Pow Wow
An American Indian Tradition
INDIGENOUS INSTITUTE of the AMERICAS
INSTITUTO INDIGENISTA de las AMERICAS
Native American dance is unlike most other dances in the world. It is not only a way to have fun, but spiritual in itself. Dance can be a form of prayer, a way of expressing joy or grief, and a method of becoming closer with man and nature. Native dancing has been aroud just about as long as the Native American people have been: in ceremony, powwows, and just to pass the day/night. The dance also can have healing powers, not only on the dancer, but on people that the dancer is close to, or dancing for.

Native American dance is centered around the drum. It beats in time with the heart of Mother Earth and provides a base for the song. The drum beat is, as in most dances, the key to Native footwork.

Pow Wow Explainations/History

A pow-wow (sometimes powwow or pow wow) is a gathering of Native Americans. It derives from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning shaman. It has since come to be used to describe any gathering of Native Americans of any tribe, and as such is occasionally heard in older Western movies. The word has also been used to refer to any meeting, but especially a congress, a friendly gathering, or a meeting of powerful people such as officers in the military.

An early twenty-first century pow-wow is a specific type of event held by Native Americans. Typically, a pow-wow consists of people (Native American and non-Native American alike) meeting in one particular area to dance, sing, socialize, and generally have a good time. Pow-wows can vary in length from a single session of about 5-6 hours to three days with one to three sessions a day. Major pow-wows or pow-wows called for a special occasion can be up to one week long.

Planning for a pow-wow generally begins months, perhaps even a year, in advance of the event by a group of people known as the pow-wow committee. The pow-wow committee consists of a number of individuals who do all the planning prior to the event. If a pow-wow has a sponsor, such as a tribe, college, or organization, many or all members of the committee may come from that group. The committee is responsible to recruit and hire the head staff, publicize the pow-wow, secure a location, and recruit vendors who pay for the right to set up and sell at the pow-wow.

The head staff of a pow-wow are the people who run the event on the day or days it actually occurs. They are generally hired by the pow-wow committee several months in advance, as the quality of the head staff can have an impact on attendance.

The arena director is the man in charge during the pow-wow, and the rest of the head staff reports to him. Sometimes the arena director is referred to as the whip man, sometimes the whip man is the arena director's assistant, and many pow-wows don't have a whip man. The arena director is responsible for making sure dancers are dancing during the pow-wow and that the drums know what song to sing. If there are contests the arena director is ultimately responsible for providing judges, though he often has another assistant who is the head judge. The arena director is also responsible for organizing any ceremonies that may be required during the pow-wow, such as when an eagle feather is dropped.

The master of ceremonies, or MC, is the voice of the pow-wow. It is his job to keep the singers, dancers, and general public informed as to what is happening. The MC sets the schedule of events, and maintains the drum rotation, or order of when each drum group gets to sing. The MC is also responsible for filling any dead air time that may occur during the pow-wow, often with bad jokes. The MC often runs any raffles or other contests that may happen during the pow-wow.

The head dancers consist of the Head Man Dancer and the Head Woman Dancer, and often Head Teen Dancers, Head Little Boy and Girl Dancers, Head Golden Age Dancers, and a Head Gourd Dancer if the pow-wow will be having gourd dancing. The head dancers are responsible for leading the other dancers during a song, and often dancers will not enter the arena unless the head dancers are already out dancing. The head dancers also lead the other dancers in the grand entry or parade of dancers that opens a pow-wow.

The Host Drum of the pow-wow is a drum group responsible for providing music for the dancers to dance to. At an Intertribal pow-wow generally two or more drums are hired to be the host drums, often a Host Northern Drum and a Host Southern Drum. Each drum has a Lead Singer who runs his drum and leads his singers while singing. Host drums are responsible for singing the songs at the beginning and end of a pow-wow session, generally a starting song, the grand entry song, a flag song, and a veterans or victory song to start the pow-wow, and a flag song, retreat song and closing song to end the pow-wow. Additionally, if a pow-wow has gourd dancing, the Southern Host Drum is often the drum that sings all the gourd songs, though another drum can perform them. The host drums are often called upon to sing special songs during the pow-wow. Famous host drums include Black Lodge, Cozad Singers, Mandaree, Southern Thunder, The Boyz, Yellowhammer, and Zotigh.

The Event

A pow-wow is normally set up as a series of large circles. The center circle is the dance arena, outside of which is a circle consisting of the MC's table, drum groups, and sitting areas for dancers and their families. At outdoor pow-wows, this circle is often covered by either a committee built arbor, or each group will provide their own sun shade. Beyond these two circles for participants is often an area for spectators, while outside of all are several rings of vendor's booths, where one can buy supplies, food, or arts and crafts items.

Opening

A pow-wow session begins with the Grand Entry, during which all the dancers line up by dance style and age, then enter the arena while one of the host drums sings a special song. Normally, the first in are veterans carrying flags and eagle staffs, followed by the head dancers, then the dancers follow in a specific order: Men's Traditional, Men's Grass Dance, Men's Fancy, Women's Traditional, Women's Jingle, and Women's Fancy. Teens and small children then follow in the same order. Following the Grand Entry, the MC will invite a respected member of the community to give an invocation. The host drum that did not sing the Grand Entry song will then sing a Flag Song, followed by a Victory or Veterans' Song, during which the flags and staffs are posted at the MC's table.

Dances

Most of the various types of dances performed at a pow-wow are descended from the dances of the Plains tribes of Canada and the United States. Besides those for the opening and closing of a pow-wow session, the most common is the intertribal, where a drum will sing a song and anyone who wants to can come and dance. Similar dances are the trot dance, called a crow hop when performed by a northern drum or a horse stealing song by a southern drum, and the round dance or side step. Each of these songs have a different step to be used during them, but are open for dancers of any style.

In addition to the open dances, contests dances for a particular style and age group are often held, with the top winners receiving a cash prize. To compete in a contest the dancer must be in an outfit appropriate for the competition.

Normal intertribal dancing is an individual activity, but there are also couples and group dances. Couples dances include the two step and owl dance. In a two step each couple follows the lead of the head dancers, forming a line behind them, whereas in an owl dance each couple dances alone. Group dances include the Snake and Buffalo dance, where the group dances to mimic the motions of a snake in the beginning of the dance, then change to mimic the actions of a herd of buffalo.

At pow-wows where there is a large Southern Plains community in the area, the Gourd Dance is often included before the start of the pow-wow sessions. The gourd dance originated with the Kiowa tribe, whence it spread, and is a society dance for veterans and their families. Unlike other dances, the gourd dance is normally performed with the drum in the center of the dance arena, not on the side.

