Pow-Wow
A Pow-wow is a gathering of peoples who come together to share dance, song, food, stories, and culture. Modern day pow-wows usually consist of competitions of dance, song, drum, and other special events planned, where there is prize money to be awarded at the end.
Pow-wow Committee
A pow-wow committee consists of a number of individuals who do all the planning before the event. The committee members usually consist of people from the community where the pow-wow is held. The committee is responsible to recruit, hire the head staff, publicize the pow-wow, secure a location, and recruit vendors who pay for the right to set up and sell food or arts and crafts at the pow-wow.
Head Staff
The head staff of a pow-wow are the people who run the event on the day or days it actually occurs. They are generally hired by the pow-wow committee several months in advance, as the quality of the head staff can have an impact on attendance. To be chosen as part of the head staff is an honor, showing respect for the person's skills, knowledge and dedication to this cultural event.
Master of Ceremonies
The master of ceremonies, or MC, is the voice of the pow-wow. It is one of the MC’s jobs to keep the singers, dancers, and general public informed as to what is happening. The MC is also responsible for filling any dead air time that may occur during the pow-wow, often with humor, stories, and helpful information.
Arena Director
The arena director is the person in charge of the dance arena during the pow-wow. The arena director makes sure dancers are dancing during the pow-wow and that the drum groups know what type of song to sing. If there are contests the arena director is ultimately responsible for providing judges. One of the main duties of the arena director is to ensure that the dance arena is treated with the proper respect from visitors and dancers at the pow wow.
Spiritual Leader
The Spiritual Leader of a pow-wow is a respected member of the Native American community and is a part of the Head Staff. It is the Spiritual Leaders responsibility to see that all spiritual ceremonies and elements of a pow-wow are carried out in the proper manner, such as when an eagle feather is dropped, invocations, and other duties.
Head Dancers
The head dancers consist of the Head Man Dancer and the Head Woman Dancer. The head dancers lead the other dancers in the Grand Entry or parade of dancers that opens a pow-wow. In many cases, the head dancers are also responsible for leading the dancers during songs, and often other dancers will not enter the arena unless the head dancers are already out dancing.
Host Drum Group
A Host Drum is accorded great respect and the most responsibility. The members of drum groups are often family, extended family, or friends. Groups are then often named for families, geographic locations, tribal societies, or more colorful names. Traditionally only men would drum and women would sit behind the men singing high harmonies. Beginning in the mid 1970s, women began drumming with men and seconding, or singing, an octave higher, in the song. Today, there are mixed-gender and all-female drum groups.
Drum Group
Music for a pow-wow dance competition and other events are provided by a "Drum," a group of performers who play a large, specially designed drum and sing traditional songs. Each drum has a Lead Singer who runs his/her drum and leads the singers while singing. Most drum groups compose their own songs for categories as well as learn familiar songs.
Grand Entry
A pow-wow session begins with the Grand Entry and, in most cases, a prayer. The Eagle Staff leads the Grand Entry, followed by flags, then the dancers, while the host drum sings an opening song. This event is sacred in nature, some pow-wows do not allow filming or photography during this time, though others may.
If military veterans or active duty soldiers are present, they often carry the flags and eagle staffs. They are followed by the head dancers, then the remaining dancers usually enter the arena in a specific order the Arena Director designates. Following the Grand Entry, the MC will invite a respected member of the community to give an invocation. The host drum will then sing a Flag Song, followed by a Victory or Veterans' Song, during which the flags and staffs are posted near the MC.
Dances
Most of the various types of dances performed at a pow-wow are descended from the dances of the Plains tribes of the United States and Canada. Dancers adorn regalia with beads, ribbon, eagle feathers, mirrors, and whatever fulfills the dancers creativity but stays within the style of the dance category the dancer is participating in.
Men Dances
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Traditional: A dance featuring traditional regalia, authentic design, single or no bustle, and movements based on traditional dances.
Traditional: A dance featuring traditional regalia, authentic design, single or no bustle, and movements based on traditional dances.Southern Straight: Southern Straight dancers usually are more neat and with more homemade features such as chokers, breastplates, etc. Their dances are like Northern taking one foot and step on the ball of their foot and then they tap it once on the ground. They do this in a walking motion.
▪ Fancy: Thus living up to its name, the fancy dance is a highly athletic dance with lots of tricks and movement. The Fancy Dancer must dance according to the beat and must strike a "pose" whenever the drum beat stops. Drums can try to trick the dancers with unexpected beats or stops.
Fancy: Thus living up to its name, the fancy dance is a highly athletic dance with lots of tricks and movement. The Fancy Dancer must dance according to the beat and must strike a "pose" whenever the drum beat stops. Drums can try to trick the dancers with unexpected beats or stops.▪Grass Dance: A dance featuring regalia with long, flowing fringe and designs reminiscent of long prairie grass blowing in the wind. Dance movements are more elaborate than the traditional dancers, but less flashy than the fancy dancers.
Grass Dance: A dance featuring regalia with long, flowing fringe and designs reminiscent of long prairie grass blowing in the wind. Dance movements are more elaborate than the traditional dancers, but less flashy than the fancy dancers.A bustle is a traditional part of a man's regalia worn during a pow-wow and originates from the Plains region of the United States. In its modern form, the men's bustle is typically made of a string of eagle or hawk feathers attached to a backboard.
Women Dances
▪Traditional: A dance featuring traditional regalia of cloth, wool or leather, decorated with designs and materials. Dancers perform, with precision, and highly controlled movement of their posture, that move fringe and/or shawl.
Traditional: A dance featuring traditional regalia of cloth, wool or leather, decorated with designs and materials. Dancers perform, with precision, and highly controlled movement of their posture, that move fringe and/or shawl. ▪Fancy Shawl: A dance featuring women wearing brilliant colors, a long, usually fringed and decorated, shawl, performing rapid spins and elaborate dance steps.
Fancy Shawl: A dance featuring women wearing brilliant colors, a long, usually fringed and decorated, shawl, performing rapid spins and elaborate dance steps.▪Jingle Dress (healing dance):The jingle dress includes a skirt or dress with hundreds of small tin cones that make noise as the dancer moves with light footwork danced close to the ground.
Jingle Dress (healing dance):The jingle dress includes a skirt or dress with hundreds of small tin cones that make noise as the dancer moves with light footwork danced close to the ground.Normal intertribal dancing is an individual activity, but there are also couples and group dances. Couples dances include the two step and owl dance. In a two-step each couple follows the lead of the head dancers, forming a line behind them, whereas in an owl dance each couple dances alone.
References:
Wikipedia
WHAT IS A
POW-WOW?
All Photos by Erika Haight Event Photographer
