Inti Tupac Burnham, Teen Boys Fancy Bustle Dancer
Inti is a proud member of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in the heart of Treaty 8. He is fourteen and has been dancing pow wow since he was three years old. He started as a Grass Dancer and was quickly fascinated with men’s fancy bustle. He approached a mentor with tobacco and asked to be taught when he was 5. Since that time Inti has been practicing weekly and competing every summer at pow wows. Men’s fancy bustle is a warrior’s dance. It is an extremely demanding dance style as it requires agility, endurance, strength, creativity, and showmanship. These dancers are often the “showstoppers” as the vibrant color of their regalia spinning and flying around the powwow arbour at high speed gets the crowd excited.
His father is from Ecuador and the name Inti comes from that part of his culture. ‘Inti’ means ‘The Sun’ in the Kichua language. The name ‘Tupac’ comes from the Warrior Tupac who had led the Inca people to Machu Picchu at the time of the Spanish invasion. He was the last of the true Inca warriors and Inti carries this honor. He truly loves dance and always says that he dances for those with disabilities and that are suffering. As he ages, he is truly becoming stronger and able to dancer harder for those who can’t dance.
The Traditional Paths Society is a grassroots volunteer organization that has been serving the community of Grande Prairie Alberta for the past ten years.
The vision of the society is: “To Encourage the Traditional and Creative Expression of First Peoples’ Culture within our Community.”
To achieve its vision the society has been offering Traditional Pow Wow Dance Practice Nights once a week since 2014 to all age groups. Since its inception some of the original dancers have grown up into teenagers and are now in the position to teach new dancers!
The society also offers a weekly beading and sewing group in which members can learn to bead and do other traditional crafts and gain fellowship with one another. The Traditional Paths Society offers Ceremony and other cultural activities as it is able. The biggest thing the society is proud of is the fact that it has helped to create and maintain meaningful relationships within our community that help support each other.
We are also so proud of the dancers of our pow wow dance group as they actively help to carve out visual space for Indigenous Artisans within the Peace Region area.