History of the Pow Wow

The word Pow Wow, or pau wau, means a gathering of people coming together to trade. Explorers misinterpreted the ceremony of medicine men dancing, thinking all natives gathered to sing and dance in this manner.

The modern day Pow Wow evolved from the Grass Dance Societies that formed during the early 1800's. The dances were an opportunity for the warriors to re-inact their brave deeds for all the members of the tribe to witness.

The growth of reservations gave rise to the modern Pow Wow. This was a time of transition for Native peoples across North America. Tribal customs and religions were outlawed. The Grass Dance was one of the few celebrations that was allowed into this new era. The Grass Dance became an opportunity to maintain some of the earlier tribal customs that were vanishing. As other communities and tribes were invited to these celebrations, rights of ownership of sacred items necessary to the Grass Dance were formally transferred from one tribe to another. "Inter-tribalism" began to emerge with the sharing of these songs and dances. Gift-giving and generosity were integral aspects of these early festivities, as they still are today.

The tradition of First Nations dance is ancient. Originally, some dances were performed before the warriors left the tribe to hunt, raid, or do battle. While the men were away, the ladies would prepare their best buckskin dresses and accessories to wear on anticipation of the party's return. This was to show honour and pride for their men. Dances were also performed when they returned, to celebrate their success. As the men arrived into the camp, the women would stand in rows, yelling and trilling for their warrior.

This is the origin of the old style of women's Traditional Dance; standing in one place, keeping time with the drum by moving their feet up and down.

Pow Wow elders have been told by their grandfathers and grandmothers that the men did most of the dancing, only in recent decades have the women been accepted to dance among the men in the sacred circle.

Hand drums and log poles were often used to provide a beat. The tribe was constantly travelling to follow the seasonal migration, making large drums hard to care for and transport. Most songs were passed down from generation to generation; some having special words that belonged to a certain tribe or nation, some containing no words. Each song is sung for a special event. There are special songs sung for traditional and fancy dance, as well as different styles of dancing, such as the Owl Dance Song.

Upon contact with the Europeans, most native cultures were holding pow wows, or gatherings of celebration less and less. The pow wow is a time for renewing old friendships and making new ones. Wars were put aside to celebrate in unison. Trappers and native designers were welcome to set up their ware for the dancers wanting to purchase material and accessories to design their regalia; as it is a great pride to design you own outfit.

Today, the pow wow circuit is strong and more alive than ever before. Throughout the year, in cities, towns, villages and reservations; men, women and children of all ages gather together to celebrate the traditions, heritage, and culture of the pow wow.

The modern day Pow Wow bases itself on the fundamental values common to Native Americans throughout North America: honor, respect, tradition, and generosity. Along with their families, thousands of singers, dancers, artists, and craftspeople follow the "Pow Wow Trail" all over the continent to share and celebrate our culture.

The modern Pow Wow has retained its traditional roots while incorporating the inheritances of an ever-changing world. This melding of the old ways with the new results in an exciting celebration that can be enjoyed by all.

Pow Wows today are is a gathering of North American First Nations people who join in dancing, singing, visiting old friends and making new friends. The Pow Wow celebration is a time of preserving a rich heritage and keeping the traditional ways alive. Originally held in the spring to celebrate a new beginning of life, Pow Wows have spiritual significance. Even though most of the spiritual ceremonies for dropped eagle feather still remain today.

Each session of the Pow Wow begins with a Grand Entry where the dancers in their regalia enter the sacred circle (arbor) in single file, dancing their particular dance style. Leading the Grand Entry are the flag bearers, carrying the Canadian and American Flags, Traditional Eagle Staff (Native Flag), and the flags of other participating nations. Following the Flag Bearers are the members of the Pow Wow Royalty.

The Men's Traditional dancers - protectors and preservers of the traditional ways; with their double eagle feather bustles and their high kicking steps. Next are the Men's Fancy dancers, recognized by their colourful regalia. The Men's Grass dancers with their striking outfits covered with long, colourful fringes follow. Their dance movements are a sliding, shaking, and spinning motion, similar to long grass blowing in the wind. Teens, Juniors and Tiny tots follow in their respective categories.

Following the male dancers are the Women's Traditional dancers, who dance in a stately and poised manner, moving slowly and gracefully to the beat of the drum, dressed in elaborately decorated regalia with Eagle plumes worn on the back of the head and an Eagle fan in the right hand.

Next are the Women's Fancy dancers, whose long, graceful fringed shawls are draped over the shoulders. Their twirling rapid dance steps compliment the flaring shawls. The Women's Jingle dancers follow, originally from the Objibwa Nation. This dance is recognized as a healing dance. The dress is covered with tin cones (made from snuff tin covers) and bouncy dance steps create rhythmic jingling in time of the beat of the drum. Again, teens, juniors and tiny tots follow in their respective categories.

After all the dancers are in the arbor, a flag song is sung, then a victory song. The flag bearers then proceed with the flags to the front of the arbor. After Grand Entry an opening prayer will be offered in a native language or in English. This is done out of respect for the flags and our traditional ways. It is very important for spectators to rise and remove their hats during the prayer. After the prayer, the opening song starts the Pow Wow. Now the time to enjoy the Pow Wow has arrived.

Going back to the early days of the fur trade, the Pow Wow tradition is an integral part of First Nations Culture and the history of Canada. Pow Wow celebrations are an invaluable experience which will enable all participants to better understand the important part traditions play, and how these traditions define indigenous culture.

Pow Wow participants and spectators must abstain from drugs and alcohol and demonstrate sincere respect for older and younger generations. Dancers will participate in four separate categories: Traditional, Fancy, Grass and Jingle.

Over 300 First Nations groups from all over North America have been invited to participate in the Annual Pow Wow. Over 100 dancers are often in attendance each day of the Pow Wow. In addition to the traditional dancing, drums, and Princess Pageant, other events and activities include craft and food booths, traditional bannock, pancake breakfasts, various draws and raffles, and a souvenir program book.

