In a flood of orange, thousands of people poured into the Assembly Hall on Saturday to catch sight of a dance performance by the unofficial Chief portrayer, celebrating an 84-year-old tradition. An estimated 5,000 people attended. This marked an increase over the 1,500 that attended last year but is still down from the 10,000 that attended the first event in 2008. Even after the show started at 6 p.m., about a hundred people were still outside in line to see “The Next Dance,” as the event was called.

In addition to the newly selected unofficial portrayer Ivan Dozier — who is part-Cherokee — performing a dance, several other presenters spoke. Among them were Dozier’s father Ivan, past Chief portrayer Rick Legue, 1989 alumnus and former Flying Illini captain Kenny Battle and President of the alumni association Honor the Chief Roger Huddleston. Afterward, Dozier stayed to take photographs with fans until nearly 8 p.m., the latest time the space was available for the group.

Announced at the event was the creation of the website TheChiefLives.com, which was formed to unite all three pro-Chief groups: Students for Chief Illiniwek, Council of the Chiefs, which is a group of all past portrayers, and Honor the Chief.

In the future, Huddleston said they hope to plan many more events through this new collaboration and will have more information in the next couple weeks.

Chief Illiniwek’s official last dance took place Feb. 21, 2007 following the Feb. 16 decision to discontinue Chief performances and usage of the name and logo.

Because the original regalia was given back to the Sioux tribe in 2007, Students for Chief Iliniwek, or SFCI, who hosted “The Next Dance,” used a replica for Dozier’s performance.

As an ultimate goal, Dozier said they’d like to somehow revive the Chief.

“(Students for Chief Illiniwek) want to let everyone know what the deal is, which is that the Chief is still around, he’s still going to make appearances at games and there is a group on campus that is trying to bring back the Chief,” Dozier said.

Prior to the event itself, two rallies were staged by a coalition called Students for a United Illinois outside the Henry Administration building and outside the Assembly Hall. The group hopes to stop events such as “The Next Dance” and push for a new mascot or symbol.

Despite the Chief’s resignation, the University still owns the rights to many different words and images including “Chief Illiniwek.” The Chief Illiniwek trademark is currently used through the Collegiate Licensing Company’s College Vault program.

In response to a trademark application filed by Honor the Chief, the University, through Chicago attorney Andrew L. Goldstein, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Honor the Chief with a set of demands.

Originally, this led Huddleston to cancel “The Next Dance” last week, but the decision was reversed after an SFCI executive board meeting.

At this point in time, Huddleston said nothing is actively being done in terms of the letter.

“We’re not doing anything. We’re sitting tight,” Huddleston said. “I don’t want to fight my University, I just want to get along with it, respect it and love it. I would love to have cup of coffee with the president.”