Look in the mirror: Powwow community reflects on ‘the Last Dance’ for Gathering of Nations

Some say that powwow is the Black Hills Powwow in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre, an enrolled citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who has attended the Black Hills Powwow for 26 years, said it has “already surpassed the Gathering of Nations.”

“It’s probably, you know, by far, the biggest powwow now in North America,” said Taken Alive-Rencountre. Her husband, Dr. Whitney Rencountre II, is the powwow eyapaha or master of ceremonies.

Last year, the Black Hills three-day event attracted 1,250 dancers. A Native committee has organized the annual powwow for 37 years. The next gathering is scheduled October 10-12 at the Summit Arena at the Monument. Another popular powwow is the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Wacipi which attracted 1,100 dancers in August this year.

Meanwhile, in an August 16 press release, Gathering of Nations Limited, the nonprofit organization behind the powwow, gave little reason for ending the long-running event, saying, “There comes a time.”

Its website provides a bit more information, saying, “several factors beyond our control make long-term planning and coordination challenging.” Buffalo’s Fire reached out for further details. GON did not respond.

Jennifer Young Bear, a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, is a champion jingle dress dancer and a past GON powwow winner.

She has close ties to Derek Mathews, the powwow organizer, and his family. In 2006, the powwow organizers paid college tuition for her to earn a master’s degree at the University of New Mexico. She also served on the Miss Indian World pageant board from 2006-2010.

Since then, Young Bear moved back to her hometown of New Town, North Dakota, and when asked about the GON announcement she said she does not help run the powwow in Albuquerque. “I don’t have the right to say anything.”

“Whatever they choose to do, whatever reason they have, then I support them because they’ve done it for a lot of years, and they did a good job” she said. “Does everybody 100% agree with everything they’ve done? No, but they did the best they could.”

Gathering of Nations: Legacy and controversy

The two-day event grew from a college-based powwow held in a small gym at the former University of Albuquerque to one of the largest Native American gatherings in the nation in part because they do more than a typical powwow.

Along with featuring competitive drummers, singers and dancers — including jingle, fancy, grass and traditional — the event hosts hundreds of vendors at the Indian Traders’ Market and Indigenous musicians across genres like rock, blues and reggae. The Horse Parade, a competition where horses and riders decked out in regalia celebrate the deep connections between Native American tribes and horses, also draws large crowds.

Since 1984, a new Miss Indian World has been crowned at the powwow every year, barring the 2020 pandemic year. Native women age 18 to 25 from regions across the country share their tribal cultures, traditions and history. The title holder serves as a role model and cultural ambassador representing Native Americans. The Miss Indian World Pageant will end along with the powwow.

On August 16, a post announcing the powwow’s end on Facebook drew comments from powwow participants. Some vendors expressed disappointment as the gathering has been a point of good sales. One vendor who sells beadwork commented that she’s been selling at GON since 1997 and is saddened that next year will be her last.

Still, GON organizers have faced criticism on several issues throughout the decades. Most recently, backlash arose from a speech posted on YouTube where Mathews spoke at the 2024 gathering. At the end of the powwow’s second day, Mathews took the mic and commanded attention by calling on everyone to find a seat. He then thanked the audience for supporting the powwow but then called out people who criticized the event on social media.

Directing his speech toward people spreading negative comments, Mathews repeatedly asked, “What is your problem?” Raising his voice and a handheld mirror, he said, “I know where you can answer that. You know where? Look in the mirror!”

The speech was met with some cheers from the audience and then over half a minute of silence before the emcee thanked Mathews and prepared to announce the powwow winners.

People on social media posted memes mocking the speech, and after GON announced the sunsetting of the powwow, those memes and critiques about the powwow being too commercialized resurfaced.

Others said it’s time for the powwow to end, expressing concerns that the organizer, Derek Mathews, is not Native and that he profits off Indigenous people. A comment on the Fox 10 Phoenix post about the powwow said the prices of the powwow tickets are “extra and outrageous” and called for tribes to host the powwow instead.