Pow Wow Etiquette
  • It should be noted that every POWWOW is different so the first rule is the most important. The key is respect, and many "first timers" don't have access to the life-long teachings that we take for granted. Here are "Charley's 16 rules", hope you enjoy.
  • The following are general rules I give to follow when going to a POWWOW.
  • Listen to the Master of Ceremonies.
  • Do not sit within the arena. The chairs inside the arena are reserved for the dancers. Use the outside circle or bleachers if provided.
  • If you want to take pictures, check with the POWWOW host first, then check with the person you are taking pictures of and ASK THEIR PERMISSION. Under no circumstances may you enter the arena to take photos. Put your camera down for all memorial dances.
  • All tape recording must be done with the permission of the Master of Ceremonies and the Lead (or Head) Singer of EACH drum. When a new drum starts, do not enter the arena to get to the other drum. Don't run. Miss the song and wait for the next one to take your time getting to the drum. Nothing is more rude than "Recorder-runners" ganging around a drum. Many Powwow disallow this anyway (fine by me!).
  • If you are not wearing traditional Regalia, you may dance only on social songs (like Two-Step, Blanket Dance, Honoring Songs, Circle, etc..). Sometimes a blanket dance is held to gather money. You may enter the circle to donate.
  • Only those with the permission of the Lead Singer may sit at a drum. (And it's a good idea to know the songs because it's often a habit to ask the "stranger" to lead one.)
  • Stand and men must remove their hat (unless traditional head gear) during the Grand Entry, Flag Songs, Invocation, Memorial, Veterans Songs, and the Closing Song.
  • During the Gourd Dancing, only Gourd Dancers and Gourd Dance Societies are to enter the Dance arena. Owning a gourd rattle does not make one a Gourd Dancer. Check with the local Societies.
  • Please do not permit your children to enter the dance circle unless they are dancing.
  • Do not touch anyone's dance Regalia without their permission. These clothes are not "costumes" and yes we use modern things like safety pins and such because we are a "living" culture, our Regalia is subject to change. Leave your stereotypes at home. (Yes there are some blond tribal enrolled Indians... no ones fault that life goes on!)
  • If you are asked to dance by an elder, do so. It is rude and disrespectful to say, "I don't know how." How can you learn if you turn the elders down?
  • Most all Powwows do not allow Alcoholic beverages, Gold Paint cans, or drugs here. The Powwow is a time of joyful gathering and celebration of life. Alcohol and drugs are destroying our way of life and these "bad" spirits are not welcome.
  • It's funny how much trash we as people drop. Make an extra effort to walk to the trash can. Respect Mother Earth.
  • Remember always: Native American Indian dances are more than the word "dance" can describe. They are a ceremony and a prayer which all life encompasses and produce many emotional and spiritual reactions. Some dances are old, some are brand new... the culture continues to live and evolve.
  • Urban Powwows are much more "tense" than Powwows on the rez. As people are away from the comfort of culture, they tend to take things more seriously. Abide by peoples wishes and requests. We as Indian people believe differently. Some dance around clock-wise, others counter clock-wise. If our host asks, we sometimes voluntarily show our respect by temporarily changing our way(s). Show your respect by doing the same.
  • Have fun. Buy something from the vendors. Donate if you can. And most of all don't be so uptight and relax. The whole universe comes together this day to celebrate. You are invited to join in.

Dance Styles and Regalia 

At Northern pow-wows, dancers in specific categories are set apart as being eligible to compete for prize money. In addition, there are two other broad categories: "specials" and open intertribal dances. Of these categories, open intertribal dancing does not have particularly distinctive footwork, nor does it have regalia requirements other than the custom of women wearing shawls over their shoulders (although that is not required). Special dances are held outside the contest rounds and intertribal rounds and include Hoop dancing, Aztec dancing, and other tribal-specific exhibitions such as Inuit or Northwest Coast styles. Memorials and honorings of various kinds are also classified as specials (chapter 5). In this chapter I will concentrate on the evolution of contest styles, specifically on the four major dances commonly used in Northern competition: men's and women's Traditional, men's and women's Fancy (or women's Fancy Shawl), the Grass Dance (men only), and the Jingle Dress Dance (women only). To some extent, the footwork of these dances is determined by the music that accompanies them—the drum's pulsation pattern and tempo or both. More than anything else, internal standards—unconscious theories—and externally imposed conventions in the form of judging norms are what drive fashions in dance footwork and regalia.

Footwork is the same at the most basic levels of competitive and intertribal dancing. For men, each foot alternates in extending forward and tapping twice, more lightly on the first drumbeat. The dancer's weight shifts forward onto the foot for the second step. The legs alternate as the body moves forward. According to one tradition, the step honors the "four-leggeds" (various mammals) that taught Indians how to dance by imitating an animal's four-legged gait. Each human leg makes two motions to represent legs on each side of an animal's body. Another belief is that the ability to dance—to pray using motion—is a gift to Natives from the Creator. Women's basic intertribal footwork is closer to a stylized walk, with each leg taking a full step every two drumbeats. Women have the choice, however, of using the same intertribal step as men, and often they do.

A number of factors determine the look of an individual's dance regalia. Each type of contest dancing has a preexisting template for regalia, largely determined by custom. Because of that, most dancers' decisions about large-scale regalia are automatic once the dancers choose a dance type. For example, women's Traditional dancers must wear a dress or shirt and skirt combination that reaches at least a few inches below the knees; they should also drape a shawl over their left arm and carry a fan in their right hand. Other regalia items—purse, breastplate, scarf, belt, and jewelry—are determined by personal choice, as are colors and fabrics. Outfits can be simple or spectacular, depending on financial resources. Some people purchase complete outfits, and others make theirs from scratch. The average dancer wears a mixture of homemade, inherited, gifted, and purchased regalia. A good set often takes years to assemble, and dancers are always on the lookout at pow-wow traders' booths for something special in "their" colors.

Traditional Dances
What are now known as the men's and women's Traditional and men's Fancy Dance styles are directly descended from earlier, pre-reservation-era forms. Traditional dances have roots in old, tribal-specific warrior societies, old Omaha/Grass styles, and, to a certain extent, the Oklahoma Dream Dance of the 1890s that spread into the Great Lakes region. With so many variables, there is no one definitive Traditional Dance. Each dancer presents a slightly different version, depending on tribal affiliation and personal preference. Competition judging also has a personalized element, with no absolute standards.

Women's Traditional dancing can be characterized as having two basic footwork forms: moving forward step by step or standing in one spot, feet together, and using the knees and balls of the feet to bob up and down while keeping the upper body erect. The former is common to the Great Lakes and Oklahoma regions and the latter to the Northern Plains. In either case, by tradition a woman's feet should never completely leave the ground, which symbolizes the close bonds between women and their Mother the Earth. Most important, while her feet are on the ground the fringe on a woman's outfit should be in motion, swinging in wide arcs.

Before World War I, Plains women rarely entered dance grounds other than during specific women's dances, which tended to be what are referred to as "side-steps" (now often a Traditional women's competition dance). Most of the time, girls and women danced around the edges, either standing in place or moving slowly. That custom began to change following World War I and accelerated after World War II and the advent of large-scale homecoming celebrations, in part because women had served in the Armed Forces in large numbers. In many ways, the privilege of dancing in the interior of an arena was as much associated with a veteran's status as it was gender.

As more women became veterans, more roles—such as flag-bearer—became open to them. Before the late nineteenth century, Great Lakes-area women, to a certain extent, danced at ceremonial grounds during the same time men did and in addition had special kwe (women's) dances. After the introduction of the Dream Dance Society by Tailfeather Woman, however, Anishnaabeg women's roles changed to support male singers and dancers (similar to the Great Plains ideal). Women did little dancing within the arena until after World War II.

