Paiute Tribe upset by performance of 'Redmen' high school group

Friday, March 4, 2016  

Cedar High School is located in Cedar City, Utah. Photo from Facebook

The Paiute Tribe of Utah says it warned a local high school -- whose mascot is the "Redmen" -- not to perform a culturally insensitive dance.

The Mohey Tawa drill team at Cedar High School went ahead with the routine at a basketball game on February 26. The students wore "Native" clothing, donned dark-colored wigs, carried faux feathers and appeared to mimic a traditional women's and girl's dance with moves that offended tribal members in the audience.

"The way it was performed, with the dancers wearing wigs, holding fans and making dramatic movements, such as legs raised high in the air and bending over, misrepresented the beauty and graceful style of actual fancy shawl dancers," Chairwoman Corrina Bow said in a press release. " I can empathize with tribal youth students and their parents who found this to be offensive.”

Bow said tribal leaders expressed serious concerns about the dance after being approached last summer by the drill team's coach. The council, however, never got to see the routine in advance as requested.

“This was unfortunate it happened but we must not let this hold us back in moving forward and demonstrating how we can come together – the tribe and the school – and learn from this lesson,” Bow said.

The school has said the drill team, whose members appear to be exclusively non-Indian, will not perform the dance again. The team's name "Mohey Tawa" is said to mean “Dancing Indian Princess" but it's not clear where it comes from or whether it's an accurate phrase.

Native Americans represent about 2.7 percent of the population in Cedar City, where the high school is located, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Get the Story:
Tribal Council says Cedar High School’s dance team mocked culture (The St. George News 3/4)
Native American says performance from Utah high school’s dance team mocked tribe’s culture (Fox13 3/2)