Is your child showing an interest in Powwow dancing? Maybe every single time you play some powwow music, you see them getting excited and start dancing around.
For many parents out there, they see that their children are interested in dancing but don’t know where to start. This can be very frustrating for a new parent with no Powwow connections to start their child off in the Powwow circuit.
In some situations you will also find that when you find a person who can make your Powwow outfits, that they just run with your money. This becomes a very traumatic experience, which makes you not want to even start.
In this article we will do our best to help you out, so you can get your child started in the Powwow circle.
Contents
Let’s First Get Them Dancing
I started off a lot like the story of this boy who wanted to dance, but was lucky I was raised by a Powwow Family.
All I wanted to do was to learn how to dance the men’s fancy dance. I had to go off memory of what I saw because there wasn’t YouTube or Facebook just yet.
For kids now a days, they can go on our Powwow Times YouTube page and browse the thousands of videos that we have available for them to watch. Get your kids to watch these videos and find out which dance style they like dancing.
Learning a Style of Powwow Dance
Once your child is showing they like a certain dance category, you can now groom them to learn how to actually dance that style.
One thing you can do right away is get them to copy the dancers they see on Youtube. Get them to mimic the dance moves that the dancers are doing on the videos. Dancing is a lot of repetition for basic dance steps, dance moves, power moves, transitions, and stops.
Organize a few days in your house where you set up your own Powwow night. Play some music on our Youtube Page and learn together with your children. If you can participate with your child, they will have more confidence learning and also creates another way to bond with your kids.
How to Find a Powwow to Visit With Your Family
Powwows are a great way to show your children culture and pride. A good thing is that there are Powwows happening all the time. We post a lot of upcoming Powwows on our Facebook Page.
Another way to find Powwows are to go to our YouTube page and watch the Powwow videos. The reason is, a lot of the videos are titled where the Powwow is taken place.
Example) Northern Cree @ Thunderchild Powwow
Now you can just go to Google and type in, “Thunderchild Powwow” and you will get details about that Powwow. Usually these Powwows have a website with all the details.
We host a Powwow in October and you can get more info at – https://www.pwtpowwow.com
We invite you to come to our Powwow Times Powwow.
Why Take Your Children Who Want to Dance to a Powwow
At Powwows, there are many vendors set up who sell outfits.
This can be a great place to patronage vendors and start finding pieces of regalia for your child to start dancing.
Many of the vendors at Powwows also take orders. Many are registered businesses which makes it a little safer to send your money to them and make sure the order gets done.
At the Powwow, there is also intertribal dances that happen where everyone is invited to dance. This is where your child can participate on the dance floor and learn how it feels to be a dancer in the dance arena.
Another Way to Get Regalia for Your Child
When you go to different reserves, many have Trading Posts. One of our favourites is the Wild West Gallery. They have a huge selection of Powwow regalia, beads, materials, and more.
You want to do some google searches for Trading Posts that can help you get an outfit for your children.
Wild West Gallery has a facebook page where you can message them to see if they have what you’re looking for. They also ship out everywhere which is an awesome feature to get your regalia.
One of the ways our family started to get all of our regalia was to learn how to make it ourselves as well. We learned how to bead, sew, and do featherwork.
We created a program that will teach you how to do featherwork. You can find it here: https://www.makebustles.com
It’s Time to Powwow Dance With Regalia
Eventually you’re going to have all the regalia ready to go. Maybe you have like 80-90% of the regalia. That is fine to just get them started.
You can start taking your family on the Powwow Trail and get them dancing in the category they want to dance in. Listen to the announcer and they will let you know when that category is up to dance.
Also listen to the Master of Ceremonies and they will announce upcoming Powwows.
The more you take your kid dancing, the more they will learn and enjoy dancing.
The process to be regularly out there dancing at different Powwows can take a bit, so patience is needed for those with not a lot of resources.
Travelling to different Powwows can also take a lot of time and money. Be sure to make a good plan when going to different Powwows that can work with your work schedule.
Let us know if this helps or if you want more information by commenting below.