Women's Traditional regalia has more variety than that of any other women's dance style, in large part because it can either be in the Plains fashion (buckskin) or taken from old-time (1840-1900) fancy-dress clothes "traditional" to the dancer's tribe. In reality, the style that almost always wins in competition is that of Northern Buckskin dancers, who wear fully beaded yokes with long fringe, deer or cowhide skirts, women's breastplate (with vertically oriented bone pipes), leggings, moccasins, a fan in their right hands, and a shawl draped over their left arms (photograph 18). Women's Northern Cloth regalia styles are far more varied and include the ribbonwork/applique dresses of the Great Lakes and Iroquoian Cloth Dance dresses (photograph 9). Strangely enough, many women who dance in the Northern Buckskin Dance also use forward-motion footwork, although it is inappropriate to the dress. Conversely, local judges ignorant of the proper footwork for the Buckskin style often penalize women from the Northern Plains for not moving when those women dance outside their region. Too often, competitions are won by women who have impressive regalia but inappropriate footwork.

Men's Traditional Dance footwork is more free-form than women's, and men's regalia is more complex. Several factors affect what a man wears: tribal origin, personal sensibility, inheritance of dance accessories, and how well his wife, mother, or partner can sew. Traditional dancers move forward slowly, sometimes zigzagging while stomping their feet. Bowing and moving the head and body in sudden, jerking motions reminiscent of the head motions of animals are often favored. In this dance, men tell a story, sometimes of war and valor and other times of hunting and animal-spirit possession. Each story is personal, and a good dancer conveys the excitement of his dance narrative to the audience. Male Northern Traditional dancers, in addition to whatever personal regalia they possess, such as eagle feathers, a breastplate with horizontally oriented bone pipes, a roach, and a fan, are almost always marked by a single back bustle, two cloth trailers hanging from it. Although traditional warrior society dancers wore very little body covering and danced with bare chests and legs, modern dancers almost always wear full shirts and leggings, reminiscent of the dance clothing worn only in the winter months of the late 1800s. The male Traditional dancer in photograph 20 wears "contemporary Traditional" regalia; the outfit in photograph 22 is an example of "old-style Northern Traditional." At larger pow-wows, these two sub-styles now compete in separate categories.

For both men and women, "Traditional" is also a catchall category, and regalia styles not considered Fancy, Grass, or Jingle Dress are thrown into it by default. In practical terms, that can mean anything from Southeastern (Choctaw/Cherokee) women's Cloth Dance dresses to hobbyists (non-Indian dancers) who wear clothing inspired by the Lord of the Rings trilogy. During my years of pow-wow dancing I have never seen anyone who has paid the registration fee be excluded from a competition, even when they wear almost nothing—which was the case when two men brought only one outfit between them and split its parts.

The Contemporary Grass Dance
Peji Waci is the traditional name Lakota people use for the Grass Dance, which is popular at modern intertribal pow-wows in the United States and Canada. Contemporary Lakota dancers tell their own tale of Grass Dance origins, very much different from most written accounts. Norma Rendon's (Oglala) narrative, which she first heard from her grandfather, Wallace Little, is representative:

The Grass Dance originated way back. The Lakota, a long time ago they had these men who would wear a row of grass around their head, around their arms, around their ankles, and right under their knees. And the reason for this is they would always be in front. Before they would go to a battle or a hunt, these men would always be up front. And they would creep down in with the grass and blend right in with the grass. They would sneak up on the buffalo or the camp they were going to attack. They went up front because they blended right in with the grass when they were sneaking up. Then, when the hunt was over or the war was over, the war party ended, then they came back to camp and were the first ones to dance. They were also the first ones to go into the dance. As they went into the dance arena before the People they would stomp down the grass with their feet. And that's why when you see Grass dancers they're stomping their feet all four ways. If they do a movement four times on one side, then they do that movement four times on the other side. If you watch Grass dancers now they still do that. (August 15, 1989, interview)

Rendon's account is consistent with both the contemporary dance's footwork and the look of its regalia. The most characteristic element of Grass Dance footwork—"flattening the grass"—entails partially bending on one leg while dragging the foot of the other leg out and around the body and tapping the ball of each foot four times. Grass dancers' outfits have no feather bustles but do include large amounts of chainette fringe or yarn, which is attached to their shirts and aprons and, when moving, evokes waves of grass. Dancers also wear a roach and carry fans in their left hands. Various objects can be carried in their right hands, including dream-catchers, mirrors, and small medicine-wheel shields. Yarn "grass" is evident on the dancer's outfit in photograph 2.

For innumerable reasons, the origin points of contemporary pow-wow Grass dancing are controversial. After hearing Rendon's story and then reading texts by Clark Wissler (1912, 1916) and William Powers (1963, 1966, 1990), I knew there was a conflict between at least some segments of Lakota oral tradition and written accounts. In conversations with other scholars, additional narratives came to light, including one told to me in 1996 by Edward Wapp (Comanche, Sac/Fox), a professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Wapp recalled attending a number of Northern pow-wows in the Dakotas with his family during the late 1950s and seeing the early forms of modern pow-wow Grass dancing there, as performed primarily by Cree people. In his opinion, the form had originated in Canada and gradually migrated south.

That possibility stayed in my mind until August 1997, when I spent a week in the archives of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. There I met Bob Red Elk (Fort Peck Sioux), a museum fellow who told me that, according to his family's knowledge, the Grass Dance had been part of pow-wows for at least a century and until the 1950s was known as "Fancy Grass" to distinguish it from the Omaha Grass version. After a few days of digging through boxes of old photographs yet to be fully archived, I found a photograph album from the 1920s and 1930s filled with a series of small images taken on Pine Ridge Reservation with a Brownie camera. In it there were the unmistakable forms of two Grass dancers, and they wore fringed outfits and eagle-down fluffs attached to their roaches to represent clouds. The caption identified them as "Sioux," and, intriguingly, the regalia they wore appeared to be far closer to that of contemporary dancers than were the examples worn by various models in Powers's books from the early 1960s.

There is no doubt that pow-wow-style Grass dancing was well established on Pine Ridge by the early 1930s and that, based on the automobiles in them, the photographs had been taken no later than the mid-1930s. Considering that Rendon's grandfather would have been a young man at that time and likely first heard his rendition of the story between 1910 and 1920, the dance must have existed on Pine Ridge in a distinctive form even in those years, perhaps as the "young man's" version (chapter 2).

