Nawakwa Dance & Drum Team

This was some work!  We would like to thank everyone that attended and helped out from Jim Stallings, Jim Richards, Cameron Richards, Dean Beuglas, the Young family, Austin and Ed Hines, and some of their venture troop.  We were able to harvest 66 tipi poles to replace the ones we currently have.  This is a good thing since our old poles were cracking and falling apart as we used them.  These old poles served us well over the last 3 years and we look forward to completing this harvest by sanding and sealing them for use.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

This was our final winter Crafting Weekend which is used to craft new regalia as well as repair and update regalia we already have for Conclave.  We also had visits from some of our adult leaders whom were staffing the Wood badge 2011 course.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

This was a busy day!  Jeff Stallings and Tommy Poe went to the historic Robinson theater to perform at the Eagle Court of Honor for Corbin Anglin.  Not only was it a great time there was some great food afterwards.  It was an honor to perform for a fellow Eagle Scout.

After the ECOH Tommy and I drove out to Powhattan with Mr Poe to perform for Pack 1832.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

As always we had another great service weekend.  This weekend was mostly used to get our regalia in prime shape for Conclave.  A number of dancers and adults joined us this week to perform for the Brotherhood and Ordeal ceremonies.  We even tried out some new music during our performances which went very well.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

We had the honor to be invited to perform at Wood badge again this year.  This was a great event where we had everyone up and dancing with the team.  This event was held during the March weekend where we had over 90 participants and staff watching and joining in.

We look forward to being invited to future Wood badge courses to continue our support of our new adult leaders in scouting.

Thanks to Jeff, Adam, Tommy, Bayler,

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

We had a number of Arrow of Light and Crossovers in the beginning of the year.  This is normally the busiest time of year for the dance team.  While we try to attend every performance request, we have to turn some of these down due to timing and conflicts with other scheduled events.  Between February and June we attended an event for Pack 2815, Pack 2862, Pack 1823, Pack 2822, Pack 1832, Troop 1832, River District, and a Blue and Gold event for a South Anna Pack.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

Our 1st crafting weekend of the year was held on the 25th of February.  This was a great time for some of our newest members to come and learn about regalia, dance, and culture.  During this crafting weekend we stayed warm around a tub of deer legs as we boiled them.  After having them boil for 12 hours, we dumped them out on the table and started pulling out the toes and bones which we use in our regalia.  We want to thank Adam for getting the bucket of legs for our boil!

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

The dance team once again help out at the Troop 2806 Annual Fundraiser by performing multiple times on stage during the Annual Spaghetti Dinner.  While we were not performing, we walked around the dining hall and answered questions from the guests who were attending the dinner.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

Once again in the cold month of January, the dance team headed south/west for warmth and education at one of the largest POW WOW and education seminars in the region.  A lot was learned and our new members were able to dance at a POW WOW for the first time.  Everyone had a great time and all returned to the cold safely.

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief

On January 17th, in our second performance of the month, Tommy Poe and Jeff Stallings went to Chester Baptist Church for a den meeting to show some wolfs our regalia, perform, answer questions, and teach a dance. We began by entering in and explaining to the scouts who we were, dance style, regalia type, tribe, and various meanings. Following, we performed an intertribal and sneak up to the scout’s fascination. I looked around at the crowd of 15 boys watching as we danced and saw nothing short of awe and excitement. We let them go around, pick up, and wear pieces of regalia and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a

group of boys more interested in everything they saw. As a special surprise, we used our last ten minutes to teach them an intertribal dance. Adorned with various articles of regalia (including a certain war club that was “too heavy to hold”) the scouts learned how to do a dance. Questions couldn’t have come any faster than they did. The interest these boys had rivaled anything I’ve seen in four years. After everything was over, I was even kept for another half an hour answering more questions about how to make certain pieces of our regalia. I’m very happy to see that so many younger scouts are so interested in what we’re doing. Like I said before, the future of the team lies in them. Thank you Tommy for coming out there and performing with me. Next stop, NCIS….no not the TV show! 😉

Jeff Stallings
Nawakwa Lodge Dance Team Chief