Even as “Reservation Dogs” and “Dark Winds” have brought Native American stories to television, Indigenous films have remained scarce. But Erica Tremblay, who is a member of the Seneca Cayuga Nation, always wanted to be a feature film director, whether she was working in strip clubs or producing corporate content videos, directing documentaries, or working as a writer and story editor.

“This was always the dream,” says Tremblay, about her first film, “Fancy Dance,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is now getting a theatrical release on June 21 and will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on June 28. “All those experiences gave me the skills I needed to make this movie.”

“Fancy Dance” stars Lily Gladstone in her first film since “Killers of the Flower Moon” as Jax, who is desperately searching for her missing sister, Tawi. Complicated and quick to anger, Jax is not only caring for her teen niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) but she’s using her as an accomplice for various crimes. Jax’s family dynamics are equally complicated: her half-brother JJ (Ryan Begy) is with the tribal police; her White father, Frank (Shea Whigham) left the reservation years ago after Jax’s mother died and remarried a White woman, Nancy (Audrey Wasilewski), who has a savior complex.  

It’s a quiet movie packed with emotions, a character study with thriller elements and an unflinching look at modern life on the reservation. “We deserve characters that are complicated and represent the full breadth of humanity,” says Tremblay. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Does the presence of more Native stories like “Reservation Dogs” free you up to tell different types of stories? 

Native representation used to be either the violent warrior in a period piece or a model minority, the most perfect version of what a Native American is. But now we can have these nuanced characters. I have so many women like Jax in my life who are holding on to control where they can and doing the best to get by and provide safety to the best of their abilities. Jax will do whatever it takes, and sometimes she’s making decisions that you don’t agree with, but her intentions are coming from a place of love. 

But we wanted to give that same treatment to Frank — he isn’t an evil White man. He is trying his best in a world pitting two cultures against each other because of these colonial ways. Frank is a nuanced character who loves his children, but can’t quite show up for them the way they need him to.

Q: But Nancy is more rigid and undermines Frank’s efforts.

She still thinks she is doing the right thing. One of my favorite scenes is when Nancy gives Roki her old ballet slippers to make up for the fact that they are not taking Roki to dance at the powwow. She thinks she’s going to bond with this child over their love of dance, but Roki says, ‘You don’t understand. This isn’t about learning steps; this is a ceremonial community cultural gathering that cannot be replaced.’

Nancy has the opportunity to reach across and make a bridge to this child and say, ‘OK, Let’s go to the powwow this weekend. It’s just a couple of hours drive.’ But she’s terrified that if the child stays connected to her culture then they won’t be able to bond. 

I’m not saying that Nancy is evil, but even in my own experiences with non-native family members, I find that this fear that’s so rooted in White supremacy, which comes from a place of insecurity. How much better would it be if more bridges were built as opposed to people saying, ‘I don’t understand this and so I’m going to be rigid and just take control.’

There are all of these moments where Native people come into contact with these people who want to save Natives but in their very close-minded way. This isn’t violent genocide, but these very small things seep into a community and create very unsafe environments. 

We’re not trying to hit people over the head with these topics – ultimately, it’s a story about two Native women who persevere through a very traumatic experience by loving each other and supporting each other. But on the periphery, we have issues like the forced removal of children and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. Hopefully, because we’re grounding it in this very human way people will recognize their roles in perpetuating the continued violence against Native peoples and find ways to build bridges and be better neighbors. 

Q: How did your experience in the sex industry shape the movie?

The strippers in the movie are human, because I’m drawing from my own experiences. I’ve always hated the portrayal of strip clubs and film and television and I love the idea of taking a place that hasn’t been accurately represented and shining a light on what it’s really like. I also chose to always shoot eye level with the dancers versus being down below because we’re not telling the story through the john’s eyes. We’re up with the women because they’re the ones who we’re focused on. And so just in changing the perspective changes the gaze. 

I worked with many dancers who had kids and were great moms and were providing for their families and doing the best that they could. Being a stripper is a job, and it’s a valid job. I wanted Tawi to be a stripper because just as librarians deserve to be found, strippers deserve to be found. You deserve justice if something bad has happened to you no matter where you come from or what your job is.

Q: You generally don’t spell out all the issues facing the women in this movie but let it play out organically. Was it difficult as a first-time director to keep a light touch with such serious topics?

As a director, it’s all about your voice and finding your vision. When you’re making a film about a community that hasn’t been told before, you have to remember that if you spend 30 minutes of the movie explaining all of these things you wouldn’t get to tell Jax’s story. So it’s up to the non-Native viewers to hang on tight and trust me, to keep going with the essential human elements and now they’re going to understand it in the end. So as the director, you have to trust the audience. 

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PINEHURST, N.C. — The temptation would be to refer to a change in the scorecard procedure as the “Jordan Rule,” only because Jordan Spieth was the most recent example. Players now have an additional 15 minutes to correct their scorecard before it is deemed to have been returned.