The Jingle Dress Dance
Women's Jingle Dress dancing is a special interest of mine, in large part because I was a Jingle Dress dancer for seven years. Out of respect for the tradition, during that time I learned as much as possible about the meaning of Jingle dancing for both performers and their audiences. One of the most profound elements of Jingle Dress dancing is its spiritual power, which originates as an energy generated from the sound of the cones that sing out to the spirits when dancers lift their feet in time with the drum. The very act of dancing in this dress constitutes a prayer for healing, and often spectators, musicians, and other dancers will make gifts of tobacco to a dancer and request that she pray for an ill family member while she dances. An example of hidden spirituality and ritual within a public forum, the ever-unfolding story of the Jingle Dress Dance is unique in Indian Country. There is little fanfare and no public announcement when the Jingle Dance is performed as a healing prayer, only a quiet circulation of family members from dancer to dancer, a whispered request, and a quick nod of thanks by both parties.

The story of the Jingle Dress Dance begins in Whitefish Bay, a reserve village located on the shores of Lake of the Woods in southwestern Ontario. Small and isolated, it is a Native community where traditional values and sensibilities can still flourish. One of these concepts is that specific kinds of knowledge can be brought into the community through the medium of a dream or vision. Closely tied to this notion is the idea that what the Creator or guardian spirit gives to an individual though a vision is a complete understanding of what they have experienced; there is no need for experimentation or further hypothesis. Older oral narratives, such as that of Crow-Feather (the Pawnee warrior honored by being given the Iruska knowledge in a vision), commonly tell of this experience.

Women in North America have a long history of attaching objects to their clothing in order to make pleasing rhythmic sounds while they danced. In pre-European times, these "jingles" were commonly made from shells, animal teeth, or bone; in the Great Lakes area, women used pieces of hammered copper, a resource abundant in that region. According to photographic evidence from the latter part of the 1800s, Ojibwe women wore decorative sashes trimmed with metal cones, most likely made from scraps of tin cans. Until around 1918 or 1920, however, no specific dance calling for metal cones as part of its regalia existed in Anishnaabeg communities.

     Just as the Iruska had its origin in a vision, so, too, did the Jingle Dress Dance. Accounts of its beginnings abound. Unlike many other Native dance forms whose origins are subject to controversy, Jingle dancing can be traced to a specific woman, Maggie White, who was a member of the Whitefish Bay Ojibwe community and died in the early 1990s. The most common Great Lakes-area story of her experience is that the Jingle dress and dance were given to the Anishnaabeg sometime soon after the end of World War I through the medium of White's father's vision, which he sought when she was ill.

It is a fairly simple generic narrative. A young girl was sick and gave no signs of recovering, so her father sought a vision. In that vision he was shown how to make a dress and perform a dance. He set about making the dress and then put it on his daughter and instructed her in the dance. In spite of her illness, she somehow was able to dance, and when she did she was miraculously cured. Afterward, the same girl sought out three other girls and directed each to make a dress in one of the four sacred colors (red, yellow, white, and blue), with four rows of jingles rolled from snuff cans. The girl was Maggie White, and she and the other three girls became the nucleus of the Jingle Dress Dance Society.

The rules of the society were drawn from traditional Ojibwe women's values and concepts of the role of women as caretakers of the family and supporters of men, who in pre-reservation times protected the family from harm. A young woman who wished to join the society was to be of good moral character and a role model of proper behavior. In the year preceding her initiation she was put on a "berry fast" by an older woman and not allowed to eat berries for that year. The fast represented sacrifice and self-discipline. Each day during the fasting year she was to attach one cone to her dress and say a prayer. At the end of the year she was inducted into the Jingle Dress Society and taught the dance. In the Jingle Dance, one foot is never to leave the ground, so the dancer always remains connected to the earth. The society still functions in this same manner, and the dance continues to be performed as prayer of healing.

In the years following its inception, the Jingle Dress Dance became widespread, and alternative narratives can be found in other regions where it is performed. Norma Rendon of Pine Ridge told me of a Lakota example:

The women's Jingle originated from the Chippewa Tribe. That was right after World War I. This veteran—he was Indian—came back from World War I. Right after that he got sick, he was real sick. He was close to his granddaughter, they had this real tight bond between them. When he got real sick like that, the granddaughter was scared, and she wanted her grandpa to live. So she went to a medicine man, and they went to a ceremony. And she said, "My grandpa is real sick. I hurt inside because he's going to be gone, and I want to know what I can do to make him stay here longer, to be around with me longer." So that medicine man said, "You are his life, his love for you is real strong and the greatest happiness is when he watches you dance." So he said, "What you need to do is to make a dress and on that dress you need to put tins so they'll jingle when you dance. They will sway back and forth and jingle. And when you do that they'll sound like the leaves on your sister the tree. That will calm him [grandfather] and that will heal him. When he sees you dance after that he'll be okay." So she put on a pow-wow and she made her dress. And she went out and she danced. But her dance had to be graceful. Not fast and not slow. And so that's how the Jingle Dress came in, and that's why it's graceful and sways.... And after that he [grandfather] saw her dance and was okay. People just started picking it up right after that. (Rendon interview, Aug. 15, 1989)

In this tradition, the power of the dress to heal is still central, but added are the elements of a girl's unique relationship with her grandfather, the medicine man, and the cones sounding like "our sister the tree," recontextualizing the story to better fit a Lakota cultural framework.

Another variant is told by Randy Talmadge (Ho-Chunk), one of the announcers at the Winnebago Standing Rock Summer Ceremonials, a tourist-oriented attraction sponsored by the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin (the Wisconsin Winnebago have reclaimed the name "Ho-Chunk," their original name for themselves). Talmadge and I worked together on a pow-wow music and dance presentation for the national meeting of the Sonneck Society for American Music in Madison, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1995. Talmadge, who is also a storyteller at Standing Rock, was eager to tell the audience his version of the story.

The Ho-Chunk/Winnebago Jingle Dress tale is similar to the Ojibwe's, but with two important exceptions. First, it is placed within the historic framework of the Anishnaabeg migration from the East, which would date it somewhere close to 1600 c.e. Second, in Talmadge's version the entire Anishnaabeg Confederacy is dying, especially its elders and carriers of tradition, rather than one individual. Talmadge's Jingle Dress legend stresses values and history from a strongly Ho-Chunk viewpoint. It was the Ho-Chunk after all, not the Anishnaabeg, who were nearly wiped out by epidemics during the 1630s. In addition, the Ho-Chunk constantly emphasize the antiquity of their traditions and the more recent arrival to Wisconsin of other tribes. By making it clear that the Anishnaabeg had migrated into the area, the Ho-Chunk can imply that they were there first, an understandable impulse in a state they share with such immigrant tribes as the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Brotherton.

