New York City is a uniquely difficult place to hold a powwow, which makes this Saturday\u2019s Block Party Pow Wow in Carroll Gardens all the more unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is supposed to be a space to be able to let loose and be in community,\u201d Josephine Tarrant said from her grandmother\u2019s living room on Degraw Street in Carroll Gardens. \u201cIt\u2019s just like nothing else exists. It\u2019s just dancing, singing, people around you. You can really clear your head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powwows require a lot of space \u2014 for performers to change, for performers to perform, for community to congregate. Elsewhere, there are lodges, meeting houses, fields, but in Gotham \u201cwe don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also require \u201ca lot of work \u2014 a lot of work\u201d to organize, Tarrant said.<\/p>\n
This year called for a big celebration: It\u2019s Tarrant’s great aunt Glorial Miguel\u2019s 100th birthday, as well as the 50th anniversary of Spiderwoman Theater, a pioneering Indigenous storytelling troupe Gloria cofounded with her sisters Muriel Miguel and the late Lisa Mayo in 1976.<\/p>\n
So Tarrant organized this Saturday\u2019s Block Party Pow Wow, which will take place from 1 to 5 P.M. on Degraw Street between Court and Smith Streets. The event is free and open to the public, and will feature Indigenous dancers, drummers and singers, neighborhood vendors and speakers, and screened excerpts of Spiderwoman\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone asked me how and why I started Spiderwoman and all that I could think of is that I was angry. I was really, really angry,\u201d said Muriel, who is Tarrant\u2019s grandmother. Growing up in Brooklyn, in this same Degraw St. house, Muriel was disgusted by the sexist behavior she witnessed around town. \u201c\u200aI really could not stand walking down the block and having men whistle at me or try to pinch me,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I started to tell stories. Other people started to tell stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group has never had a permanent home but has always had \u201c\u200aa lot of friends\u201d including La Mama, which is hosting a gala<\/a> for Spiderwoman this fall.<\/p>\n Today, Spiderwoman \u2013 which is named for the Hopi creation goddess \u2013 is the self-described oldest continually running Native feminist theater company in the Americas. And to celebrate its semicentennial, Tarrant is curating the block party powwow, a unique concept.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people who are coming, both anybody who’s dancing or singing or people who are attending who are Native, have never been to a block party that’s a powwow, that has never existed before,\u201d said Tarrant.<\/p>\n In addition to being a celebration, a neighborhood party and a cultural event, Saturday will also be something of a family reunion. Many are traveling from afar.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty much all my family will be in town,\u201d Tarrant said.<\/p>\n Tarrant and Miguel both hope the event will enrapture young Native Americans to the beauty of their culture and traditions.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that’s kind of what the goal is with this, is to really try to make the Native people who are from around here feel comfortable and feel like they have community,\u201d Tarrant said. \u201cThat’s really what it’s about.\u201d<\/p>\n