Christian Parrish Takes The Gun, known as his performance name Supaman, performed at the Seeley Lake Elementary School on Friday March 15.
Dressed in traditional regalia with a sound mixer, projector and speakers set up in the Seeley Lake Elementary School gymnasium, Christian Parrish Takes The Gun said good morning to his audience.
"Are you happy?" Parrish Takes The Gun, a member of the Apsáalooke tribe, asked.
"Yeah!" the Seeley Elementary students replied.
"Turn to your neighbor, shake their hand, and say I'm glad you're happy," Parrish Takes The Gun said.
A moderately muffled but in-tandem response floated through the gymnasium.
"Turn to your other neighbor, on the other side, give them a high-five and say, I'm glad you're alive, son!" Parrish Takes The Gun said.
Parrish Takes The Gun - known as his performance name, Supaman - traveled to the Seeley-Swan Valley from Billings to perform at four schools, Seeley Lake Elementary and High Schools, Potomac School and Swan Valley School. Through Native American dance, hip hop music and comedy, Parrish Takes The Gun has shared messages of positivity and Indigenous culture in schools, at the Video Music Awards, the Google headquarters and has been asked to audition for America's Got Talent and the Broadway musical, Hamilton.
2 Valleys Stage, a program of Alpine Artisans - which promotes art and arts education in the Seeley, Swan and Blackfoot Valleys - was able to secure Parrish Takes The Gun for its 2023/2024 season. Each year, 2 Valleys brings in five performing artists to the local schools and offers a community concert with each artist.
Seeley Lake Elementary School Superintendent Josh Gibbs saw Supaman perform when he was the superintendent in Winnett, Montana. Gibbs said the performance had a positive impact on the three small schools that brought Supaman in, and when his name was floated as a possibility for 2 Valleys Stage's season, he pushed for him to come to the Seeley-Swan area.
During the elementary school performance on Friday March 15, Parrish Takes The Gun brought up his experience with the foster care system and his parents' alcoholism. He described it as a cycle that can be really difficult to break.
"Those types of issues are across our state and our country so I think for some, it hit a little bit more at home," Gibbs said.
According to the state Legislative Audit Division, Montana has the second highest rate of children in foster care at 16 kids per 1,000 in the most recent reporting. Montana saw the highest rate of growth of kids in foster care in the country between 2010 and 2019.
Parrish Takes The Gun lost his father to alcoholism, but watched his mother break the cycle. He told the elementary students he has never had a drop of alcohol because he doesn't want to go through a bunch of detours in his life.
Then, he told the audience how someone from the Black Eyed Peas got in touch with him, which started the trajectory of him winning a VMA in 2017.
Parrish Takes The Gun showed a video put together from the night he went to California to accept the award. Students got wide-eyed and mouthed seeing celebrities like Nicki Minaj and Vanessa Hudgens in the same shots as Supaman. On stage, members from more than a half dozen Indigenous tribes stood on stage with Parrish Takes The Gun to accept the award for "Best Fight Against the System."
With a practiced combination of silliness and seriousness, Parrish Takes The Gun taught students that the Apsáalooke language is more than a thousand years old and that he only represents one of 566 recognized Indigenous tribes, each with different dances, customs and spirituality. The beadwork and feathers he wore are not a costume, he said, but a part of his identity and culture. And, he said when you dance, you're dancing for people who might not be able to dance.
The dances Parrish Takes The Gun performed were a mixture of different styles - some bboying, popping and locking, hip hop and traditional Indigenous dances from the Ponca people of Oklahoma - which he described as an adopted style of powwow culture.
"The values that I was taught about this dance and this powwow culture ... when you come out to the circle to dance, that's a good day," Parrish Takes The Gun said. "You don't come out here just to look all cool ... That's not the reason why we dance. When we come up to the circle to dance, it's for the people who are in the crowd."
At the end of the performance, Parrish Takes The Gun invited all the teachers forward to give them the gift of dance. These are some of the most influential people we have in our society, Parrish Takes The Gun said.
"When you're dancing, you're in the moment," Parrish Takes The Gun said, and for the 20 or 30 seconds each educator busted a move, they sure were.
Supaman will perform again in Missoula at the Washington Middle School Gymnasium at 6 p.m. on March 25.
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