The issue of how to tell variant narratives is not without controversy in the larger Native community. During the summer of 1994, while I was trying to track down a pamphlet containing Maggie White's original narrative, the Whitefish Bay Band council office referred me to Allan Crow, who, I was told, had published the pamphlet. After a brief telephone conversation, I wrote to Crow with details about my research, as he had requested. He replied that he had heard the story of the Jingle Dress and the dance from the woman who wore the dress as a child (Maggie White). When Crow interviewed her, he explained, she had told him that "the story was now [his] and that it could be told in print." Although he included it in the Whitefish Bay pow-wow souvenir booklet, he later told the pow-wow committee to stop selling the booklet because he had not been given proper credit as its author. "I own the rights to the story," Crow asserted. "Any other printed similar to mine is plagiarism." As a professional, published writer, he expected appropriate benefits and credits should he decide to come in with me as a coauthor, he told me on August 9, 1994.

The difficulty presented by Crow's stance is that I do not know what his version is because I have not seen the pamphlet. There is thus no way for me to discern whether I am infringing upon what he considers his cultural property. 1 Because the band council referred me to him, however, I cannot ignore his claims. Based upon his reply, I immediately ceased to seek the pamphlet, a decision made not because I found his answer problematic or was concerned about negotiating with him. Indeed, I accepted his claims of ownership (although I suspect he may have misunderstood my intentions). The larger issue is that once his version of the tale had been published in my book, he unfortunately would no longer be able to control whether it would be plagiarized (in his terminology).

Crow's claims of possession of a now-widespread oral tradition are just one facet of continued Ojibwe attempts to regain authority over the dance and its narratives, in this case by citing the possibility of plagiarism to defend a claim of ownership. Dealing with questions of intellectual property rights for a story told in one variation or another in hundreds of pow-wow programs is akin to controversies of the late 1990s concerning Internet-based music copying programs such as Napster and Gnutella. For better or worse, I suspect that this genie is permanently out of the bottle.

During the half-century following Maggie White's first rendition, the Jingle Dress Dance was limited to the confines of Ojibwe Country and rarely seen other than at pow-wows in those areas. Performed at traditional pow-wows, it subsumed the earlier Women's (Kwe) Dance, taking its shuffle footwork and adding it to the repertoire of the Jingle Dance as a second distinct style. That gives the Jingle Dress Dance two dissimilar footwork styles, "straight" and "round" (also called "side-step," or "shuffle"). Women's Northern Traditional has a similar side-step style, but the tempo and beat pattern of the music for the Jingle Round Dance is unique and unrelated to any other genre of pow-wow song. If an Anishnaabeg Drum can be found, it is rare for one that is not Anishnaabeg to be invited to sing one of these songs. Most Drums, however, can sing the Traditional or straight songs that accompany the more common straight style of dance. For me, the Drum that sings side-step songs with the greatest energy and enthusiasm is the Whitefish Bay Singers, most of whose members are the sons and grandsons of Maggie White.

Not until the late 1960s and early 1970s did the Jingle Dress Dance begin to be seen frequently outside Ojibwe Country. Initially, the only women performing it were Anishnaabeg, but as time went on Northern and Southern Plains women developed an interest in the dance and started to learn it. Because they were not a part of the Anishnaabeg dance tradition, many of these women assembled non-standard dance outfits that had fewer than the required 365 cones and beaded yokes borrowed from Fancy Dance regalia. Moreover, at the grand entry of some western pow-wows, Jingle Dress dancers enter the arena after Fancy dancers, a sign the dance is not accorded the same respect as it is given in Anishnaabeg regions. In addition, footwork in the western states is far different than the careful Anishnaabeg "Woodland" style. Many Plains dancers incorporate spins and lifts reminiscent of the Fancy Dance.

According to pow-wow scuttlebutt, the popularity of Jingle Dress dancing outside traditional Ojibwe communities has caused concern among members of the dance society at Whitefish Bay. On one hand, many consider the dance to be a gift from the Ojibwe to the larger Native North American community. On the other hand, however, the regalia of many women is far beyond that deemed proper, and skin-tight dresses, metallic glitter fabrics, and lace sleeves are coming into vogue (photographs 8 and 9). Many competitive pow-wow dancers also wear eagle feathers, a practice frowned upon by the dance society. For all intents and purposes, the society has lost control of the Jingle Dress Dance and is rumored to be considering a strategy that would return what they consider integrity to it. In a break from tradition, the society may be considering allowing branches to form in other communities and even allowing Indians who are not Anishnaabeg to join.

Fancy Styles
Men's and women's Fancy dancing, although sharing the same name, have somewhat different origins. The men's style developed as a result of intersections between Traditional warrior society dances and Wild West shows, where dancing was performed as an exhibition event for audiences unfamiliar with the meanings behind more (comparatively) sedate styles of war dancing. For the most part, Indians agree that men's Fancy dancing, in the form seen at pow-wows, was first done in Oklahoma after World War I. It gradually spread from there to the Northern Plains and finally to the Great Lakes region during the 1950s. Women's Fancy dancing, sometimes called "Fancy Shawl" or "Butterfly" dancing, either developed shortly before World War II or during the war. Numerous (non-Lakota) oral sources place the dance's birthplace on one of the Lakota reservations in South Dakota. Compared to many other pow-wow dances, the beginnings of men's Fancy and women's Fancy Shawl dancing are not a particularly contested issue. There are slight differences between the Northern and Southern versions of the men's Fancy Dance and essentially none between the North and South in women's Fancy.

Northern Men's Fancy regalia consists of two large bustles, one on the lower back and one on the shoulders. In addition, one Catabwa (small bustle) is usually worn on each upper arm. Large bustles generally have dyed feather hackles and ribbons (or tinsel) attached to the end of each feather. Beaded or ribbonwork aprons, yokes, and moccasins or aquasocks, along with spinners in each hand and a roach headdress, make up the rest of the regalia. Two eagle feathers adorn the roach, and it is here that Northern and Southern dancers can be best differentiated. Northern dancers by tradition attach their feathers into what are referred to as "spinners," allowing each feather to move independently. Southern dancers use a device called a "rocker," which is shaped like a horizontal capital H. A feather is attached to each end of the top crossbar; the bottom ends of the main bar (which is somewhat shorter than the top bar) attach with rubber bands to make a free-floating "hitch." The result is that the two feathers move together as a single unit, but the rocker moves independently from the dancer's head (photograph 3).

Beyond the requirement of keeping time to the basic drumbeat, Men's Fancy Dance is entirely free-form. Almost anything goes, including splits and cartwheels. Dancers tend to wear colors that are brighter than those used in Traditional styles, and the hackles and fringe attached to their bustle feathers create an effect of constant motion. Fancy dancing has been, and continues to be, a dance of the young. The endurance and athleticism it demands are beyond the abilities of most people by their late thirties. Men's competition Fancy dancing is accompanied by extremely fast music, at times approaching 150 beats per minute and featuring a breathtaking acceleration toward the end of each song. In many ways, images of male Fancy dancers have become iconic of pow-wow dancing (and Indians in general) to the outside world.

