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Peshlakai proud to offer visitors<br>a true Native American show<br>

TUSAYAN — The millions of visitors making their way to Grand Canyon National Park each year may not realize the the native peoples who once dominated this area.

At the Grand Hotel in Tusayan, visitors will find a true Native Am-erican experience. That’s because traditional teacher, artist and medicine man James Peshlakai can be found there as an authentic entertainment option.

One of James Peshlakai’s greatest joys about his job at the Grand Hotel is working with the children, as seen here during one of his evening performances.

“In here, what we try to do is share all kinds of information with our guests,” Peshlakai said. “When we first came here, we were just entertainers, but as we went along, we found out we were not just entertainers, but providing information.”

Peshlakai is able to bridge the cultural gaps found around the world with his knowledge. He has dedicated his life to the preservation of the Navajo culture.

Along with his wife Mae and many other Native Americans of various tribes, the Grand Hotel hosts a workshop each evening from 6-7 p.m. In the adjoining Canyon Star Restaurant, Peshlakai and the Native American dancers perform twice a night. Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

“One of the great things about the owners (Mike Finney and Tom Mace), they’re some of the first businesspeople to give local Native Americans the opportunity to express themselves and to see what tourism is all about. It opened up a lot of opportunities for us,” Peshlakai said.

Peshlakai found the experience at the Grand Hotel to be educational for him also. Working with other tribes and meeting people from around the world are just a few of the reasons he says, “I love my job.”

The show, which is called “The Native American Experience,” can be different from night to night. A variety of dances are performed, including the Swan Dance, Hoop Dance, Weaver Dance, Eagle Dance, Butterfly Dance, Buffalo Dance, Feather Dance, Two-step and skip Dance and the Round Dance.

Peshlakai is a highly-respected member of the Grand Canyon community and often appears in a ceremonial capacity.

Born on the western part of the Navajo reservation, Peshlakai comes from a prestigious family. His father, uncles and grandfathers were all medicine men and his paternal grandfather was a respected leader of the Western Navajo and twice spoke with President Theodore Roosevelt on behalf of the Navajo. Peshlakai has continued this tradition, dedicating his life to the preservation of Navajo culture. He has spoken on the Navajo way at institutions across the country, runs cultural immersion programs for visitors on the Navajo reservation and has been cultural instructor in the Navajo Community College system.

Peshlakai has also worked with many tribal, state and federal agencies, including having served as an officer of the Cameron chapter of the Navajo Nation.

In addition to those experiences, Peshlakai also worked to settle boundary and land disputes with the U.S. Forest Service and Grand Canyon National Park.

He organized the Navajo Nation Summer Day Camp, started a food cooperative in Arizona, was a caseworker for the Arizona State Welfare program and was a teacher in Navajo Head Start.

Peshlakai’s other past interests have been as a police officer for the Navajo Police Department and publisher-editor of the Tuba City Voice, the first newspaper in the Western Navajo area.

Tony Hillerman, a celebrated author of mysteries set on the Navajo reservation, honored Peshlakai not only by writing about him as a cameo character in a recent novel but also remarking that “James Peshlakai is, in his own quiet way, a very important figure among the Navajo people. Better than almost anyone I know of his generation, he knows and understands the Navajo religion and its culture.

“Because he mixes his traditional knowledge with a sophisticated understanding of the society which surrounds the reservation which intrudes into it, I think he’s going to be important in the work that’s going to be involved in preserving the richness of the Navajo way.”


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