The film is now available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, VUDU, and iTunes. You can follow Sherenté on Instagram, @sherente. Also follow the producer of the film, Mae Gammino on Instagram @maegam.
Morning Host Luis Hernandez spoke with Sherenté, now a student at Brown.
Luis Hernandez: Sherenté, how did they approach you? And I wonder what was going through your mind at that point?
Sherenté Mishitahin Harris: I remember I was still in high school at the time. And the entire prospect was very exciting. But it also seemed almost too good to be true at first.
Hernandez: So how did you feel when they said we want to make this film and tell your story, because now they’re following you around. This is intimate.
Harris: Growing up as a child within a family of nine with seven children, and my parents and my grandmother all in one home, we are a very close knit unit. And having someone that isn’t familiar with our traditional ways, but trying to not only expose them to that, but share it with them in an appropriate way. It all was a journey and a process. When the filming first started, nobody knew that the story was going to end up being about me dancing in this traditionally female style of dance. I was still a young teenager at this point and was just starting to come out to my community. And we had no idea but all of the battles that I would have to fight, but all of the major successes that would arise out of it as well.
Hernandez: In the film, we follow you, there’s many aspects of your life that we’re following, but the main theme is that you are in these competitions. These Is it right to say that these are powwow competitions is that what they call them out? What do they call them.
Harris: The Narragansett tribe has the oldest recorded powwow in North America. Our August meeting powwow has been recorded for over 347 years at this point, I believe. And of course, other tribal nations have had similar events that they have been doing for time immemorial as well. These events were Thanksgivings. At these Thanksgivings, where we would pray and give thanks. One of the ways that we would do that is through dance. And as time has gone on, the dancing in return for it, the dancers dancing, they would often be given gifts, even in my mother’s era, they would be given small gifts, a doll or a small basket or some beadwork. And as time has gone on, it has turned into more and more extravagant competition dancing. But underneath all of that my parents have always made sure that we remember that our dancing first and foremost is prayer. We don’t dance to win. But we dance for our ancestors, for those that cannot dance.
Hernandez: The dances are absolutely beautiful. The outfits are gorgeous. And the fascinating aspect I thought watching this is that here you are competing. These are dances traditionally, you see women dance. And then of course, we see the conflict, which is how the judges decide to or not decide to handle you participating. I mean, just briefly, what has that been like growing up, wanting to participate, but knowing that there is that battle?
Harris: I remember when I first propositioned the notion of me fancy shawl dancing that I was told, even by my family that that just wasn’t a possibility that there would be so much hatred thrown at me. And it really didn’t seem like something that could actually be done. And of course, since then, we have not only seen that it is possible, but there are young people all over Turtle Island, or what we now call North America, that are doing the same and are dancing in a way that gives thanks for their life and their gifts. For the longest time, what I was most upset about was that these people that were not allowing me to be treated like everyone else. They wouldn’t even talk to me. Usually things were — they tried to keep things secret, or they would have other people come and talk to me and my family. But the actual pow wow committees would not address me or approach me. And I just wanted them to look me in the eyes. This wasn’t even a conversation about, you know, me having an unfair advantage because I was two spirit. And it was a small group of older men that were behind all of this. And, unfortunately, they felt the need to do those things because of generational trauma.
Hernandez: You’re finishing up your undergrad work, right now. And then there’s more school for you. So what’s what’s going on?
Harris: So, this semester, the spring I am graduating from the Brown-RISD dual degree program. And following that, I will be beginning in Brown’s American Studies PhD program. So I am over the moon about the possibility that we will have Narragansett stories being told in this place again, because we have been silenced for far too long.
Hernandez: Are you still dancing?
Harris: I am still dancing. And actually this… just a couple of weeks ago, I was honored as one of the head dancers at Brown Spring Thaw Powwow. They had a head lady dancer and a head man dancer, and I was a head two spirit dancer. The idea of the head dancers is to welcome all of the men and all of the women into the circle, and they wanted to welcome all two spirit people in and the outpouring of love and support from people was palpable and overwhelming. And it was something that I never thought would be possible when I first started.
The post ‘Being Thunder’ – Sherenté Harris’ journey as a two-spirit Narragansett dancer appeared first on TPR: The Public's Radio.