Spud-tacular dancers display moves at First Americans Museum's Valentine's weekend event

There's more to a potato than taste, especially when the spud is an important part of a dance routine.

Eight duos vied for a mash-up of bragging rights and a spectacular prize at the Potato Dancing World Championships on Saturday at the First Americans Museum.

Ace Greenwood, the museum's cultural ambassador who is Chickasaw and Cherokee, said the potato dance is often a crowd favorite at events in Indian Country, particularly benefit powwows. The competition requires two people to dance together while holding a potato between their foreheads.

This requirement lends itself to up close and personal dancing and Greenwood said it was fitting to host the championship event a few days before Valentine's Day.

The eventual world champions, James and Jamie Yellowfish, wore matching sky blue clothing as they held a potato between their foreheads while moving together to the drum beat. They never let the potato drop — the most important rule of the dancing event.

Greenwood encouraged the Oklahoma City couple and other pairs as they moved across the dance space, each team dancing one at a time.

"Can you feel the love? That's why this dance is perfect for this time of year," he told a crowd.

Held in the museum's expansive Hall of the People, the light-hearted competition drew the Yellowfishes and seven other teams willing to display their potato-dancing skills to the tunes of DJ Nymasis, who is Kiowa, and the Thunder Boy Singers, a Native American Northern-style powwow drum group representing many tribal nations. An enthusiastic crowd of visitors watched the dancers, often applauding and laughing when a couple was forced to make some emergency movements to keep their spud from falling.

Judges included celebrities Lil Mike and Funny Bone, Native American rappers who have appeared in the Oklahoma-set FX cable television show "Reservation Dogs." They judged the potato-dancing pairs on the position of the potato at the end of the song, hand position, how well they stayed on beat with the music and showmanship.

As the winners, the Yellowfishes received a $250 gift certificate to the museum store. James Yellowfish, who is Comanche, Otoe-Missouria and Pawnee, said they didn't practice coordinating their dance moves with one another but they did win a potato-dancing competition at a Norman powwow.

He said he and his wife, who is Arapaho, participate because the competition is just plain fun.

"We just like being around our music. It's our culture," he said.

If they don't practice, how have they managed to win not once but twice?

James Yellowfish shrugged.

"Luck of the potato," he said, grinning.

Other dancers shared similar comments.

Jack Tiger and Isabella Cornell drove from Pawhuska to show off their potato-dancing moves. The two managed to get through most of a song before their potato fell.

"I just thought it was a really good opportunity to come out and do social dancing and see everyone at the same time," said Cornell, who is Choctaw.

Participants Brandi and Sarah Thompson, of Oklahoma City, said they brought friends visiting from out of state to the museum and thought the contest seemed fun.

"It was actually really challenging, but it was fun," Brandi Thompson said.

Organizers said the potato dance isn't a traditional Native American dance but it is popular at many powwows, sometime as part of a contest or for entertainment.

Adrienne Lalli Hills, the museum's director of learning and community engagement, said it was the museum's first effort to host the event and she initially was not sure how many teams would participate or how many people would watch the unique competition. She said it gave the museum an opportunity to bring the Native American community together while providing an opportunity for non-Native Americans to experience Native American traditions.

Afterward, Hills, who is a member of the Wyandotte Nation, said she was pleased with the turnout.

"We had eight teams and we certainly had several hundred people here," she said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Spud-tacular dancers display coordination at First Americans Museum