THE BEAT GOES ON

The pandemic may have cancelled powwows this summer, but Dabney Warren, TJ Warren and their daughters, Kiihibaa Acahkos Warren and Omiyosiw Nazbah Warren are keeping the spirit alive in other ways this summer.

TJ and Dabney Warren have spent summers dancing on the powwow circuit for as long as they can remember and it’s become part of their two daughters’ lives. But with powwows cancelled due to COVID-19, the Saskatoon-based family is finding new routines in the absence of regular cultural traditions.

“It wasn’t just about going to a celebration and competing and singing. It was about community. It was about building relationships and renewing relationships ... and doing that in one place, it was a blessing,” TJ says. Without powwows, he says he feels there’s “a piece of you that’s missing.”

The Warrens are filling the summer by teaching traditional songs and skills to daughters Omiyosiw, 14, and Kiihibaa, 9 and taking part in activities they haven’t had time for in the past, such as biking along the Meewasin Trail.

For Omiyosiw, school, playing on four basketball teams and competing in powwows kept her busy before COVID-19 disrupted her schedule. She’s since been learning skills she didn’t have the chance to try before, such as sewing, which she says is helping her feel better about herself.

Kiihibaa is using her unexpected free time to make a beaded necklace and sew a ribbon skirt for her five-year-old cousin to wear in an upcoming Sun Dance ceremony.

Both girls are learning phrases in Cree and Diné so they can speak to their relatives in their languages when it is safe for them to get together again.

Closure of the U.s.-canada border has been particularly difficult for TJ, who is Diné from the Navajo

Nation in Arizona.

“It’s tough on us because those borders are colonial to us,” he says of the restrictions.

TJ says he’s seeing examples of Indigenous resiliency in people participating in virtual powwows on social media and using their pandemic downtime to create new regalia, drums and songs.

He says it’s “eerie” not being able to hold ceremonies and celebrations, a situation he finds reminiscent of historic policies that barred Indigenous people from practicing their cultures, such as the potlatch ban enforced by the Canadian government until 1951.

Though the Warrens are not dancing as much as they usually do, they have still been practicing powwow dancing throughout the pandemic. TJ says it’s odd to stand in an empty powwow arena, seeing a normally vibrant place be silent and still with overgrown grass and paint chipping off the wood.

“It was kind of breathtaking because when we’re in those spaces there’s so much life. There’s natural movement in it, but to be at that space (when it’s empty), I felt like I have to dance harder or sing louder because it felt like I needed to call people back,” TJ says.

MICHELLE BERG

PHOTOS: MICHELLE BERG TJ Warren, Dabney Warren and their daughters Kiihibaa and Omiyosiw dance by the empty powwow arena at Wanuskewin Heritage Park. “My girls miss dancing. They are usually dancing around in the living room or kitchen sometimes with a makeshift shawl using a blanket. Or a makeshift dancing fan with a spatula.”

Dabney Warren, left, and her daughters, Omiyosiw and Kiihibaa, get ready to dance in the middle of the empty powwow arena at Wanuskewin Heritage Park. Because of COVID-19, this is the family’s first summer without participating in the powwow circuit. “It is really bittersweet.” Dabney says. “I miss it, totally miss that atmosphere. But, if I am being honest, I have loved this time with my family and doing other works of art that I have not otherwise have had time to do. But I miss dancing and creating new regalia.”

Omiyosiw Warren, left, watches her sister Kiihibaa Warren dunk the ball in their new pool — one of the perks to staying home with the powwow circuit being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The swimming pool and trampoline are really what we wanted as kids. The ability to give that to our kids was important,” TJ says. “We really wanted to make our home a place where they want to be.”

The Warrens are using their unexpected downtime during the pandemic to try new activities, including going on daily bike rides down by the river near the Chief Mistawasis Bridge.

TJ Warren teaches his daughter Kiihibaa Warren Diné in their dining room. The family has always spoken and tried to teach both Diné and Cree languages at home and TJ figured “if we have to home-school, let’s focus on our approach as Indigenous people to the curriculum and Indigenize it.”

Kiihibaa Warren displays her first macrame project. She has learned how to sew and do macrame with her mom’s help now that she has more time at home.