A new documentary called “Without Arrows” is premiering on PBS in the United States this week that highlights a Lakota man who returns home from the big city.
After 13 years living in Philadelphia, Penn., U.S.A., Delwin Fiddler Jr., a champion grass dancer, embraces his Indigenous culture by returning to his ancestral home on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.
Fiddler is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Sans Arc band, and a world-renowned Native American performing artist. His accolades include performing for two U.S. presidents and the Royal Family in England.
CHAMPION DANCER
As a teenager, Fiddler was a champion Grass and Hoop dancer on the pow-wow circuit. His traditional Grass Dance is displayed in a continual loop at the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.
Leaving his big city life behind, Fiddler aims to protect his centuries-old Lakota heritage and heal from family tragedy, through his passion for dance.
Fiddler created the non-profit PAZA Tree of Life to fulfill his mother’s dream of returning the people to the roots of their culture. PAZA’s goal is to promote cultural awareness with cultural exchange so that all people might learn the medicine ways of his ancestors who have walked the earth for thousands of years. He believes that through empowerment and reconciliation, healing can occur.
Like his ancestor, Crazy Horse, Fiddler sees the future with all people working together in harmony for the greater good of humankind.
“Without Arrows” is co-directed and co-produced by Jonathan Olshefski and Elizabeth Day.
Check out the trailer below.
