Powwow Research Paper

As soon as I was born, I have been experiencing powwow after powwow. I was a dancer for seven years of my life. I have danced fancy shawl, and jingle. I have competed in competitions and I have even travelled to the United States for two different powwows. My father is also a dancer, and a singer in his own drum group so my experience with powwows is incredibly high. When I attended the FNUC opening powwow, I possessed this thought in my mind that this powwow was not going to be all that special, or exciting. I know the difference between a small and a large powwow, and small powwows are fun, but large powwows is where it gets interesting with the dancing competitions, the amount different drum groups, and the amount of dancers as a whole. Never would I have …show more content…
I asked a lot of different people what they thought of when they watched dancers perform. Surprisingly, many of students had different interpretations. With this, I started to look at the dancers from different point of views then what I have always looked at them as. It was amazing because when I attended this powwow I learned that each of the dances possess a beautiful strong background to them, and it was more than what I was taught growing up. The mens traditional dance is a warrior dance. The man dancing it has never taken a step back while he was dancing. A warrior should not back down or take a step back from my understanding, and that is a very powerful symbol. The ladies traditional dance is a Mother Earth dance, she never takes both her feet off of the ground. I believe that makes the stronger connection with Mother Earth in the dance itself. The ladies fancy shawl dance is known as the butterfly dance. Ladies jingle is a healing dance. With the knowledge of what some dance really meant and the interpretations from different students it was truly beautiful to observe from many different point of views. Each dance is used to heal not only the dancers, but the people watching and learning from