Dance Help

[Neha]

Hello, My name is Nicole but my grandfather called me Neha. I am coming to this site for help in return for help i would like to offer some cyber-tobbaco to whoever is reading this.
I have six children and I am very much involved in my culture. However I was never tought how to dance. I was born after my grandmother passed. I now need help to teach my children how to dance. My oldest doughter wants to learn Fancy Shawl. My Middle girl wants to learn jingle dress. I would like to know where I can go for them to learn. Is there someone that would help teach them and myself. I feel a deep need to learn along with teaching my children. I also need to know what regalia I need to make.
I live in PA. I attended the two moon powwow every year and other powwows aswell. wanìshi


~neha

[wyo_rose]

I'm not a dancer either, but my children had NO trouble learning how on their own. Just put them out in the arbor and let them do their thing!

[jeraldk]

Speak with the Elders

You need to go and speak with your Tribe's Elders. You need to learn what these dances are about. Alot of people these days just throw something together and start dancing, without even knowing the meanings to the dances. There is history and it needs to be known first.

In my Tribe, the Elder's are the ones who chose which individuals can dance and which style. The dancers need to be blessed into the circle, the right way. Your Tribe's way.

Jerald

[Neha]

You need to go and speak with your Tribe's Elders. You need to learn what these dances are about. Alot of people these days just throw something together and start dancing, without even knowing the meanings to the dances. There is history and it needs to be known first.

In my Tribe, the Elder's are the ones who chose which individuals can dance and which style. The dancers need to be blessed into the circle, the right way. Your Tribe's way.

Jerald

Jerald,
Thank you and I feel you are correct. However I do not know how to get a hold of my elders. My Grandfather walked away from his parents along with my grandmother. So I never met anyone. I just know what my grandfather teached me while he was alive. However that wasn't much about dancing. How do I get ahold of my tribes elders? I am four tribs, Lanope, Cheokee, Sioux and Seminole. I have went to a powwow near me every year however everytime I ask for help they all tell me the same thing. "watch you tube" I would like to do it the correct way. I want to meet others like me and conect with them become a family. I am not sure why all this is so imporent to me but it is.

[wanjica_the_one]

Jerald,
Thank you and I feel you are correct. However I do not know how to get a hold of my elders. My Grandfather walked away from his parents along with my grandmother. So I never met anyone. I just know what my grandfather teached me while he was alive. However that wasn't much about dancing. How do I get ahold of my tribes elders? I am four tribs, Lanope, Cheokee, Sioux and Seminole. I have went to a powwow near me every year however everytime I ask for help they all tell me the same thing. "watch you tube" I would like to do it the correct way. I want to meet others like me and conect with them become a family. I am not sure why all this is so imporent to me but it is.

Lenape, Cherokee and Seminole are not traditional powwow people. You need to go to South Dakota for help. Get on a bus and hit the first reservation.

[Neha]

Lenape, Cherokee and Seminole are not traditional powwow people. You need to go to South Dakota for help. Get on a bus and hit the first reservation.

Wish it was that easy. I have six children. Can't just do that.

[wanjica_the_one]

Wish it was that easy. I have six children. Can't just do that.

You want the easy way or the right way?

[shhrimp]

Hi Neha,

I think if you go in with a good heart, teaching your kids along the way, you'll be fine. I have four kids too, and I got involved in making outfits because my daughter really really really wanted to have a fancy shawl outfit. I went to my mother-in-law and said "I don't know how to make an outfit!" Apparently, I had *promised* my daughter I would make her one... and fast. I think I was sleep deprived when I made that particular promise.
So I am panicking and all my M-i_l said was "well. I guess you're gonna learn." LOL! Gee, thanks.

[anishinabealltheway]

Go to a powwow.

Go to a pow wow and meet some people. Offer tobacco and ask some questions. Most people aren't too uppity about it. If your daughter wants to learn Jingle (a more spiritual dance), you may want to meet an anishnaab dancer to learn the proper way as different dance styles have spread from tribe to tribe.

