ALBUQUERQUE—For Kimberly Greene of the Oneida Six Nations, the Final Gathering of Nations powwow represented two things at once: a debut experience and a final performance.
“It’s my first and my last dance. I just wanted to come and experience it—I’m excited to be here,” said Greene, whose family traces its roots to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in New York.
Greene has taken part in intertribal gatherings since 1993, dancing in traditional regalia and building a lifelong connection to cultural practice and identity through powwow participation.
Even as the event marked a final chapter in Albuquerque, she described it less as an ending and more as a continuation in another form….