry, pottery making, fire making and hide tanning. Diamond Brown is a strong advocate for the environment, many of his demonstrations illustrating “green” technologies used by Native Americans for thousands of years.

Another new addition to the festival’s living history ensemble is Pedro Zepeda, an educator with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Zepeda demonstrates Southeastern-style woodcarving from the 19^th Century and earlier. Clubs, bows, stickball rackets, “sofkee” spoons and children’s toys are a few things he carves. While working, he talks about the historic tools he uses, as well as life in Florida during the 1800s – a time of great turmoil and change for the Southeastern Indian people.

The festival will be open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission to the festival is $10 for adults; $8 students; and free for children ages 5 and younger. Group discounts with reservations are available. For more information, or to make group reservations, phone 205/371-2234.