Performance at the Couture Noir Fashion Show
Photos courtesy of Tomahawk Tassels
Performing with Cadillac Kolstad and the Flats
Last two photos by Tyler Ryan Miller
Well almost a month ago I wrote about Tomahawk Tassels, "The Cherokee Seductress", who is a burlesque dancer who incorporates Native American heritage in her performances. At that time I wasn't sure if she was part Native as she hadn't replied to my inquiry. Well guess what? Yes she got back to me and yes she is in fact Native (much to everyone's relief)!
She is Cherokee and Irish, with her estranged father having Cherokee blood. "Growing up in Oklahoma, I have been exposed to Native American history and culture since I was very young," she says. "I realize how I took it for granted, and only now am able to fully internalize and express that history. Part of my personal journey is to research my roots and ancestral history. Burlesque performance has been the perfect medium for this."
She uses her performances "to remind others of our rich American Indian history while also making a satirical social commentary on stereotypes, specifically from the 1950's." This is an endeavour I find interesting, since I have a fascination with both 50s stereotypes and the kitsch that evolved from that propaganda movement.
On her drive back home to Minneapolis (no New Orleans after all) after her feature performance at New Orleans Burlesque Festival she was moved by her driving path as she realized it crossed the Trail of Tears and the Red Road. Out of this inspiration came a new performance to commemorate the suffering of Cherokee people's forced removal during the Trail of Tears. It took place for the Couture Noir Fashion Show as a part of the Minnesota Fashion Week.
On her drive back home to Minneapolis (no New Orleans after all) after her feature performance at New Orleans Burlesque Festival she was moved by her driving path as she realized it crossed the Trail of Tears and the Red Road. Out of this inspiration came a new performance to commemorate the suffering of Cherokee people's forced removal during the Trail of Tears. It took place for the Couture Noir Fashion Show as a part of the Minnesota Fashion Week.
"While I have many signature Native American acts, they are mostly cheeky and comedic. This particular piece was one of my most moving and emotionally intense acts to date," she says.
You can catch her weekly show at the oldest bar in Minneapolis (Palmer's Bar) with Cadillac Kolstad and Cornbread Harris or enlist in one of her burlesque classes if you happen to live near the twin cities. As for the rest of us, we will have to wait for new videos to be uploaded to YouTube.
See related posts:
Tomahawk Tassels
Burlesque Baby
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Looks like a really cool performance!
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty awful and not cool at all. It's kind of hard to make a "satirical social commentary on stereotypes" when most of the people watching probably have no idea that what they are watching IS a stereotype. But that's just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me? She is yet another person claiming Cherokee heritage in an attempt to legitimize her appropriation of Indigenous culture. Doing her "Indian" performance is what sets her apart and she's exploiting my culture to do so. Makes me sick to my stomach the way she tries to justify and legitimize the perpetuation of Indian stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with some of the posts. On one part, I can see her cheeky and satirical humour in her performances, but on the other I cringe, because I don't think the people in the crowd understand.
ReplyDeleteI suggest not going to see Cadillac and Tomahawk, as I've met both of them in many social situations, and I believe them to be nasty people. I think INTENTION is everything, and Tomahawk's intention is to get famous by exploiting and making a mockery of her part Cherokee blood. And no, I don't think that the Trail of Tears inspired her to take her clothes off.
ReplyDeleteCadillac often performs with an old Jazz musician known as Cornbread. Cornbread is honorable, and worth watching.
Saying you are part-Cherokee is different than being Cherokee. (Seriously, who doesn't claim to be a "little Cherokee" these days?). It's just a prop or a shtick anyway. But ironically, she seems to think that her act is somehow internalizing and expressing her supposed heritage and Cherokee history. Kind of like an African American playing the part of the plantation "Mulatto Temptress" to reconnect with her Black "heritage."
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to decide my feelings on this...
ReplyDeletePersonally I am a burlesque performer AND Mohawk/Scottish. But I would never feel comfortable about doing an "Indian" themed number.
After hundreds of years of our women being sexualized as buckskin-bikini-clad squaws I don't feel that perpetuating this stereotype is in anyway fighting it. It's like the girls who dress up as "Pocahontas" for Halloween. They don't understand the true history - only the Hollywood created image of our people.
As an artist there is such a thing as creative freedom but when you cross lines into sensitive areas, you cannot be surprised by the backlash.
There is a lot of backlash toward Tomahawk Tassels. My stance remains the same, I think that she is having fun, doing burlesque which is clearly a cheeky performance. That is inherent. I am part Cherokee as well, and, just like her, don't have a lot of connection to that. Does that mean I can't claim it or I should disown it? I vote no. But, of course, that is all IMHO.
ReplyDeleteI am irish/scottish-Cherokee(Oconaluftee), with the family tree and registration numbers to prove it. I spent a great deal of time and have close kinship ties to the Ojibwe/Leech Lake Reservation and was blessed to be exposed to and take part in many of their traditions. My mother is a native american studies major. My Fiance is Miniconjou-Lakota and Creek, full blood.
ReplyDeleteI walk a fine line with this issue as I perform in the same city she does. I am an artist and burlesque performer, so it is important to me to support the community and to allow others the same artistic freedom I would like, down with censorship, open your mind blah blah blah...
Long and short of it is that I think shes full of it and that her entire act is racist. I am offended by it, and it supports,exploits and REENFORCES the "Native Princess" and "Indian Squaw" stereo types. All I can say is that I would love to see her perform that act in the middle of Little Earth in Minneapolis and see how the native women who live there would feel about her exploration of her "roots".
Would it be "cheeky" if I (a white woman who may or may not have some african/american heritage) did a number in black face, as long as I'm in my underwear? Or would it just be plain offensive?
ReplyDeleteYes, Tomahawk Tassels is a racist. Whatever she thinks she's doing in her little mind is irrelevant compared to what's on display.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, she's doing the same thing as minstrel performers in blackface from previous eras. They weren't commenting "ironically" on their racist stereotypes and neither is she.
Good Christ. If I got gussied up in a sexy version of Norwegian wool and did a strip tease while eating seven-layer bars and saying "Uff Dah", not a single person wouldn't laugh.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it hard to be offended all the time? Can't you extricate the ugly things that have happened to Native American culture and allow someone to have fun with it?
This isn't like Jar Jar Binks, or the minstrel show controversy. It has nothing in common with it. It's a girl having fun with her culture. Good for her. Shame on you for not having a sense of humour.
No, it's completely racist. I know this girl personally, and I can say she's clueless on her alleged "cultural identity". Her concept of "What is it to be and American Indian" is directly from Hollywood and it's shameful that she dresses in "stereotypical Native American costuming" outside of burlesque as well, pretty much anything that screams "sexy Pocahontas". Other social instances have involved her playing a wooden recorder and claiming she's "rain dancing" and smoking from her sacred peace pipe that "her people have made for her". Both of these items can be purchased at your local mall kiosk, any Midwestern state fair, or at any Midwestern rural gas station. When talking with her about how her behavior affects many other Native people, she said she doesn't see how it could promote oppression because she's "bringing honor" to her "heritage".
ReplyDelete