INDIGENOUS SONG & DANCE

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Women's Traditional 

Dancers bounce in place along in time with the drum turning ever so slightly. Walking style is when the dancers travel around the circle in deep knee bends, taking small steps forward. Dancers who use the walking style want to look smooth, controlled and elegant as their fringe sways in time to the drum. They sometimes recognize the strong beats of the drum, called honour beats

 Men's Grass Dance

Grass dancing was birthed from young men of the plains nations stomping down tall prairie grasses to prepare the site of a new village or site for ceremonies. Today’s Grass Dancers try to dance as smooth as possible as if they are those long prairie grasses blowing in the wind. For that kind of controlled movement, these Grass Dancers must be fit and strong. 

This style is known a

 Women's Jingle Dress Dance

 This healing dance comes from the Anishinabek people of Whitefish Bay where a young girl was gravely ill. One of the men received a dream where he saw the dresses, songs and dances that needed to be done for her. Women in the community made the dresses, drummers learned the song and some women were shown the steps to carry out what was given in the dream. As the dancers

Men's Fancy Dance

Dancers must be in top physical condition to execute the tricky footwork and acrobatic movements that make this style so exciting to watch. It’s not uncommon to see Fancy Feather dancers do cartwheels, backflips and splits in competitive dancing. This dance is one of the more recent additions to pow-wow traditions. It is believed to have originated from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Sh

Women's Fancy Dance

There are two stories behind the Fancy Shawl Dance. One story says that the dance represents a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. While that is a poetically beautiful legend, most dancers agree that the Fancy Shawl dance grew from the Men’s Fancy style. Women in the 1950’s wanted to mimic the quick and complex footwork of the men, and thus a more feminine version was born utiliz

Men's Traditional Dance

Dancers in this category are aiming to tell you a story. Typically it is one of a hunt, a battle, or a certain victory. Dancers utilize different movements to demonstrate the story they are telling you; crouching, tracking, aiming, dashing about and so on. Many dancers are taught to dance toward the centre of the circle and tap once on the pole or shout out during this style