Players were informed at the U.S. Open of the change. The USGA adopted the amended definition of when a card is “returned” at the U.S. Women’s Open two weeks earlier. It now goes into effect on most major tours this week.

The PGA Tour said the goal was “minimizing penalties or disqualifications related to scorecard errors.”

Spieth was at Pinehurst No. 2 on the Sunday before the U.S. Open. He said Scott Langley, the USGA’s director of player relations, approached him and said: “This isn’t because of you. But this is what we’re doing here.”

The scorecard previously was considered “returned” when the player left the scoring area.

Spieth was battling stomach issues at Riviera when he made double bogey on the last hole for a 73, rushed up the hill to scoring, signed his card and hustled off to the bathroom. He inadvertently wrote down a 3 instead of a 4 on the par-3 fourth hole, and therefore signed for an incorrect score and was disqualified.

Under the new rule, he would have had 15 minutes to fix the mistake or for an official to find him and alert him to the error.

“For an honest mistake that I guess could be the difference in the tournament, I think it’s great,” Spieth said. “I don’t think it’s a skill of the game, especially at the professional level. If somebody plugged in a wrong score, they can go back and re-plug it in.”

As for the 15 minutes, there is a time stamp when a card is accepted, and the 15 minutes is not down to the second. It doesn’t happen very often, especially on the PGA Tour where scores are checked against a computer.

And there are exceptions. If a player stays in scoring for 15 minutes (Phil Mickelson was known to linger there), the scorecard would be considered returned when that player leaves the area. Also, the 15-minute rule could be affected by a playoff, or by tee times having to be posted immediately after a cut.

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A state appeals court panel has affirmed the city of St. Paul’s decision that a more detailed environmental review is not needed to proceed with the demolition and rebuild of the historic Hamline-Midway Library.

In the 16-page ruling filed Monday, the panel of three judges agreed that an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, is not required and that the city’s decision is not “arbitrary and capricious or unsupported by substantial evidence,” as a coalition of neighborhood residents and historic preservationists contended.

The appeals court panel concluded the city took “a hard look” at the adverse impact of a demolition and “appropriately considered and reasonably” relied on mitigation measures recommended by the State Historic Preservation Office. The city also “genuinely engaged in reasoned decision-making,” the ruling said.

In a written statement, Mayor Melvin Carter said the appellate court’s decision “is a positive step forward … We remain committed to the vision of a modern, accessible, one-story Hamline-Midway Library that will benefit families and residents for generations to come.”

In a separate matter, a trial was held in Ramsey County District Court last month over a lawsuit filed by the coalition, Renovate 1558, against the city and St. Paul Public Library to stop demolition of the library, which was shuttered in May 2023. Judge Stephen Smith’s decision is expected before the end of the year.

Two years ago, when the city announced plans to demolish the library at building at 1558 W. Minnehaha Ave and build a new one on the site, the coalition objected. They successfully petitioned for the library, which was built in 1930, to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, and asked the state to require an environmental review of the project known as an Environmental Assessment Worksheet, or EAW.

The city was designated the responsible government unit to conduct the EAW review of its own plans, from stormwater and zoning to historic resources in and around the site. In September, following a 30-day public comment period, the city found that an EIS, which gives a more intense level of scrutiny, is not necessary.

“The record demonstrates that implementation of this Project does not have the potential for significant environmental effects, and that any adverse effects associated with this Project can be mitigated through ongoing public regulatory authority and permitting,” the city wrote in a notice of its decision.

The coalition then petitioned the court of appeals to review the city’s decision, arguing it failed to consider greenhouse-gas emissions associated with demolition, among other issues.

They challenged the city’s use of mitigation measures recommended by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) — specifically, anticipated environmental impact on “historic resources” stemming from the project.

In its ruling, the appellate court wrote that for properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, “there appears to be no more closely related state agency” than SHPO. “However, even assuming without deciding that SHPO itself is not an ‘ongoing public regulatory authority,’ the city is,” the ruling said.

The appeals court panel concluded that although the city did not include specific information in the EAW regarding greenhouse-gas emissions stemming from a demolition, the document outlined that the project as a whole would “work to implement any applicable state or local GHG goals as required.”

The appeals court panel said they are not convinced that the city took “the path of least resistance to demolish the library.”

“Instead, the record reflects that, as required by (the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act), the city appropriately considered the factors outlined under (state statute) to determine that the decided-upon project would not have the potential for significant environmental effects,” the ruling said.

Tom Goldstein, a spokesman for the preservation group and one of its co-founders, said he’s not surprised by appellate court’s decision, “as the standard of review is generally deferential to a city’s conclusion on the necessity of an EIS for a project like the proposed Hamline Library rebuild/renovation.”

However, he said had they not pursued an appeal, it might have “negatively impacted our ability to bring forward” their lawsuit that claims the city of St. Paul and the St. Paul Public Library would violate the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act with a demolition of the library.

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