The Powerful Native American Men’s Fancy War Dance

What is The Powerful Native American Men’s Fancy War Dance? Coming from the tribes in Oklahoma the Men’s Dance is a popular Native American dance that you can see at many powwow celebrations across North America. Being the fastest, brightest and most modern type dance in powwow country a lot of people can be seen moving towards to arbor to see these dancers in action when it is their turn to light up the floor.

There are many stories on how the fancy dance began and where it comes from. So let explore more of what they call the Men’s Fancy War Dance

When I think about The men’s fancy dance the first person who pops in my head is the late great spike draper, specifically this video above. Being a young First Nations boy I was introduced into powwow at an early age and I remember seeing the Men’s Fancy Dance here and there not knowing the fancy dance would have a big impact on my life.

When I First Started Dancing Short Story

I actually starting dancing the Grass Dance first at age 10 (The dance we will get into in a later blog) and then I starting dancing Men’s Fancy at the age of 19.

At the age of 10 years old. I remember clearly the first time I actually danced at a powwow was at the Annual Rocky Boy powwow.

I remember clearly not because it was my first time dancing its because of what happened when I did dance, see being my first time dancing, me and my older sister Kathy had little knowledge on how to put together a grass dance outfit.

So she put on everything the best she could but the head roach (which is a piece of regalia that is put on a male dancers head at powwow’s) and of course as I was dancing I felt the head roach on my head start to slide off and I immediately tried to put it back on my head and it slid to the other side.

So for the entire song, I was struggling to keep the head roach onto my head and when the song was over I walked over to my family who was sitting on the bleachers off to the side and then I said: “Did you see me deke them judges?!” Deke is a Canadian term that is used to refer to the act of outmaneuvering someone else.

My family then looked at each other for a quick second then they all began to erupt into laughter! I am still teased about it to this day.

What Made Me Choose To Dance Fancy?

I was about 12 or 13 and mom actually started getting sick she had a rare disease called Encephalitis, and she passed away. But before she passed away she wanted me to live with my dad in a small reserve in the southwest corner of Saskatchewan in a place called Nekaneet first nation.

During this time at Nekaneet, I was bullied a lot because of my dark skin, small size and I was also dealing with the loss of my mother as well. My father and I had begun to become close because when I lost my mother he lost the mother of his children. So we began to have an actual father-son relationship

I stayed in Nekaneet until I graduated and shortly after graduation I learned that my dad had actually been battling cancer. I didn’t know because he didn’t want to tell anyone because he was sick, he didn’t want anyone to be worried

He also passed away. When I was at my lowest I met a girl whom I fell in love with and was with for about a year and then she ended up being unfaithful to me on multiple occasions, I was crushed.

With nowhere to go and nothing to do, I did what many of our First Nations people do when we’re heartbroken and lost. I drank and partied until one day I woke up and I couldn’t breathe. This awful feeling of dread came over me, it felt like I was going crazy.

What I had experienced I learn later on was called anxiety, also known as panic attacks which is a common mental health issue that occurs in people who don’t deal with their problems in a healthy manner. I turned to my culture for guidance going to powwows and simply being in that environment helped me feel better.

When I Actually Started Dancing Fancy?

An older friend of mine Gerald, asked me one day hey Jarrett “why don’t you dance? Do you have an outfit?” It was then I remember that my dad had actually bought a Men’s Fancy Dance outfit before he passed on then I replied: ” Yes I actually do but it’s not ready” Then Gerald said “well bring it over we will fix it up for you” So I agreed.

With a powwow coming up that weekend we set to fix up a quick Fancy Dance outfit. Finally, when we were done I put on the outfit and took a picture and instantly felt so awesome and cool, cooler than I have felt in a very long time. Like Clark kent when he puts on his superman costume.

Whenever I would feel anxiety I would practice dancing because that’s the only thing that made me feel good and still does to this day. I still struggle with my sobriety but I take it one day at a time.

This is why the Men’s Fancy Dance has had such a positive impact on my life because it gave me something to look forward to and If it wasn’t for The Men’s Fancy I probably wouldn’t be here to this day so I’m thankful this dance has come into my life and taught me how to live again.

The Origin Of Fancy Dance

First of all these stories are not my stories, they have been shared by champions of long ago. There are some stories that have been told about the Men’s Fancy Dance coming from Elders from various tribes and even though they may be different they all come back to the horse.

A long time ago there was a war dance, the tribes at this time would do this dance before going into battle or coming back from battle to showcase what they actually did in battle. This dance was actually something sacred and the act of going to war was something that was held in very high respect.

During the time of the Indian Removal Act, a lot of tribes were being pushed into Oklahoma and a lot of the ways of the First Nations People were being taken away.

During this time as well there were books that were being written about the Native American’s and in these books, they portrayed Natives to be savages or more like animals than human beings.

