Steven Tamayo - Lakota Dance Regalia

Master: Steven Tamayo, Rosebud
Apprentices: Sonny Gray Grass, Rosebud
Leslie Chekpa, Parmelee
Art Form: Lakota dance regalia

Steve Tamayo is a member of the Rosebud Tribe, but was raised on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska. When he moved to Mission several years ago he started attending Sinte Gleske University to learn Lakota, and when the staff there learned of his regalia-making skills he was soon recruited to teach craft classes. For this apprenticeship Steve worked with Sonny Gray Grass and Leslie Chekpa to make full dance regalia outfits. Sonny’s included a shirt and aprons, a feather bustle, a head roach, beaded moccasins, angora leggings, a shield, arm and leg bands, a fan, and a coup stick. Leslie’s regalia consisted of a dress, breastplate, beaded moccasins and leggings, a purse, a fan with a parfleche case, a shawl, and a belt with a beaded a strike-a-light bag, knife sheath and awl case.

Beaded moccasins and belt with strike-a-light bag and knife sheath made by Leslie Chekpa as part of her dance regalia.

A dance fan and its parfleche case, made by Leslie Chekpa during her apprenticeship.

Sonny Gray Grass with the bustle he made while working with Steve Tamayo.

Steve Tamayo wraps a head roach around a baseball bat to keep it smooth and undamaged while in storage.