March 2006: Interview with Pewi Alfred

Interviewer: Franziska von Rosen
Location: Alert Bay

Franziska von Rosen: Can you start by telling me your name and your nation?

Pewi Alfred: My traditional name is Gwa̱l’sa’las; it means going with the flow of the river.

My other name is Ḵamina̱wadzi. That comes from my great-great-great grandmother, her name was Laga̱dza̱mǥa (Lily Speck Sr). I am from the ’Na̱mgis through my father’s side and Ławit̕sis through my mother’s side. If you go any further, Kwaguł through my grandfather and Ǥwa’yas’da̱m’s through my grandmother. I was born and raised here in Alert Bay.

FvR: I hear you are a dancer. Talk to me a bit about how you got started in dance.

PA: I was born into a family that is really cultural. When my mother and father got married, I think it was in 1981, they got married in the Big House. When my Grandpa Pat had a potlatch in 1981, my brother was just born, and my mom and dad got married, to make sure that my brother and I had a spot in the Big House. I was initiated to the Madam and received a name.  Then they named my brother, and gave him a baby name.

I don’t know how it happened, but I got initiated into a dance called the Madam. So I know I was three or four when I got initiated to that dance. I remember dancing to it so well because the whole crowd laughed at me and then they were clapping and I remember the pictures and flashes going off while I was dancing.

When you go to school here it is mandatory that you take the dancing and the singing and the language courses. So right from age three or four, that is what you are learning in your school.

FvR: So you have grown up in a family of dancers?

PA: Yes.

FvR: So, tell me a little bit about the kinds of dances your family does.

PA: There are a lot of high-ranking dances that my family owns and shows through our potlatches. My father is a Hamat̕sa, my mother is a Hamat̕sa, and my brother is a Hamat̕sa.  My uncle is a Tła’sa̱la  and that is probably the highest dance you can have, which is a Chief’s Dance. Hamat̕sa is Man-eater. I am a Hiligax̱ste’, who is a servant to the Hamat̕sa. My baby is a born Hamat̕sa; he received it when I was three months pregnant. My grandmother, because she is the oldest of the oldest of the oldest, and I am the oldest granddaughter and my father is the oldest son who had children - we all own high-ranking dances because of the family we were born into and because we are the oldest. It is just like royalty.

FvR: So what responsibilities come with owning those dances?

PA: There are a lot of responsibilities and expectations when you are the oldest. I have brought up my younger sister, I looked after my younger brother.  And you don’t just always get brought up by your mother; you spend most of your time with your grandparents. So there are high teachings there too, and a lot of rules that you have to follow such as: not allowed out until you are eighteen, no boyfriends, no nothing. We get brought up in strict homes.

FvR: Are there special responsibilities associated with being initiated into some of the dances?

PA: I am really honoured to have had a chance to get those dances because the ladies who taught me those dances and my granny who told me that I would be receiving those dances said that I had to spend time with the older woman of our family. So I went to see her. She couldn’t speak a word of English and I could only understand a little bit of kwak̕wala. My grandma gave me a few sentences and said go and see your granny, you need to learn the songs because you are going to be receiving some dances and songs. You have to hold the song.

So I went to see her and she sang it for me, so I now have that responsibility of holding that song. She passed away shortly after I learned it. Then another lady, when I got initiated into another dance, she passed away also.  So I have all of that in my heart and in my mind. So I can share it with my younger family members who will be receiving it. I can hold that for them.

FvR: Can you explain what you mean by “holding those dances?”

PA: With being the oldest granddaughter, I don’t know how to say this – some people are just naturally born to be able to learn songs and dances, and there are responsibilities that you have to hold, like no partying, no drinking, no drugging; you are a role model. A lot of people respect you.  For a lot of people it isn’t important, so you don’t put dances on just anyone, to make sure that the dances don’t get lost. I don’t know, I am just guessing here too.

I wonder why I have been chosen by a lot of people to hold these rights for them. And it is not only in my family, but for other people too that are asking me, “Can you please learn this song for my family. You will hold it until another child is born and that child, when grown, can take responsibility then.”

For instance, my grandfather, his name was Chief Lorne Smith, he was a Hamat̕sa. When my grandfather died that Hamat̕sa had to be given to somebody because his older son, my uncle, was not interested and his younger son claimed he had something wrong with his knee and then my mom is the middle child. Those two were not interested and normally it is only supposed to go to males.

But my mom didn’t want it to be lost so she took that right and held onto it until there is a male born in the family, because you always go through your male side. When my brother got a Hamat̕sa from my father’s side already, we weren’t going to give him two, so we held it for my unborn child. But you would never give it to the baby itself.

FvR: Tell me a little about the occasions when you would dance.

PA: If any of our family members are having a potlatch we are expected to show our dances and songs. Sometimes we are hired by non-family members and we are then paid to sing or dance at their potlatch. Our family had a potlatch last year for my son and my niece. They were born in the same year, so they had one to give them their baby names. That is when we showed everything that we owned, our Box of Treasures. But most of the time, because we can’t have a potlatch every year, it is so expensive, we are asked to perform at other people’s potlatches.

My Granny has six girls in her family that will show a Ladies' Professional dance that my granny owns, and people pay us to do that dance at their potlatches. So we show a lot of our dances because we own a lot of Ladies' Professional Dances.

I am also part of a dance group called Gwa’wina Dancers. We have been to a lot of places showing what we own as Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations and to show that we are still alive and we will show a small part of our history through song and dance. Not too much, just a little teaser.

U'mista Ladies Professional Dance
2.3 megs +

The Ladies' Professional Dance, that’s the one I really like to do. I take a lot of time learning the dances, my sister and I spend a lot of time with Wa (William Wasden Jr.), say if he composes a song or finds an old tape of dances that belonged to my family. He’ll teach me the words.

We have a dance troupe of probably 100 people, but they are all spread out. Everybody lives in the city, except maybe 40 of us that live here. I’ll take my time to learn the songs and the dances, the beat. Go to the practices and teach everyone. So there are probably about 30 of us women who can do these dances. It just makes me feel so good to teach all these women.

FvR: What goes through your mind when you dance?  Why do you dance?

PA: When I am on the dance floor it is only me; my hands are up there; I am healing all the people. It is only me and I don’t see anybody in the world, in the crowd. I know I have practised. I know the words. I know exactly what I am feeling, what I am doing. It feels like I am floating and there is my spirit in that. Spirit is who we are, you know when we die our spirit leaves us, and that’s who we are when we are walking this earth.

When I come on to the dance floor I am turning left. I turn to my heart in the direction of my heart and that’s what I am going to put into my dancing. You don’t just come out onto the floor, silly and smiling at the crowd. It is about finding your spirit and you are dancing on Mother Earth. And when you leave the dance floor you turn left again and then you are back to the normal world. But you don’t go on the dance floor unless you know what you are doing, because it is a really bad thing if you make a mistake out there. It costs a lot of money and shame to your family if you make a fool of yourself out there. You have to pay for your mistakes at a potlatch.

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This project was made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through Canadian Culture Online

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