These books were then sent into the big cities like Philidelphia, Washington and overseas to Paris and London. These people who had read these books wanted to see this way of life before it was all gone.

So a man by the name of Pawnee Bill and another man by the name of Buffalo Bill started The Wild West Shows. They came to the First Nations territory and picked up young people. Then took them to show them off in a circus-type atmosphere.

Whenever the dancers came out to dance, the dance that they did was something modest it was nothing like anything that the people read about. The people who came seen the shows were very disappointed at what they had seen.

The creators of that wild west show came to the young people and said ” We want you to do that war dance, we want to see that savage” So our people said to them “We can’t do that, that dance is set aside for participating in battle”. So they had to come up with something different.

How The Fancy Dance Came To Be.

Many years before the tribes had begun to get pushed into Oklahoma, there was these 2 tribes, The Comanches from the south west and The Ponca’s from what is now Nebraska and the Ponca’s started getting pushed down into Oklahoma.

When these 2 tribes met on the battlefield, the Comanches had horses from battles with the Conquistadors and this horse was a huge asset for the Comanches, and whenever they fought the Poncas they pretty much annihilated them. The Ponca’s almost got killed off because the Comanches had that use of the horse.

Before they were completely annihilated the Ponca’s, The Ponca’s wanted to make a truce and become allies with the Comanches . So the Ponca’s said to the Comanches ” We want to take you as our relative” and out of this adoption ceremony the Ponca’s gave bow’s and arrows’ to the Comanches as a gift.

Out respect for the gift of bows and arrows and that relationship building, the Comanches gave horses to the Ponca’s. The Ponca’s knew how huge of an asset these horses were because a warrior on horseback was fast and quick. When a hunter went out to hunt he could bring more food back for his people.

So out of respect for that horse, The Ponca’s made songs for these horses. When these songs were being sung these songs the horses would recognize these songs and they would begin to dance. The horse’s ears would pop up and they knew the songs were being sung for them so they started dancing.

It was said there were some little boys who started to imitate the way these horses would dance and the boy’s grandma at the time said “Hey! knock that off, those songs belong to that horse, don’t do that”.

How This All Fits Into Fancy Dance?

So many years passed and when the wild west show started, they had to come up with something else besides the war dance they came back those little boys who imitated that horse.

The young men came to those boys and said: “we’re going to sing these songs and we want you to dance like those horses again but we’re going to bring back some of the things that we wore in the original war dance” Things like the feathers, the bustles, and the headdress. So that is kind of how the Men’s Fancy Feather War Dance all started.

However, there was another story that was added to that. It was said that whenever they would come out and dressed that war dance style, the European people who came to see the show were terrified and took off running, they were scared of what they saw.

So the grandpa elder at the time had said “You dancers need to dress more beautiful”, that’s when the native people started putting in bright colors and started painting ourselves in a pretty way to be more appealing to the European people.

How Has Fancy Dance Evolved?

So how has Fancy Dance evolved in the last 30 years? Well, whenever you go to a powwow people will always say something like “Dance old style”. But back in the ’70s, everyone had a different style of dance.

So to say to dance old style is almost like saying that’s the only right way to dance and dance is a form of self-expression. When you go out there you are expressing your own individual style.

To say someone’s style is wrong or right is something you can’t really say. So fancy dancing has really changed since the days of the wild west show’s. with such things like cartwheels, flips, bright colors. shiny shirts and other exciting things.

The Meaning Behind The Bustles?

The Story that I was told of the bustles is something that it was worn during that time of the original war dance. The bustle is actually meant to represent the battlefield, they say when the creator is looking down at a battlefield, that battlefield would be shaped in a circular pattern.

During this time they would use eagle, hawk, buzzard, and crow feathers for the bustles. The reason why they used these feathers is that after the battle was over you can find these birds feasting on the enemy and they would decorate themselves with these feathers.

They would give these feathers to individuals who did great things in a battle like counting coup on the enemy or stealing an enemy’s horse. The feather would not be worn during the battle but would be adorned like the military stripes that you could see on troops of today.

They would be used in the same way. You wanna learn how to make a nice set of Men’s Fancy Bustles? Click here https://powwowtimes.ca/funnel/bustles-2/enter/

The Meaning Behind the Head Roach

The head roach is meant to represent aggression, The hair’s that are used on the head roach is actually porcupine hair. When the porcupine is approached it usually puts up its hairs and quills as a warning to its enemies to stay away and not to mess with it, the head roach was used in the same way in order to strike fear into the heart of the enemy.

There is also the more modern porcupine friendly synthetic head roach. Which is exactly what the named describes, synthetic. Plastic hair made to look like porcupine hair is sewn up the same way a real head roach is sewn. How to sew a roach is something I do not know. But it would be pretty cool to learn. Let us know if you have a link so we can go to learn please and thank you.

