Performance Programs Accompany Autry Museum Indian Exhibit

When Geraldine Keams, a Navajo, talks to school groups about American Indian culture, the students are sometimes surprised to see her in jeans and tennis shoes.

“As wonderful as the audiences are, they are often misinformed,” said Keams, who is chairman of the Hollywood-based American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts. “They tend to get their ideas from the media, mostly television Westerns.

“They think all Indians live in tepees and wear feathers. I’ve had people ask me what I eat for breakfast and when they let me off the reservation. It’s quite humorous, but when you look deep into why they ask the questions, it’s quite sad.”

In an attempt to correct such misconceptions and showcase American Indian talent, the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, in conjunction with the Southwest Museum, is presenting three weekends of performance programs dealing with American Indians. Keams will be among the participants.

“This is our first major native American program,” said James H. Nottage, curator of the year-old museum in Griffith Park. “The Indian culture is a lively and often vibrant part of American life. These are just a few examples.”

Nottage said Los Angeles has “probably the largest urban American Indian population in the world.” The American Industry Registry estimates that 80,000 American Indians live in the greater Los Angeles area.

The museum’s programs will spotlight American Indian songs, dance and storytelling, as well as Hollywood’s depiction of Indians.

The performance programs will include:

* Jan. 13 at 1 and 2 p.m.: Alvino Siva, a Cahuilla Indian from Banning, will perform ancient spirit songs with elders from his tribe. The singers use gourd rattles to provide rhythmic accompaniment. Some of the Cahuilla songs are so old that even the singers cannot translate them precisely, said Mary Ann Ruelas, an educational program specialist at the museum.

* Jan. 13 and 14 at 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.: Members of the Dalasohya family of Anaheim will perform a Hopi eagle dance in traditional attire. There is no additional charge to view the Cahuilla and Hopi programs after regular museum admission. The fee for non-members is $4.75 for adults, $3.50 for seniors and students and $2 for ages 2 to 12.

* Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.: An ensemble called Mystic Voices will present American Indian animal stories through humor, song, dance and movement. The group includes professional actors. “They’ve taken Indian legends and animal stories and have created theater pieces out of them,” Keams said.

Mystic Voices will perform in the 222-seat museum theater. Admission is $3 for museum members and children, 12 and younger. Non-member adult admission is $5.

* Jan. 20 and 21: Activities will move to the Southwest Museum, 234 Museum Drive, Highland Park. The museum’s annual Native American Film Festival will focus on the ceremonialism, shamanism and spirituality of American Indian tribes.

The films will include “Dream Dances of the Kashea Pomo,” “Crooked Beak of Heaven,” “The Sun Dagger,” “Hupa Indian Deerskin Dance” and “Longhouse People.” The screening schedule can be obtained by calling the Southwest Museum, (213) 221-2164.

* The series concludes the following weekend at the Autry museum. At noon on Saturday, Jan. 27, several American Indian actors, including Keams, will discuss the images of Indians in films and television. A museum exhibit points out that most Westerns were written and directed by white, middle-class men and reflect their point of view.

“We’re not saying the Western was no good,” Keams said. “We’re saying the format and the stereotypes need to be understood.”

The Jan. 27 program will include a showing of the film “Windwalker” in the museum’s theater. Admission is $3 for members, $4 for non-members. On Sunday, Jan. 28, the museum will screen “Broken Arrow” at 1 p.m. Admission is free to members, $3 for non-members.

These performance programs run concurrent with a temporary Autry exhibit of American Indian artifacts. “Native Americans: Five Centuries of Changing Images,” on view through March 1, was inspired by a new book of the same name co-written by Patricia Trenton, art curator at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

The exhibit includes a bear-claw necklace, headdresses and rattles. It also features numerous paintings of Indians, sometimes depicted as noble warriors in colorful attire, sometimes as fierce savages who abduct white women. Most of the paintings were done by white artists, and Trenton said she wanted to call her book “The White Man’s Indian.” She said her publisher rejected that title as too controversial.

“That’s the Indian we’re seeing,” she said of the paintings. “It’s not the Indian looking at his own people. It’s the white man looking at the Indians. It’s the way he perceived the Indians and what kind of comments he wished to make or how idealized he wanted the situation to be.”

The perspective issue is addressed in information cards next to the paintings, and Trenton believes the exhibit will enlighten museum visitors.

“I hope they’ll be moved by the experience,” she said, “that they’ll reflect about America’s natives and possibly reconsider our role in relation to the Indians.”