The courthouse where Ernest Burkhart was tried still looms over
Pawhuska. Credit 69The auditorium was crowded, and I found my seat as the lights
dimmed and the film began. An opening statement read, “In early
missionary journals Osages were often described as being ‘the
happiest people in the world.’...They had a sense of freedom
because they didn’t own anything and nothing owned them. But
the Osage Nation was in the way of the economic drive of the
European world...and life as they once knew it would never be the
same.” The statement continued, “Today our hearts are divided
between two worlds. We are strong and courageous, learning to
walk in these two worlds, hanging on to the threads of our culture
and traditions as we live in a predominantly non-Indian society.
Our history, our culture, our heart, and our home will always be
stretching our legs across the plains, singing songs in the morning
light, and placing our feet down with the ever beating heart of the
drum. We walk in two worlds.”
The ballet powerfully evoked these two colliding worlds. It
showed the Osage from the time they roamed the plains to their
first encounter with European explorers and missionaries, and to
the black-gold rush. At one point, the dancers appeared dressed as
flappers, twirling wildly to jazzy music. Suddenly, they were