What is more Important? Too You

[Nipkie]

Wondering, A beaded oufit is nice and pretty but cloth outfits are most tradional... Now compition judgeing I think is unfair because they judge you more so by what you wear than you dancing you could be the best dancer out there and be out there for every song and still come up with less points than some of the other dancers that show up just to win the money and dance 2 or 3 songs for the whole day. Now tell me if I worng but does that sound fair I think Judging needs to be revisted and see where the dancer heart lays and the judging needs to be more on what is right not what just looks good if someone is out there for every song putingt there heart and sprit into dancing than they should be rewarded for that.

Or Maybe compition should go away all together and bring tradion back to the circle where good feelings can come through and it not about the money.... Give everyone Day pay atleast it helps with gas I mean after all if you look at it the only ones that make a profit off of a powwow is the traders sometimes Comittiee sometime the grounds all the time but the dancers the drumers now drumers useally get taken care of but the dancers don't unless they place, now one of the benfits that made things easier for dancer is not having to worry about feeding there family for cost wise but now more and more powwows are being over run with nontradional people and they are forgetting to take care of their elders take of the people.... Once you start breaking the scared circle then you will see the rest will fall a part remeaber that if you lose either part of the people I listed it will be all gone and that MONEY you hold so dear will be no more as well. Most of all we need to respect each other and the creator and go more back to way things were good. Now I won't give up dancing compition powwows but I think that we need to think about what is imporant someone who has money to pay for the work to be done or the person.

[Strong Beaver]

Why do we dance? and Yes there is fair judging...

I think I will say something...

[Strong Beaver]

Why do we dance? and Yes there is fair judging...

I have danced for a very long time, in two years I will be a golden age dancer( not looking forward to that) but ask your self "why am I dancing?" just before you inter the circle arena that has been blessed before you step one foot in it. I always remind myself why and who I am dancing for, sometimes it was my son who was in Iraq fighting and his buddies, or for a certain Elder,for the Children, Mother Earth... I remind myself that my footsteps are like heatbeats on Mother Earth telling Her I still Love Her and my footsteps tell her I have not forgoten Her today...when your heart is right, and not worrying how you look, but are you receptive to the Ancestors 'calling and do you want to hear them in the Drum, and see them in the Eagle flying over you?... Just remember it is an Honor to dance, and many men and women have paid a great price before you so you can tap the heartbeat...

All most all Pow Wow committees and Arena Director's have a system set up for judging, marking down and keeping track of who dances the Intertribals, and the Grand Entries, so believe and dance till it hurts, like my relations say "When do you know when to stop dancing or stop giving enough at a give away? Stop when it hurts to much" ...So give till it hurts and dance till it hurts...I believe that the Spirits help us dress anyway, and they are not wrong...

[Nipkie]

I agree with you when I'm out there at a powwow that's what I'm there for to dance that as of right now that's all I do.... I dance so much this past weekend I feel the pain today. I am getting kind of worried however because my mother has ms and the way I was walking was as if I had it. tell me what you think have you ever danced so much that it hurt to even move....

[Strong Beaver]

When people are brought close together by Spirit sometimes we can take on thier pain...When warriors Sundance they take the pain for the "People", A sundancer for a year prepares and knows this ceremony is not to bring recoginiton to them but they dance for the" People". We are not in this world to take but to surrender. I am not talking about surrendering as in giving up but as sacrificing, giving back, giving away... Our ancestors surrendered so much for our Nations. So in everything we do we need to Honor their giving of them selves and if it is living with a little pain from dancing or ceremony, a pain of connection, then its ok. So if you are sore, thank you for your sacrifice to the "People" If you weren't sore that would be the time to worry....Yeah I feel results of dancing and ceremony but to call it pain?, I think we should call it Joy, Joy of giving, of giving back. Next time you hurt, and are sore, thank the Spirit in you for the opportunity to give till it hurts. Because really the act of dancing is your ancestors calling you to do it, and because your body feels the sacrtifice by doing it for so long it hurts, that means your Spirit is in Joy...and you answered the call...Whats that saying "Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing?" Your body knows not but your Spirit does...Thank you for being there and going the distance...

[Nipkie]

You have strong words that brings me to a whole new frame of mind and they hit hard... I have been dealing with alot of anger lately And I realized that it becuase I haven't been happy with myself or anything around me... Now I ahve really said much to anyone about this until now. I have been keeping alot in. I have been away from good powwows for a awhile and even though things happend at this powwow i can not understand. I do now. They where all signs.... This maybe puzzling for you to but means alot to me. All these things were telling me i need to get back to tradional way and teachings... Or i was going to end up like that. It's easy to do worng things but easier to do what is right.

[amarie49]

Why do we dance?

Sometimes I feel discouraged because it seems like the same people win at every powwow. I don't feel like I stand a fair chance against the well-known dancers. I spend so much time, effort, and money on my regalia and going to powwows that I get frustrated by this never ending cycle. However, I took two weekends off from powwows and went to the Osage In Lonshka dances and I couldn't stop myself from dancing. The singing was so good and the drum sounded so nice that I had to get out there. And there is not any payout or prize at the end of these dances. Sometimes I feel like giving up competition dancing but I know I would be sitting there mad at myself if I did. Also, when I'm at a good powwow and having a good time I feel like I would rather be out in that arena than anywhere else in the world. It's hard to keep up with the cost of regalia and powwow road trips but I'm a powwow addict and somehow someway I will make it to that next powwow.

[Strong Beaver]

Yeah I understand... I hate to lose and it is nice to win and I get lost in all the aspects of judging too, your judged in and out of the arena. I too LOVE the songs and drums! When I get to that spot where I am with my relations, connected, it transends competition. But nobody understands the Heart of a competion dancer like another dancer...I know what your going through and sometimes it reminds me of living in two civilizations, societies, like a lot of our people, like a dance society when we really live through that dance where all the other dancers and myself express DANCING, movement, during that song in the ... Thats the WOW in Pow Wow..