Powwow attendees pay $25 per day or $45 for a two-day ticket. In comparison, the 2024 Black Hills Powwow in Rapid City, South Dakota, costs $25 per day or $40 for a three-day pass. Both powwows give away over $200,000 in prizes for dancers and performers.

Greg Olson, is a non-Native organizer of the For the People Powwow in Missouri. He said planning and fundraising for a powwow, especially one as big as the GON, puts a lot of pressure on the organizers.

“As someone who does a powwow, it’s a lot of work,” he said. “It’s something I work on all year.”

Olson, who writes about Midwest Indigenous history when he’s not planning the powwow, said the biggest part of his job is raising money — around $30,000 — to keep the powwow going year after year. The GON costs more than $1 million, according to Albuquerque TV station KOAT Action News 7.

For the People Powwow’s budget goes towards paying for the venue and the honorariums for the emcee, the arena director and others on the powwow committee. The public attends the event for free, but dancers and performers don’t get the chance to win prize money.

“We don’t make a profit,” said Olson. “If the powwow pays for itself, we feel lucky.”

Tax returns from 2012-2014 show Gathering of Nations Limited didn’t make a profit either, instead sustaining a loss all three years. The organization was categorized as a religious organization in 2015 and has since been exempt from disclosing their finances, so it’s unclear whether this is still the case.

This is Olson’s 10th year organizing the For the People Pow Wow. He said he hasn’t received pushback from the Native community in Missouri for running a Native event.

“When you’re doing something like a powwow, at least in our world here,” he said, “it’s about who you know and who trusts you and who you trust.

‘We will always dance’

Young Bear said the Mathews family, who have organized the powwow since its founding 43 years ago, and their staff put more time and effort into the event than people realize.

“If it’s time for them to take a break, you know, retire or relax or do whatever they need to do for themselves,” she said. “I think that’s great.”

Expo New Mexico, the powwow venue, also expressed their support in an official statement, saying they’ve “been fortunate to partner with Gathering for nearly a decade.”

“We congratulate the Mathews family for their dedication and commitment in hosting such a culturally significant event in Albuquerque, and wish them nothing but the best moving forward,” said Expo New Mexico.

In 1983, Derek Mathews, then dean of students and Indian Club adviser at the University of Albuquerque, started a powwow for students to share their cultures. He held it in a small gym at the university, according to a video on the powwow’s website. The next year, it officially took on the name “Gathering of Nations Powwow,” and the first Miss Indian World was crowned.

Year after year, the celebration grew in size, and it was forced to move to larger venues, one being the University of New Mexico basketball arena where it stayed for 30 years. In 2017, it moved to the New Mexico Fair Grounds.

There, it will hold its last powwow on April 24-25, 2026. The theme is “The Last Dance.”

It’s unclear why Mathews hasn’t chosen a successor to continue on this legacy and instead opted to end the powwow entirely, but Olson said powwows that aren’t tribal affiliated, like the GON, tend to be driven by the vision of one person or entity.

“Once that person is gone, it’s really hard to pick it up and for someone else to carry it on,” he said.

The GON Powwow, and all powwow celebrations act as a gathering place for honoring Native culture and history, fostering community and healing. For the 43 years the GON was held, participants and attendees connected through their shared experiences.

Those connections opened up doors for drummers, pageant contestants and dancers, including Young Bear.

“I’m from a small, little reservation in North Dakota,” she said. “After I won the Gathering of Nations, I was asked to be on different dance trips, and I got to travel throughout the world to different places on these dance trips, to perform, to share our culture with other nations.”

Young Bear said the powwow connected her with people and opportunities she otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to in her hometown of New Town, North Dakota. Rather than viewing the ending as a loss, she celebrates the legacy the GON created.

“In our belief system, there is no end,” she said. “As Native people, we will always celebrate. We will always dance.”