Women's Fancy style is a direct outgrowth of male dancing, albeit through an unusual route. According to pow-wow tradition, in the early 1940s a number of teenage girls grew frustrated that only men were permitted to perform the Fancy Dance. In a challenge to convention, they dressed in men's outfits and danced at a South Dakota pow-wow. That and other similar actions led women to develop a Fancy Dance for females. The regalia is simple: a basic dress (or skirt and dress), a yoke, moccasins, leggings, and a shawl worn over the shoulders and arms (photographs 5, 6, and 19).

One common metaphor for the dance is that it represents a caterpillar emerging from her cocoon as a butterfly, just as young girls one day become women. The flowing, spinning motion of the shawl represents the movement of wings. Because it was perfected outside the framework of Traditional styles, women's Fancy Dance breaks with the custom that at least one foot be in touch with the earth. Dancers leap and spin with the spontaneity of youth and the blessing of sound knees. Although somewhat more structured than men's Fancy, and with slower songs, women's Fancy is also a dance of the young. By their mid- to late thirties most women have changed over to performing more sedate dance styles. There are no real differences between Northern and Southern women's Fancy dancers in either regalia or footwork.

I am often asked about gender roles at pow-wows and whether men and women can dance in each other's categories. The answer to that question is a qualified yes, they may. Acceptance of this behavior varies widely, however, depending on the age of the dancer and region where the pow-wow is held. Children are treasured in North American Indian societies and in many ways given more freedom to find themselves during childhood than young people in the dominant culture. Therefore, it is common for girls to be allowed—even encouraged—to dance in boy's outfits through puberty if they wish (chapters 4 and 5). Boys are also seen in female regalia, but far more rarely.

As children grow to adulthood, the question of their dance category begins to tie more and more into concepts of gender identity and sexual orientation. At this point, choice of dance category becomes a statement to the pow-wow community of who a person is and how they wish to be perceived. Indian people tend to be more accepting of difference than the dominant society, primarily because they consider that it is not up to one human to criticize how the Creator has made another. But dancers who are "draggin' it" usually are in for some sideways glances and whispered comments. I have never heard, however, of any dancer not being allowed to dance or being ejected from a pow-wow, harassed, or abused in any way for choosing to dance in a category not traditionally assigned to their sex or gender. Indeed, it is becoming more common for women to Grass Dance, and a few pow-wows are holding special women's Grass Dance competitions. Perhaps in time women's Grass Dance will emerge as its own competition category, with slightly different regalia and footwork than the men's style.

Intertribal Forms
Intertribal dances are those in which members of the audience wearing street clothes may participate. They usually occur in sets early into each pow-wow session and between rounds of contest dancing. Some intertribals are generic pow-wow dances in which participants move slowly clockwise around the arena, often walking and talking. Other intertribals, such as Crow Hops, Round Dances, Two-Steps, Owl Dances, and Snake Dances, are more specialized. In all, participation with friends and family is the key to enjoyment, and the pow-wow's master of ceremonies constantly urges the audience to get out and dance in the arena. At each pow-wow, one man and one women (occasionally, one girl and one boy) are designated as head dancers and given the job of dancing during every intertribal song and being the lead couple for couples' dances. Head dancers keep a pow-wow's action flowing, for without them some intertribal songs would bring no dancers into the arena, particularly in hot, windy, or rainy weather. By custom, no one begins to dance at the beginning of each intertribal "set" until after the head dancers enter into the arena.

The major division among forms of intertribal dancing are between those danced as couples, such as the Two-Step and Owl Dance, and dances where each person technically dances alone, such as Crow Hops, Buffalo Dances (a Southern dance in which dancers are part of a "herd"), Snake Dances, and Round Dances. In Crow Hops and Buffalo Dances each dancer is in independent motion; in Round Dances they are a part in a large, left-moving circle. Snake Dances are somewhat different, for each dancer represents a segment in a giant serpent and follows a leader (normally the male head dancer), who is its "head." At one point the group separates into sections of four people each. Each section dances as a unit as the "snake" crosses a river and then re-forms. Two-Step and Owl Dances are couples' dances, where women choose their partners and men pay if they refuse. For the Two-Step, a lead couple—again the head dancers—choose the steps and set the pace for the rest of the dancers. In the Owl Dance, couples perform independently.

Specials
The most common forms of special exhibition dances at Northern pow-wows are Hoop dancing and Aztec ("Mexica" or "Mexika") dancing. Hoop dancing usually takes place on Sunday afternoons after main competition rounds are over but before prizes are awarded. Aztec dancing is as yet not formally integrated into pow-wows, but often Aztec dance troupes are invited to perform during dinner break for general entertainment purposes and from of a sense of pan-American indigenous solidarity. Neither Hoop nor Aztec dancers are normally paid by the pow-wow committee—other than token amounts of day money—but members of a Hoop dancer's family almost always put out a blanket and collect payment from an appreciative audience.

Historically, the progression of the Hoop Dance from the southwestern Pueblo cultures into the pow-wow circuit is straightforward, in many ways mirroring that of other pow-wow styles. Hoop dancing is a specialty and is popular throughout the continental United States. It was originally a religious form of dance in the pueblos of the American Southwest. In the late nineteenth century, however, when tourists began to visit the pueblos, people there created secular, exhibition versions of previously ceremonial dances. The Hoop Dance was one such display.

Famed throughout the pueblos as the gateway between the Plains and the Southwest, the pueblo of Taos seems the most likely spot for exhibition Hoop dancing to have entered Plains cultures, and Plains Indians likely learned the dance there. From the early 1920s onward, Hoop dancing spread in an ever-widening circle across the Plains, picking up a number of Plains characteristics such as the four sacred colors on its way. Although at one time it was a male-only form, both men and women now perform the Hoop Dance, with males predominating in numbers. Pre-teenage girls, however, are taking up the dance with about the same frequency as boys do.

The hoops for the dance, about twenty-four inches in diameter, are usually decorated in the four sacred colors of the Plains: red, yellow, black, and white. Those colors, in unity on the hoop, represent what contemporary Native Americans consider the four races of humanity: Indian, Asian, African, and European. Dancers use the hoops to imitate various insects and animals, creating an image of human unity. The length of a Hoop Dance song is controlled by how long it takes the dancers to create a requisite number of abstract forms. Songs are repeated over and over until a dance is finished. Hoop dancing is extremely difficult to master, and most performers need at least five years to become competent.

