‘He’d be very pleased’: Round dance to revive Allen Sapp’s joy for sharing Cree traditions

The Allen Sapp Gallery is hosting a memorial round dance on Friday, Oct. 17, at the Don Ross Centre Gym, reviving a tradition that celebrates both the artist’s life and the community he loved. A feast begins at 2 p.m., followed by the round dance from 6 p.m. to midnight.

“It’s a privilege to be able to carry on with something that Allen would have found so much joy in,” said Garven.

Organizing the event alongside elders and community members, she added, has been “an honor” and a reminder of the connections Sapp created through art and ceremony.

Allen Sapp is remembered as a world-renowned painter and a man of fashion. He let his hair grow long, plaiting it into neat long braids daily. He would top his outfit with a stylish cowboy hat. (A photo submitted to 650 CKOM)

The gallery last hosted four memorial round dances between 2016 and 2019, following Sapp’s death in December 2015 — a four-year custom rooted in Cree tradition.

After a six-year pause, Garven said the idea to bring it back came directly from the elders who continue to guide the gallery’s work.

“When I asked what kind of programming they’d like to see, they unanimously said a round dance,” she said. “That’s what they wanted to see us do.”

For Sapp, who grew up on Red Pheasant Cree Nation, the round dance was more than a ceremony; it was a joyful expression of kinship that appeared often in his paintings and in his daily life.

Garven said he “really, really enjoyed sharing his culture with others” and would beam whenever the rhythm began.

“I think he’d be very, very pleased with this [round dance],” she said.

The round dance itself, Garven explained, is both social and spiritual. It’s a moment where generations come together to sing, dance and remember those who came before.

“It’s a time for prayer,” she said.

One of Sapp’s largest paintings, The Round Dance (1987), adorns this year’s event poster — an image Garven remembers hanging with him during the deep winters of years past.

“He would get very connected to that painting and be very lively because he enjoyed his own memories looking at it,” she said.

“He just was always so happy whenever I saw him, and he was happiest when he would sing and drum.”

The poster. (North Battleford Galleries/Facebook)

Before the dance begins, the community will gather for a traditional feast — a spiritual meal prepared by local hands. Everyone is welcome to attend, she said, whether they come to dance, to listen, or simply to feel the heartbeat of the drum that Sapp so loved.

“It would be nice to be able to make this an annual event,” Garven said.

“Come out and enjoy your time with each other and your friends, and just remember Allen Sapp and all that he did to share the culture with people all around the world.”

The feast runs from 2 to 4 p.m., followed by the round dance from 6 p.m. to midnight at the Don Ross Centre Gym. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.

(North Battleford Galleries/Facebook)

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung

‘He’d be very pleased’: Round dance to revive Allen Sapp’s joy for sharing Cree traditions

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