Laura Grizzlypaws bringing bear dance to Heatwave
A great poet once posed the question: “How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
That phrase comes to mind watching Laura Grizzlypaws’ intense and powerful grizzly bear dance.
She crouches, she bends, she bounces, bells jingle, she turns, she stalks, she stands tall, paws extend skyward, she pounces, she shakes the imposing head of the magnificent – and heavy – grizzly bear regalia draped over her.
This is no mere performance she’ll be bringing to Heatwave in Prince George; the vigorous spirit of the bear is proudly prancing before you.
“It’s very moving, the strength is there, the connectedness,” she explains. “To feel the spirit or the presence of that. Some people say, ‘Oh, it’s just a hide.’ It’s not just a hide. It’s not just a costume. We are united and become one. I become the bear. I am the bear.”
The bear has a name – Grizz. She and Grizz evoke the days when grizzly bears were abundant and freely roamed the land. During the dance, she says she and Grizz “mark our ancestral footprints together.”
She is emphatic: “It’s not for show or fashion, it’s about empowering, it’s about increasing awareness, it’s about educating, it’s about identity and identifying oneself to a particular group or community or family.”
YouTube videos of Laura Grizzlypaws’ bear dance and other dances have been seen online by hundreds of thousands of people. She has danced across North America and in such far-flung locations as Hawaii, Chile and New Zealand. Her appearances at pow wows, indigenous gatherings and festivals introduce St’at’imc culture and tradition to new and appreciative audiences.
She says many of the communities she visits – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – are undergoing crises of sustainability and identity as a unique cultural group.
“In some communities, their languages are dying, in some communities their cultures are dying, some communities have high suicide rates, some communities are struggling with youth academic achievements. They’re facing all these challenges and barriers and a large percentage of the time, I get invited to communities to inspire, to give hope, to share stories,” she said.
“It’s not just the dance. There’s a story, there’s a history, there’s a purpose and there’s an intention and meaning. If I can have a positive impact on at least one child, one elder, one community member, then I believe I’ve made a difference.”
Laura Grizzlypaws knows firsthand that one person can make a difference.
“Because that’s all it took for me was for one person to say, ‘I’m here, I believe in you, you can do this, you can achieve.’”
She overcame a tough childhood, living in foster homes, being mistreated. She left Lillooet Secondary School one month into Grade 8. By the time she was 18, she’d given up on the system, given up on the community, given up on taking care of herself. She was overwhelmed, hurting and angry; she lashed out violently and found herself in jail.
“I had anger, hate and rage and the power of the punch was how I maintained control,” Grizzleypaws said.
But there was one person – a teacher – who was encouraging and caring.
He kept encouraging her to go to school. Days, weeks and months went by. He persisted. Her response was “The hell with school.”
Still he persisted. She asked him why he continued to “pick on” her.
He replied, “You didn’t fail, Laura. The system failed you, those teachers failed to teach you and those who failed to care and look after you failed as well. It’s not your fault.”
“So I went into class and I was just sitting there, wondering what the hell am I doing here? He had to sit there, right beside me, to help me with my studies. In three months, I completed Grade 8, 9, 10 in jail with him... I recall having tantrums and throwing tables and chairs and books because of the false principles that were put in my window as a child, going through the system. ‘I’m a failure, I’m a stupid Indian, I’m incapable, I have nothing to offer.’ He had to deal with the physical and emotional part of that.”
After she left jail, she says her friends expected her to be same battling Laura she was before she went in. They wanted her to physically fight their battles for them. She refused. She had better things to do. She enrolled in the Adult Dogwood program, graduated and decided to be a teacher.
When she confided her ambition to one of her teachers, he discouraged her, telling her that would be “too challenging.”
He did not dissuade her. She ignored him and became a teacher.
Recently, she’s been a guest teacher at a Lillooet, teaching oral traditions and languages to students there. She is also teaching language, culture and dance at her home community of Xwisten, including creating regalia. Additionally, she works as the education training manager for St’at’imc Government Services.
Laura Grizzlypaws is also a singer, songwriter and drummer who released her first CD Hear Me in April of 2016. As a motivational speaker, she is a mentor and inspiration to many. She’s an important catalyst on the women’s empowerment PowHERhouse website and the TV series Powhertalks.
She is a mom to three sons and she and her partner Levi Blackwolf will welcome their first child next month.
And whether she’s dancing, speaking or teaching, she tries to impart traditional St’at’imc laws. She says those laws are inseparably connected to the land “because the land is basically where we come from.
“If it wasn’t for the land, the territory, the land mass, we wouldn’t have a home. The land, the language and the people are all inter-connected. And all of that boils down to a culture and a way of life. And all of that encompasses ceremony, songs, dances, stories, teachings, traditions and how we communicate, interact and engage.”
The Heatwave-Celebrating Cultures roster at Canada Games Plaza is:
Today: Opening Ceremonies, Saltwater Hank, Rivière Rouge, and the Tonye Aganaba Band.
Saturday: Navaz, En Karma and George Leach (with special performances by Laura Grizzlypaws).
Sunday: Madame Diva & Micah, Kym Gouchie, Shauit and Alex Cuba.