The North American version of contemporary Aztec dancing ("Danza Azteca" or "Danza Mexika") stems from two sources: the Mexican Indigenismo movement in the 1920s and 1930s and surviving elements from older Mexica cultures, preserved in the styles of Mexican conchero dancing. Most of what is known as "Aztec dancing," as seen at North American pow-wows, is an idealized re-creation and reconstruction of dance forms and music by folklorico dance troupes of the 1920s and 1930s who were looking for symbolic ways to reclaim Mexico's heroic pre-Columbian past. They created a highly theatrical dance form based on surviving Aztec narratives, book illustrations, instruments, and written descriptions of the Spanish conquerors. The Spanish conquered Mexico in 1521, more than 350 years before American settlers' conquest of the Great Plains. During those 350 years, traditional Aztec dancing—a religious tradition—was violently suppressed (and perhaps to a certain extent subsumed) by the Catholic church.

In the United States, family and community-based Aztec dance groups began to form in the early 1970s as an outgrowth of the la raza movement. The groups were also motivated by the need for a unique identity, separate from that of the generic "Hispanic," and the urge to connect culturally and spiritually with North American Indians. Unfortunately, many American Aztec dancers are unfamiliar with the history of the genre and have begun to proclaim its antiquity at pow-wows and in interviews with Indian-oriented newspapers. According to Carlos Casteneda of Denver's Grupo Tlaloc, for example, contemporary North American Aztec dancing springs from the direct survival of ancient Aztec forms: "This is a handed-down oral tradition from our grandmothers and grandfathers.... The dances are done by memory. It is a teaching of balance, harmony, respect for everything around us and our environment. Whenever we come together in a circle, we try to teach what has not been taught in schools.... Dating back to the Maya and Aztec empires, the religious dances have survived Spanish colonialism and modern times" (Arias 1999: 22).

Despite such claims, North American Aztec dancing is not the result of uninterrupted oral transmission and continuity across generations, direct from earlier Aztec culture. It is is folklorico-based and has few if any connections with Nahuatl-speaking communities in Mexico. Although it is unclear whether any of the musical traditions still exist in an unadulterated form (some instruments do survive in museums), some of the customary dance steps and music may survive in rural Mexico, as suggested by Ines Hernadez-Avila in her ongoing research on the Mexican conchero dance tradition (also known as "Aztec dance" in Mexico).

Chris Goertzen (2001: 85) has described the "tightly choreographed display dances by visiting troupes of Aztec dancers" at pow-wows in the piedmont of North Carolina. Troupes are composed of "extended families from Mexico who make a living at U.S. Latin-American Festivals and pow-wows." Although the dancers identified themselves to Goertzen as "pure Aztecs," the mother of one told him that they were actually Tarascans. Thus it seems that groups of Mexican dancers are traveling the small pow-wow circuit as the ubiquitous Peruvian pan-pipe bands have since the 1980s. It is possible that these dancers, unlike their North American counterparts, have ties to the Mexican conchero tradition—and indeed may in some sense be true Aztec dancers. In creating a niche for themselves in areas that do not have large Chicana and Chicano populations or locally based Aztec dancers, Mexican performers may eventually bring about a cultural cross-fertilization with American troupes.

Southern Dance Styles at Northern Pow-wows
It is common to see Southern dancers (such as myself) at Northern pow-wows. Eastern Oklahoma's Prairie tribes have generated two dances specific to that region: men's Southern Straight and women's Southern Cloth Dance. Both have origins in the Dream Dance movement of the late 1890s and have aesthetically similar regalia, fitting together historically as a pair in the same manner as men's and Women's (Buckskin) Northern Traditional styles. Southern Straight and Cloth Traditional dancers are less flamboyant in dress and footwork than their Northern counterparts, favoring a "clean" look with far fewer feathers and fringes. While Northern dancers wear fully beaded outfits, Southerners use ribbonwork and rows of beads set off with paint and metal spots. Spatial organization and the textures of exposed areas between beaded bands are very important to the Southern aesthetic, a concept that holds true on a larger scale throughout their regalia fashions.

Southern Straight dancers wear long shirts, leggings, wide belts, and thick leather drops covered with conchos, aprons of trade cloth, bandoliers, and a roach or turban (photograph 4). Each man carries a fan in his left hand and a beaded pointing stick in his right that he uses to follow a "trail." Footwork is subdued and conservative. Women's Southern Cloth dancers wear a long shirt (with no belt), a trade-cloth (generally selvage-edge) skirt, ribbonwork drop, leggings, and moccasins. They also drape a shawl over their left arms and a purse over their right wrists and hold a fan in their right hands. Options include a scarf, rows of silver brooches, and a half-size (compared to Northern Traditional) bone breastplate. Their footwork is a stylized walk, with straight-backed upper-body posture and elbows bent somewhat outward so the shawl's fringe has room to swing.

New Dance Categories at Northern Pow-wows
Since the late 1980s, a number of new categories and one new competition dance have entered the pow-wow circuit. Because of rapid changes in the regalia and footwork of some men's Traditional and Grass dancers (essentially a "fancying-up") at many large events, these styles have been split into two sub-styles: Contemporary and Old. Northeastern dances have split further because male Iroquoian dancers at times compete in the Eastern Straight category. To call this style of dancing "Straight" is a misnomer. The term Straight in a pow-wow context refers as much to the act of following a trail, dance stick in hand, as it does to the lack of a back bustle (evidently the inspiration for the category's name). Although it is understandable that men want to compete in a separate category from Plains-oriented men's Traditional—because their regalia and footwork are so different from judging norms—another name for their dance would be more appropriate. By calling the dance style "Straight" they do disservice to Southern men who perform the Oklahoma-originated dance.

Indian people of the Northeast (Iroquois, Penobscot, Miq-Maq, and Pequot) have, since the early 1990s, expressed great desire to have one of their styles incorporated into pow-wow competition. At a number of larger Northeastern Dances, Smoke dancing has moved from a special to a regular contest for both men and women. According to Kyle Dowdy, Sr. (Seneca), a professional Smoke Dance singer, the dance was given to the Iroquois by the Oklahoma Osage tribe and is a version of the Osage Fast War Dance. That story seems improbable, but Senecas (one of the Six Iroquois nations) do live in northeastern Oklahoma, close to the Osage reservation. Intermarriage and other cultural contacts might well have facilitated the gift of the dance style from the Osage to the Oklahoma Seneca. After that, it would have been only a matter of time for it to spread from the Oklahoma Seneca to the Northeastern Seneca and then throughout the Iroquoian Confederacy. Smoke dancing uses a single singer who plays a waterdrum in a series of fast songs requiring fancy footwork. As further verification of Dowdy's tale, although the music at first sounds quite different from standard pow-wow songs, its interior form and structure are almost exactly the same (chapter 4).