The Great Mother’s Wisdom in a Dancing Power Circle
An Education Week Cultural Project
by Pat Prokopchuk

Using the power of the medicine wheel, worldwide mandala knowledge, sacred circles, and the five elements, colours, and directions, there will be an awareness of how everything is inter-connected energetically.

Concurrent with Education Week in Saskatchewan Schools (October 18 to 25), Saskatoon’s Confederation Park Community School will be hosting a multicultural, cross-cultural, indigenous-based dance/music/movement project. This project will be incorporated into its public school curriculum during that week, utilizing the arts and science talents of the school staff, in conjunction with the internationally active senior teacher and master dance performer, Shahrazad of Germany. Also, Global Indigenous Experience Network Inc. (GIENI), as a community-based non-profit group with Saskatoon grassroots membership, is pleased to promote its main goal of awareness and understanding with sharing of Indigenous cultures from all over the world.

Bringing ancient teachings to a modern world is not new for Shahrazad. She has previously taught and performed historical material integrating indigenous cultures of the First Nations of the Americas. Those teachings have been with adult students in Europe; the teachings in Saskatoon will be adapted for youth who hold the key to future awakenings needed on the planet. Confederation Park Community School is home to the Cree Language Culture program and as part of the program has a boys’ drum group and a Powwow Dance Troupe. Boys and girls in grades four to eight will be invited to contribute to the project in different ways. These Canadian youth, who come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, will be exposed to the global meaning of human archetypes in relation to the earth’s natural environment. Using the power of the medicine wheel, worldwide mandala knowledge, sacred circles, and the five elements, colours, and directions, there will be an awareness of how everything is inter-connected energetically. There will be construction and painting of masks, costumes, dance regalia, props and glyphs, creation of music and dance choreographies.

The exploration of the history behind sacred Wanuskewin Heritage Park, along with the ancient Mayan culture, is an aspect of both cultures that have seldom been explored. Shahrazad is personally familiar with Wanuskewin, the medicine wheel, and the lessons from the Jaguar Woman of the Mayan culture. The writings of Lynn Andrews, of the US, in her book, Jaguar Woman, portray the pre-eminently sacred roles of the female energy and the traditions that retain that ancient wisdom.

Each day for five days at the school from Oct. 19 to 23, there will be teachings of themes and roles of each archetype. These themes will include the Rainbow Goddess, Death, the Corn Mother, the Snake, and the Jaguar Woman, and the initiations inherent with the knowledge of each archetype. This will encompass the elements, the directions, the symbols, colours, and sacred animals geographically and astrologically relevant to both of the Americas.

The girls will learn everything about all the themes, then each chooses the theme that best resonates with their own personal creative and destructive factors. From this, they will learn how and when to balance their power, to recognize the good polarities in life, and become personally stronger by knowing themselves such that one does no harm to oneself and/or others. Each theme will end up being a group which will surround their main performer.

The boys will support with the necessary musical accompaniment that matches each archetype just right. This will include voice, whistles, hisses, rattles, and drum rhythms utilizing the musical resources of the school and its teachers.

These teachings are directly applicable and relevant to real life and mesh well with the many teachings of the Cree culture. For example, good food and proper nutrition are important. If food is not pure, then it will become a poison and a negative addiction for humans. In this way, there is a raising of consciousness on many levels throughout the week.

By these very simple teachings that are well taught, there is the education for the re-emergence of the balanced female entity in spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical, and practical aspects. The male and female are in harmony. The need for love and the desire for power are balanced properly in the middle. The nature of the spiritual path is instructed by the medicine wheel. The exercise is to reclaim the expression of the female identity and courage which has been suppressed or lost. For society to be in natural harmony and to flourish, the female must be in balance and not suppressed.

On Oct. 24, Shahrazad will teach Temple Tribal Fascination, a Tribal-Fusion choreography, and be the featured performer in a variety dance Gala showcase, open to the public. The public is invited to all Oct. 24 activities (See the display ad on this page for more details.)

After Education Week, the students will rest and digest these teachings prior to engaging in several public performances during the second week, Oct. 26 to 30. The main Gala Celebration of Culture on Oct. 26 will be at Confederation Park Community School at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm as an assembly with Mayan (Mexican) food, traditional First Nation food, fashion show of regalia, and dance performances for all students, staff, parents, and extended school community. It is also hoped that versions of this performance can be toured to other First Nation schools in the surrounding Saskatoon area.

For more information: Mayan cultural teaching, contact Terri Bear-Linklater, email: tahirah140@hotmail.com; Tribal Fusion dance, contact Pat Prokopchuk, email: prokr@sasktel.net.

Pat Prokopchuk is the director of Oriental Dance Arts of Saskatoon, a multicultural bellydance school that has been teaching and performing for the past 30 years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and beyond.