The Meaning Behind the Rocker?

No matter where you can always see the men’s fancy dancers wearing one of these rockers that originated from the southern tribes in the United States.

Much like the plastic flag tape that was introduced that are attached to the Men’s Fancy Bustles, These rockers were first made around the mid-’60s, to have more flash and capture people’s attention way more gave the illusion of a dancer, dancing super fast.

At first, these rockers weren’t fully accepted as apart of the men’s fancy regalia, in-fact it was almost looked down upon. Because at the time the men’s fancy was supposed to be just this one traditional way but like all things in life it changed, now where ever you can see the men’s fancy wearing these rockers and has become known for fancy dancers to have one.

The feathers on these rockers are facing forward and the reason behind that is its supposed to represent the dancer going forward into battle and for the movement of the rocker is also made to show that the dancer is actually going to the beat of the drum.

The reason why you see most people wearing black tip feathers today is that they very hard to get your hands on and show that you are a person of great importance. You literally have to know a guy, who’s knows a guy, who knows another guy. So getting these feathers is not as easy as it seems, trust me I’ve been dancing for 8 years and I just finally got mine as a gift.

The Meaning Behind The Furs?

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The fur you see on the legs of the men’s fancy war dancers is to mimic that horse spirit that the dance originates from, much like the horse you will many of the fancy dancers move like a horse kicking, jumping and running.

Much of these furs are actually made from animals like sheep, angora goats, and other animals. There are also synthetic Furs made from twine or white rope.

The Men’s Fancy World Championships

Many years ago, there were many kids who went to school in Haskell Oklahoma that went to go fight in world war 1. The relatives of these kids that went to school at Haskell wanted to honor the ones who were leaving to go fight, so they kids at Haskell had put money together and they built the very first World War 1 memorial at the Haskell Coliseum.

Although it was originally supposed to be a 45 min dedication ceremony, The event actually turned into a 4-day event. Many dances were done there and there were many champion fancy war dancers from all of the United States that went to school there.

The Native Americans have always been very had a very competitive nature, so they wanted to see who the best fancy dancer actually was. Whoever won that event they would be able to take that trophy home and they would be able to say that they are the world champion. Where ever that person who won came from, that’s where the Men’s Fancy World Championship would be held from that day forward.

At the end of the event, 2 fancy war dancer’s remained by the names of Gus McDonald and George Alan, The 2 battled off and Gus McDonald ended up winning the First Men’s Fancy World Championships and From then on the championships would be held at the Ponca territory making it the home of the Men’s Fancy Dance.

Names of Fancy Dancers That Everybody Should Know.

Johnny Whitecloud, George “Woogie” Watchetaker, Larry Daylight, Ahkaboo, RG Harris, Randy Moore, Billy Mcclellan, Joe Bointy, George Alexander, Amos Little Crow, Saunders Bearstail, Daman Brady, Poncho Brady, and The late great Spike Draper Just name a few. There have been champions far and wide, many in their own right. This is just a shortlist of legends, I’m sure there is more lets us know if there is.

What Does It Take To Be A Men’s Fancy Feather Champion?

How bad you really want it? thats the main key is you have to really want it.

You have to have that have a passion for dance, not any kind of passion but a deep one. There are many times when dancers get that right song that just makes them felt it and go all out. All of their pain goes away as they are in the moment completely and the spirit begins to live.

Another step into becoming a fancy dancer is eating healthy and eating right. Taking care of your body and not smoking or drinking.

But there is also that life that is out there in the arena as well. Like the way you carry yourself and the way, you respond to things. Like having respect for your fellow dancers.

There’s a lot of people who are not going to remember how many powwows you have won, but they are going to remember the way you carry yourself. It’s about taking the time to talk to the younger generation that’s coming up because they are the ones that are going to talk about you in a good way and continue talking about you long after your out of the dancing circle.

That is what is going to what you a champion.

What is The One Thing Great About Powwow Dancing?

The one thing great about powwow dancing is the feeling of knowing who you are and what you do, and that really gives you strength. You cant get knocked down easily when you remember who you are and where you come from.

Our grandparents prayed for our culture to stay alive and keep going. If you dance powwow and it makes you happy then you are exactly what your parents or grand parents have prayed for.

If your parents or grandparents are still here to watch you dance then it truly is a blessing and if they are not then it means so much more to dance because you have the courage in your heart to continue on in this world without them here physically.

Within most of the tribes, we believe that when someone passes away they take a journey into the spirit world. We believe that when they pass they are not gone forever but they actually transform. So whenever you miss the ones who took the journey to the spirit world just remember they are always with you (even if you can’t see them) in spirit, and that they are not gone forever but they just went home.

If there was any info that you think should be on this blog let us know and we shall put it up! Thanks for reading, love always Powwow Times.