[wyo_rose]

See! There's enough people at a powwow, OR here, that will tell you what to do, what not to do. Just learn along with them.

[rezrazed]

Hello, My name is Nicole but my grandfather called me Neha. I am coming to this site for help in return for help i would like to offer some cyber-tobbaco to whoever is reading this.
I have six children and I am very much involved in my culture. However I was never tought how to dance. I was born after my grandmother passed. I now need help to teach my children how to dance. My oldest doughter wants to learn Fancy Shawl. My Middle girl wants to learn jingle dress. I would like to know where I can go for them to learn. Is there someone that would help teach them and myself. I feel a deep need to learn along with teaching my children. I also need to know what regalia I need to make.
I live in PA. I attended the two moon powwow every year and other powwows aswell. wanìshi


~neha

There is a reason you need to talk with the elders, alot of people just jump in, and they do fine, but there are reasons for know why and how and who you dance for. If you can't go to your ancestral people, call or write, if you are recognizable by them they will help you some how.

Hi Neha,

I think if you go in with a good heart, teaching your kids along the way, you'll be fine.

That's the same thing the cultural rapists and new agers think too.

and I got involved in making outfits because my daughter really really really wanted to have a fancy shawl outfit.

Outift? would that be for the performace?

Go to a pow wow and meet some people. Offer tobacco and ask some questions. Most people aren't too uppity about it. If your daughter wants to learn Jingle (a more spiritual dance), you may want to meet an anishnaab dancer to learn the proper way as different dance styles have spread from tribe to tribe.

I'm not sure how it works in Michigan but there are certain place and times down here in the southwest, that you DO NOT ask questions, and one of those times are during powwows or ceremonies. During those times its best to be quiet and listen, in fact its considered rude and improper to do anything less than that, and those who asks ask during these times can and have been asked to leave and even escorted out. It's very important to know your surroundings and the cultural, "Taboos" if you will of not only the tribe, but the general area of where powwows are being held. Offering gifts like tobacco here during powwows is usually for honors, not for payment for a lesson in NDN 101. Again, I don't know what it's like up in Mi, I'm just saying know your region and peoples before you take a whole lot of advise to heart.

BEST SOLUTION contact your ancestral people, as Wanjica said, the right way.

[anishinabealltheway]

Apparently

There is a reason you need to talk with the elders, alot of people just jump in, and they do fine, but there are reasons for know why and how and who you dance for. If you can't go to your ancestral people, call or write, if you are recognizable by them they will help you some how.


That's the same thing the cultural rapists and new agers think too.


Outift? would that be for the performace?


I'm not sure how it works in Michigan but there are certain place and times down here in the southwest, that you DO NOT ask questions, and one of those times are during powwows or ceremonies. During those times its best to be quiet and listen, in fact its considered rude and improper to do anything less than that, and those who asks ask during these times can and have been asked to leave and even escorted out. It's very important to know your surroundings and the cultural, "Taboos" if you will of not only the tribe, but the general area of where powwows are being held. Offering gifts like tobacco here during powwows is usually for honors, not for payment for a lesson in NDN 101. Again, I don't know what it's like up in Mi, I'm just saying know your region and peoples before you take a whole lot of advise to heart.

BEST SOLUTION contact your ancestral people, as Wanjica said, the right way.

Well apparently rezraised, we do things differently up north. Go figure considering the fact that we speak different languages and live a few thousand miles away... It's perfectly fine to ask questions here. Powwows and ceremonies are two different things and you are not required to sit silently at any pow I've been to. You will probably not encounter a ceremony but sunrise or daybreak ceremonies sometimes occur off site but near by. Tobacco isn't just for ceremonies, it is for praying, harvesting animals and plants,expressing thanks, and is perfectly acceptable to offer it when asking someone to teach you things,though other gifts are acceptable as well.