In Powwow gathering you may realize that the there are unique difference in every dancer and some with similarities. There are many different categories that we showcase in powwow and every single one comes from a different region in North America.
There are currently 7 main categories that you mainly see in powwow and all of them have distinct differences in appearance. For this blog, I will explain all the different categories of dance and the story that they carry behind them.
Immerse yourself and take this education and learn the history of the category of dance and the story of the origin that they have.
Contents
Chicken Dance
In the northern regions of North America, the chicken dance has ties to the treaty 6 and 7 where there they will have healing ceremonies for this dance way before it came into the powwow world. It wasn’t until the Blackfoot Confederacy brought to the dance into the arbour and became a category of dance in powwow.
The story behind this dance goes back to a man long ago who went out to hunt to feed his family. A man needed to provide and he went into the wilderness with his bow and arrows searching for anything he can find. However, as time went one the man was unsuccessful with his hunt.
He searched and found nothing, he was losing hope as the walk back to his tribe was long and defying what it means to provide for his family. Until he came across a sound in the bush, he immediately focused on the sound as his bow was ready and he went towards the sound.
What he found was a group of prairie chickens, and during time he was hunting the chicken in the rut. Unaware of this he shot once of them while they were ruffling there feathers and took it back to his family.
Once he got home he was proud of this, he fed his family, they ate good and everything was good. Until it was time to sleep, his dreams came differently to him, the chicken came to him in a spiritual humanoid form and spoke to him.
The chicken spoke to him asking why did he shoot him when he was in the middle of of a ceremony. The man wasn’t aware of this ceremony he was apologetic towards the chicken, telling that we didn’t know and he was sorry for his actions.
However the chicken wasn’t looking for punishment, instead he told him that he was going to teach him the ceremony of the chicken dance and he will teach it to his people. And soon after that, this gave birth to a new dance within treaty 6 and 7 and is now a popular dance in powwow.
Jingle Dress
This dance is also another healing dance that also originates from another story. This dance is also one of the most popular dances you can see at the powwow and probably the one category with the most dancers.
The story behind this category of dance was about a man who a had an ill daughter, and she was very sick and weak. Her father tried almost everything, prayers, traditional medicines, and even foreign medicines, however, none of these methods were working.
As her daughter continued to fall ill her father prayed for some answer, something he can worked with for her daughter become healthy again. And then one night he had a dream of a sick child with four beautiful women in a unique dresses with shiny cones decorated around them. As they dance he started to see the sick child slowly, but gradually became healthy as they danced on.
As he awoke he immediately told his people about this dream and made this beautiful dress that was decorated in these cones. Once these dresses were made they danced around her sick daughter and just like in his dream, his daughter slowly and gradually began to heal from her illness.
This dance was now born and was a healing dance for anyone who struggling physically and beyond that. This is why its one of the most popular dance in powwow culture.
Grass Dance
The grass dance was deemed to our scouts, they travelled first, blending in with the fluid movements of the grass. They travelled before us making sure that the journey ahead was safe to travel before we migrated to other areas.
Another thing is the grass are known for is the blessing of our powwow grounds, they have old songs and before anyone dances within the powwow arbour they bless our grounds. This is a old tradition for our gathering ceremonies, the grass dancers used to dance until the grounds were flat and well enough to introduce other categories into the arbour.
This dance is a combination of smooth and fast and the one of the few men categories that dont wear a bustle in powwow unless they come from a different area.
Women’s Traditional
One of our oldest dance categories the women traditional are our mothers, protectors and the ones who stand in the edge of the arbour.
This style is the story of how the women, the providers will dance and wait for the warriors to come home, they are the resilient dancers and they are one of the oldest dance categories in our powwow history.
They also resemble the giving life and the protection of the motherhood as some dancers in women’s traditional wear cradle boards to represent that. This dance is beautiful and also has different variations such as women’s cloth and buckskin.
Men’s Traditional
The men’s traditional are our warriors that defend our tribes and go out for hunts to provide for their families. They tell stories and their journey when they dance about the battles they fought to defend their homes and our traditions.
As they are explain to be our warriors they are also an older category that continues to tell stories with each dance they do. They are the protectors of our culture and providers to make sure everyone is safe and fed.
This is also a popular dance especially when the sneak up songs are sang for this category and it is an amazing dance to experience and watch when it is showcased.
Women’s Fancy
There was a time where we would only let the women dance in the edges of the powwow and the men would dance in the inside of the dance arbour. However, the women get pressing forward and pushing themselves into the arbour.
This became one of the first women’s right movements in our culture as they have said they can dance just as fast and just as powerful as the men can. Soon enough more and more women pushed forward and a new category was born into the powwow arbour.
Women’s Fancy is one of our most athletic dances that powwow has to offer, they most like a butterfly with their shalls and their footwork are fast and aligned to the beat of the drum. This is the true resilience of how women around indigenous culture can prove others wrong and live without the stereotypes that are present today.
This dance is a very popular and has also one of the most populated dancers that are soon to be champions in women’s fancy.
Men’s Fancy
The show stoppers. The fan favourite, Men’s Fancy is our athletes and one of the hardest dances to do in our powwow culture. They represent our horses as they use contemporary moves such as cartwheels, kicks, hops, and kicks.
The story behind this dance goes back in the regions of Oklahoma where two tribes, during this time a lot of there ways were being taken away. This was a war dance and during this dance, they decided to stop fighting a make a peace treaty between them.
They traded songs for horses and when these songs were sang, the horses will jump and kick to the beat of the drum. And soon the kids started to imitate them, doing jumps and kicks and it slowly became a dance that was created down south.
This dance is a popular dance to see in the arbour and the crowd goes loud once it starts to go down on the floor. This dance is for the warriors and the athletes and soon enough it was a world renowned category that everyone loves today.
Conclusion
Now you are a little bit educated on types of dancers in our powwow community, this is important to know because if you are unaware of our history you would be confused on why different dancers are different from the rest.
I hope that you take some thought into this as well as watch the videos provide to go in more depth in each category and you’ll learn from a professional dancer and there stories.
