Oklahoma Folklife Festival June 21 at the Oklahoma History Center
Contact: Rodger Harris
(405) 522-0765
rharris@okhistory.org
Oklahoma City, OK
June 4, 2008
For Immediate Release
Oklahoma Folklife Festival
June 21, 2008
Hours 10:00AM - 4:00PM
Oklahoma History Center
Free Admission to the Oklahoma History Center and Museum
The Oklahoma Folklife Festival will host music, dance, crafts, and other Oklahoma traditions. Crafts will include Mexican paper flower making, piņata making, and more. American Indian crafts will include basket making, stickball stick making, corn husk dolls, and the making of Dream Catchers. Traditional European-American crafts will include lace making and woodcarving. This year's poster uses Dorothy Sullivan's dancing turtles and accounts for this year's title, "Dance On Down to the Oklahoma Folklife Festival."
Dancing traditions will include Norahua a local group that proudly performs traditional dances from many parts of Mexico. Jean Hill's School of Irish Dancers will demonstrate the contest dancing traditions that originated in Ireland. The Northern Plains Indian Club of Pawnee will demonstrate various dances common at Oklahoma's most lively tradition, the Pow Wow. Asian traditions celebrate new beginings with Lion Dancers. This ancient tradition is loud, funny, and wonderfully colorful.
Mariachi Orgullo will celebrate the day with music and song from Mexico while the Norman Flute Circle will present the Plains Indian Flute music. The Pendleton Family Fiddlers will play traditional, Western Swing, and cowboy music that features twin fiddling by two sisters and an all-family band. Truly sacred music will also be presented by a Muscogee (Creek) Church from eastern Oklahoma. Marty Tipton, AKA The Oklahoma Kid, will present Oklahoma's cow-culture traditions with the spin of a trick roper. One of Oklahoma's favorite storytellers, DWe Williams, will spin a story or two and be the MC for the day. A video documentary of Oklahoma folklife will play several times during the day and it features the talents, or lack of them, of Sky Shivers the official cowboy goat roper of Lincoln County, Oklahoma.
The event is sponsored by the Oklahoma Folklife Council, The Oklahoma Humanities Council, The Oklahoma Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts Folklife Programs, and our host, the Oklahoma History Center. For more information please call Rodger Harris at 405 522-5207
See The Oklahoma Folklife Center for more information on Oklahoma's folklife heritage at www.okhistory.org/Folklife/folklife.html.
Schedule
The Devon Great Hall
DWe Williams, stoytelling / host,
OKC
405.942.0810 ewdwms@sbcglobal.net
10:00-10:50 Norman Flute Circle Plains Flute Demonstrations
11:00-11:50 Mariachi Orgullo Robert Ruiz,
Norman
(405) 579-3693 (405) 473-6441
12:00-12:45 Northern Plains Indian Club
1:00-1:50 Jean Hills School of Irish Dance,
OKC
hill_jean@sbcglobal.net www.hillirishdance.com (405) 524-7322
2:00-2:50 Pendleton Family Fiddlers Twin Fidding Sisters,
Tulsa
(918) 688-7318 info@pendletonff.com
www.pendletonff.com/ThePendletonFamilyFiddlersMediaKit.asp
3:00-3:50 Norahua, Folklorico, Traditional Dancing of Mexico
Hope Alvarez, OKC
(405) 812-3814 (day) (405) 824-5980 (evening)
www.norahuafolklorico.com/main.htm
www.norahuafolklorico.com/NorahuaPractice.swf
hope4@cox.net
In The Chesapeake Center
10:30 Showing of"Old Ways" folklife video
11:00 Showing of "Old Ways" folklife video
3:00 Showing of "Old Ways" folklife video
Craft Demonstrators (Entrance, Atrium, and Outdoor Fountain)
Victor Wildcat (Cherokee/Creek) Basket Making is a recognized master craftsman of many Cherokee, Muscogee, and Natchez traditional arts. He currently works with American Indian students through the Title IX program at Fort Gibson Public Schools, and coordinates many craft workshops throughout the Cherokee Nation. Victor will be making traditional baskets.
Matt Settlemeyer Muscogee (Creek) Dreamcatchers. Matt has taught crafts for several years at various public schools and colleges in northeastern Oklahoma. He will teach the public to make grapevine dreamcatchers.
Tracy Pepiakitah Settlemeyer ( Kickapoo) Cornhusk Dolls Tracy will teach festival attendees how to make their own cornhusk dolls.
Matt Wilson Stickball Stick Making has taught stickball stick making for several years in various communities and schools. He will teach a limited number of people how to make stickball sticks.
Feather Smith Clay Bead Necklaces clay bead necklaces.
Oklahoma Native American Basket Weavers Association
Peggy Sanders Brennan, coordinator http://onab.org/
Peggy Sanders Brennan (Cherokee), Robin McBride Scott (Cherokee heritage),
Emeline Scott (Cherokee heritage), LouRae Rumple, Jacqueline Augereauer (Caddo),
Debra Smith (Cherokee), Karen Scott (Cherokee), Gunter Anderson (Cherokee),
and Carol Parsons (Cherokee). The Mission of the Oklahoma Native American Basketweavers Association is to preserve, promote, and perpetuate traditional basketryand culture of Native American tribes through educational programs in Oklahoma.
Mexican Traditions Piñata Making and Paper Flower Making, OKC
Scott Roberts Muscogee (Creek) Coil Potter,
OKC 405-946-5233 scott@creekpotter.com
Deborah Beever European styled lace-making, Bartlesville
Roaming the History Center Marty Tipton, The Oklahoma Kid
11:00-1:30 Trick Roper, Shawnee
(405) 413-1985 martytipton@lycos.com www.theoklahomakid.com