grass dance vest?

[Littlecat]

so im making a new grass dance regalia and i came across a picture of a grass dancer with yarn fringed aprons but a vest, and im just wondering , is that allowed in competition? i mean i know the design is up to personal opinion and i think it looks awesome but would i be allowed to do something like that or is it too out there?

[Toolbox]

Are you sure that it's a vest? I mean while it appears to be a vest it could be the way he made the shirt. It looks rather tight fitting to be a vest.

I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed in competition. whether or not you will loose points is up to the individual judges, if they are including your outfit in determining their scores. If you are going for old school traditional grass then the answer is probably no.

I recognize the guy in the background, "Drew", but would you happen to know who the other guy is. If you have the website you got the pic from as well. I could find out for you if it's someone I know.

[Littlecat]

fortunately i don't know who it is though the site the pic is on is native nations dance theater

http://nndt.homestead.com/InternationalTours.html

i dont really know why but i just love the old school feel of the vest combined with the big yarn grass aprons

[Toolbox]

I thought that is where you may have gotten the image from... I know who Drew is, the other guy in the background, but the guy in the foreground's name escapes me. I'm pretty sure it's just his shirt and not a vest.

[Littlecat]

ok then do you think it would be possible to do a vest instead of just having a two colored shirt?

[wardancer]

Why not ? It's YOUR outfit , make it how you want it !

[Littlecat]

right on thanks oh and i thought i would post some the stuff that i recently finished to see what you guys think

[Littlecat]

here's some more

[wyo_rose]

If Drew can grass dance with 6" chainette fringe, then I don't see what's wrong with a vest with ribbon fringe.

My 2 pesos.

[Eddie Madril]

grass dance vest

Hello,
It looks like his sleeve is sewn to the "vest". I don't think he has a vest on. I do dance with a vest and no shirt and it gets interesting "looks" from people. I don't compete in grass, I do in fancy and even that's on a rare occasion. I personally haven't heard of anyone dancing grass in a vest except me, but that doesn't mean I am the only one. If you are going to dance in a vest then know what "is" traditional grass dance and it's history and purpose. You'll have to answer to someone one day as to why you do what you do. The answer should have substance.
The last thing I'd say is, think about the reason why you dance. I know competitions are fun and you can win money, but is that why you dance? Is that why/how you learned to dance initially? If you're dancing from a place of prayer and for others, you know where grass dance comes from and what it originally looked like, you won't need to worry about what judges think regarding how you are dressed (don't exaggerate the sentence). Plus, you'd be able to teach on what it is you are truly expressing.
Have fun

[Littlecat]

ive competed fancy for the last 5 years,Ive been dancing fancy for a while as did my father befor me , i always wanted to grass and fancy and now that im getting older i have the opportunity to follow the other dance style i wanted to dance so im just happy to be dancing , but its a family thing that we are all competitive so i needed to know.

[Littlecat]

thanks guys i finished my regalia and i thought you should be the first ones to see . what do you think?

[Toolbox]

Great job! It looks really good.