Editors’ note: Theo Wright’s pronouns are he/they, and per Underscore and ICT’s style guides, Theo is referred to both he/they interchangeably throughout the story.

Nika Bartoo-Smith
Underscore Native News + ICT

PORTLAND, Oregon — After adding the finishing touches of their makeup, little blue stars falling down their cheeks, Theo Wright gently pulled their jingle dress over their head, adjusting it into place with the soft tinkle of jingle cones ringing in the air.

Theo smiled before joining his dad as the pair helped add the final pieces of each other’s regalia before grand entry at the Native American Youth and Family Center‘s 14th Annual Neerchokikoo Powwow in Portland.

Starting the day in a jingle dress made from hand by his father, Theo ended the night in grass dance regalia, also made by his dad.

Theo Wright, Klamath and Oglala Lakota, smiles as their partner helps them get ready during NAYA’s annual Neerchokikoo powwow on September 14, 2026, where they held the title of head Two-Spirit dancer. (Nika Bartoo-Smith/Underscore Native News + ICT)

“There’s not a lot of places where I can openly dance both jingle and grass, and so when I was asked to be a Two-Spirit head dancer, I was, like, immediately yes,” Theo, 22, said.

Theo, Klamath and Oglala Lakota, is Two-Spirit, nonbinary and trans masculine. They define their queerness in powwow terms.

“Being able to be a Two-Spirit head dancer is not having to choose between being queer and Native, and being not only allowed but encouraged to be both,” they said.

Now in its 14th year, the center powwow first introduced a Two-Spirit head dancer title to join men’s and women’s head dancers in 2023.

At most powwows across the country today, jingle dancers are expected to be women and grass dancers are expected to be men. However, there has been a push to create more spaces of queer joy and a disruption to gender norms at powwows.

“There were a lot of powwows that were starting to have the Two-Spirit flag and say ‘everyone is welcome here and these are safe spaces,’ and we were inspired by that,” said Tamara Henderson, Laguna Pueblo, chief operating officer and powwow organizer at the center.

Dancers stand behind the color guard during the first grand entry during NAYA’s annual Neerchokikoo powwow on September 14, 2026. (Nika Bartoo-Smith/Underscore Native News + ICT)

“And frankly, some powwows will have Two-Spirit dancers [and] Two-Spirit powwows, and so I said if we’re truly trying to create a safe space for our community, then what we really have to do is have our own Two-Spirit head dancer and keep it consistent,” she continued.

This year, accessibility and belonging are central themes of the Neerchokikoo Powwow. Along with continuing to host a Two-Spirit head dancer, NAYA staff and community also celebrated an elevator on campus that opened in February 2026.

The elevator, years in the making, has been a priority for the NAYA community in order to expand building access for elders and people with disabilities.

“Accessibility and belonging are both really, really important,” Henderson said. “They’re really important to us to make sure that our community always feels like they can be safe here and knows that they have a home away from home.”

Hearing about the elevator for the first time at this year’s powwow, both Theo and his dad perked up with excitement.

“It’s really awesome because both the kid and I are disabled,” Asa Wright, Theo’s dad, said.

Following in his father’s footsteps

Last year, Asa held the title of head Two-Spirit dancer at the Neerchokikoo powwow. This year, he is a proud father, watching Theo follow in his footsteps.

“I’m really honored that I was able to be the Two-Spirit head dancer last year, and then now my kid was able to do it this year,” Asa said, after finishing up braiding Theo’s hair to help them get ready to dance. “It feels really awesome, and just really cool that they’ve grown up in a different world than I have and got to express themselves freely.”

From left, Theo Wright, Klamath and Oglala Lakota, helps his dad, Asa Wright, Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin, finishing putting on his grass dance regalia. This year, Theo was the head Two-Spirit dancer at NAYA’s annual Neerchokikoo powwow on September 14, 2026. Last year, Asa was head Two-Spirit dancer at the powwow. (Nika Bartoo-Smith/Underscore Native News + ICT)

“They just make me super proud,” the 46-year-old continued.

Asa, Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin, is Two-Spirit and trans masculine. He is also the founder of Portland Two Spirit Society.

“I think it’s interesting how we look at historical roles of Two-Spirit people, and then contemporary Two-Spirit people, and we end up finding the roles that reflect what we’ve had historically, without even knowing that,” Asa said. “It’s who Creator made us to be to fill those roles.”

Asa grew up dancing in a powwow family.

At 17, Asa began school at Portland State University and also started dancing grass. He remembers getting threats from other male dancers. For a while, he was scared to put on his regalia.

“As a 17-year-old who started at PSU, I could have never imagined being a Two-Spirit dancer or seeing another Two-Spirit dancer,” Asa said.

Asa Wright, Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin, finishes putting on his regalia to dance grass style during NAYA’s annual Neerchokikoo powwow on September 14, 2026. Last year, he held the title of head Two-Spirit dancer. This year, his child is the head Two-Spirit dancer. (Nika Bartoo-Smith/Underscore Native News + ICT)

But he continued to dance grass anyway, following his heart and the movement of his footsteps. As a father, Asa has raised a child who knows they can dance whichever style they choose, be whoever they are and know they will be loved unconditionally.

“I’m so glad that we’ve come so far that my kiddo doesn’t have to think about that [fear],” Asa said. “Their whole dancing experience for their 22 years has just been positive. It’s just been joy-based, and I’ve really tried to shelter them from any kind of hate or negative talk.”

Though Asa continues to dance himself, it has gotten harder as he has aged. Asa has a disability, along with bad knees, and is a survivor of kidney cancer.

Even though dancing is hard on his body and requires more breaks, he continues and finds healing through grass dancing. The time may come when he may not be able to dance anymore, but Asa’s eyes fill with pride as he thinks about his child following in his footsteps.

Theo Wright in grass regalia. (Photo credit to James Colhoff, Jr., Dodge and Burn Studios, dodgeandburnstudios.com)

“It’s cool that Theo has adopted grass dance now for himself and I get to live that through watching him dance now,” Asa said.

In 2023, Theo first danced grass during a switch dance special at the University of Washington annual spring powwow. His dad asked if he wanted to use his regalia, and Theo remembers as soon as he slipped it over his head, he realized how good it felt to wear grass dance regalia. Following that first time dancing grass, Asa made Theo his own regalia.

For Theo, when he first came out as trans, he worried it meant he would no longer be able to dance jingle, which he had done his whole life. But, instead, Theo has found spaces, like the Neerchokikoo powwow, where they can dance as fully themself, embracing two different forms of dance.

“It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” Theo said. “I don’t have to be a jingle dancer or a grass dancer. I can be a jingle and grass dancer because no one looks twice at you if you’re a fancy shawl and jingle dancer or if you’re a traditional bustle and grass dancer. But they’ll be confused if you’re a jingle and a grass dancer because those aren’t supposed to go together. Both of those styles live in my feet and in my body, and that’s not something that can be taken away by anyone.”

As Theo dances this year, they reflected on watching their dad hold the role of head Two-Spirit dancer at last year’s powwow — and what it means to be part of an intergenerationally Two-Spirit family.

He looks up to the work his dad has done in the community: creating space and conversations for Two-Spirit people across the Portland Metro area and beyond.

“I think he’s really a trailblazer for a lot of that,” Theo said. “It’s been really cool to acknowledge all of the work that he’s done and then be like, okay, what can we do next?”

This story is co-published by Underscore Native News and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.

The post Intergenerational Two-Spirit head dancers find joy in expressing themselves freely appeared first on ICT.

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