Neighbor News
Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center To Host Free Showcase Of Eastern Pequot Traditional Dance
Tribal Councilor Natasha Gambrell offers an engaging cultural program, specially designed for children and their caregivers
On July 7, Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center welcomes Natasha Gambrell, a vibrant young tribal councilor of Connecticut's Eastern Pequot Nation, to the ancestral homelands of the Ramapough, Munsee Lenape, and Wiechquaesgeck people for an afternoon of traditional tribal dance, history, and storytelling.
Natasha, a high school educator, is passionate about representing her tribe, telling their story, and helping the next generation maintain their rich cultural heritage. She does it all through dance.
“I've been dancing Eastern Blanket, Jingle, and Northern Traditional since the age of eight,” Natasha explains, adding that each dance tells a story that might otherwise be lost to history.
The Eastern Pequot Reservation, established in 1683, is one of the earliest tribal reservations in the country and has been continuously occupied by the Eastern Pequot Tribe since the 1670s. There, tribal members live, hunt, grow crops, hold traditional gatherings, and maintain a unique identity as a Native people, just as they have for over 300 years.
Nonetheless, the tribe still struggles for federal recognition.
After the Pequot tribe was split in two in 1979, the Eastern Pequots and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots had to submit separate petitions for federal recognition. Although the Eastern Pequot originally put in their petition for federal recognition in 1979, it was not moved into the preliminary stage until 2000 and years later was completely removed. As of 2005, the Eastern Pequot Tribe in Gambrell’s words, “ceased to exist,” based on the decision of the U.S. Interior Department.
When Gambrell’s tribe was deemed “nonexistent,” she was 13 years old. “I witnessed genocide first hand that day,” she says, attributing the denial of recognition as the impetus behind her ongoing fight to share her people's voice.
In addition to the afternoon dance program, Natasha will also share her poetry later that evening at a Poetry in the Garden: Voices from Marginalized America event in the Museum's historic walled gardens. That program, which begins at 7:00, will also include noted indigenous poets Kimberly Blaeser, past Wisconsin Poet Laureate, and Denise Low, the former Kansas Poet Laureate.
“Every opportunity for Indigenous peoples to come together and share their stories is beautiful, as for a long time we had no voice,” Natasha concludes.
To reserve seating at Natasha's 3:00 dance performance, please register at https://keelertavernmuseum.org/events/538/dance-performance-by-natasha-gambrell/ or call the Museum at (203)438-5485.
Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center is located at 152 Main Street in Ridgefield, CT.
