PBS For The Arts

We are trying to build bridges through art, and our dancing is an art form and it has evolved with the intuition of each dancer and each person as we evolve as these traditional people into the new modern days.

Each tribe really has their own ways, their own ceremonies, their own dances.

We wanted to call it Indigenous Enterprise for that reason to collaborate with other tribes.

So Acosia, for example, she's Umatilla, Adrian's from the Gila River and the rest of us are Navajo.

Everything came from these original drumbeats and these original dances.

Having these teachings kind of brings me like closer to people and I like keeping our tradition alive.

The one who clears the dance floor, graceful and balanced grass dancer.

The grass dance origin story comes from the northern Great Plains.

The grass dancers were facilitators who would come out to create space for ceremonies, feasts and other social gatherings by stomping the grass down flat.

The grass dance resembles grass in the prairies up north, like the northern plains, like when it's windy, the grass blows left to right.

So that's what I do with my footwork and my body shoulder work, what I do with my right.

I do with my left, or if I start with the left, like I gotta do it with the right just sway my head back and forth.

We tend to stay low, low to the ground, and it's more of like like a smooth type of dancing, like you see me, like sliding my foot.

When I was little, I always had this thing for hummingbirds and I would actually like, catch them.

My sister, she did my beadwork.

The florals and the flowers that the shininess and the bright colors.

Our dances have, you know, stories, meanings, teachings, and a real spiritual connection between us as human beings and, to the Creator.

The chicken dance originates from the Northern Plains tribes of North America.

It is a sacred healing dance and mimics the prairie chicken during its mating season.

I was taught to alway dance for the ones who can't, you know, the ones who are going through tough times, whether it be some type of sickness or illness, depression, anything that's, you know, affecting the mind negatively.

I was told to always dance with a prayer in mind to, you know, give back that good, positive uplift.

And that's one thing that I want people to understand is it's a lot deeper than dancing.

You know, I dance in hopes to uplift whoever is watching.

The traditional aspect and the modernism of what we do and how it correlates all together is really empowering, especially as an Indigenous youth.

I come from a place on the reservation where, you we still struggle with poverty and you know, mental health.

And overall, we just want to be able to, you know, showcase that there's a lot more out there for, you know our people.

Not only when it comes to pow wow dancing, but whatever creative outlet that you love or care for.

Healing through sound is at the heart of the Jingle Dance.

Jingle Dance originates from the Ojibway region surrounding the western Great Lakes.

The sound of the jingles, ziibaaska'ignan, ripple outward from the dress and bring healing to all in its path.

When I take that dress with me, when I travel to other countries, I always find a spot to put my dress on and go out in nature and dance so that the land can hear that sound.

The Jingle Dance is a healing dance, but every single style of our powwow dances are healing dances because they help ground us and connect us back to who we are.

Connect us back to the original heartbeat, give us identity and help us to be proud of ourselves.

Our dancing liberates us.

Our dances have been taken away from us in the past.

Our own ancestors, just generations back, weren't able to dance.

We were getting arrested and being thrown in jail for practicing our songs and doing what we're doing basically today.

Because when different tribes are getting pushed out of their land, you know, different cultures were getting shared.

Each dancer, they start bringing in new moves and new ideas into the song or dance, all of these dances have evolved because people were out there performing their dance, really feeling the drum.

And when you really feel the music, a new thing will happen.

It's a blessing to be able to dance.

I started dancing when I was five.

I've been doing it my whole life, and it's my main thing that I'm good at and I love to dance, I love to sing.

Boldness, spirit and strength are traits of the men's fancy dance, which comes from the Oklahoma area, according to many stories.

We wanted to be able to bring it more of a young audience twist on it.

Not for them to just be calm and peaceful.

We love that that interaction, like we feed off the energy.

We've got two championship dancers, here's how it's gonna go down.

Winner gets all the bragging rights, loser has gotta Uber all the way home.

Alright y'all, make some noise, make some noise!

It gets me to go harder as a dancer and to be able to bring these traditions in to be celebrated in that light, be able to let the audience interact with us and get to know us as human beings bringing it in a new way.

We're trying to bring our traditional cultures and our old origin stories with us and then present them in such a way that it's it's exciting.

It's it's old, it's new, it's futuristic.

The energy passes out into the stands and hopefully, you know, people feel good.

Every elder we've talked to, they've seen us perform.

They love it.

They like they know that we're coming from a good spot in that we're telling real traditional stories.

We're using teachings that they've passed down to us.

Movement is medicine.

Movement heals people, movement makes us happy, enhances our memory and and helps our whole body to live longer, so that we can live into our eldership so we can share with our next generations.

That is the intention.

But also we're moving our bodies and the people that are watching might not be moving, but they're moving their thoughts.

They're moving old thought forms and limiting beliefs and old programing.

We're showing you the movement of our culture.

It's a living history.

It's not just a performance, but it's a responsibility.