2. Dances of the Three Time Periods
● Pre-1790
● 1790-1900
○ Sun Dance
● 1900-present
3. Breaking It Down -
● Native American dances cover many territories and include social traditions, ceremonial traditions,
contemporary stage dance practices, and other newly developed forms that become traditional over
time. Traditional Native American dances reflect cultural beliefs: they define value in life, in the
environment, and in relationships. They enforce group belief systems, and unify groups through
shared experience and participation.
● Native American demographics have changed markedly throughout American history. These
changes, which include separation from home communities and from land bases, have depleted
some traditional dance forms: for example, access to traditional dance teachers and sacred
ceremonial sites has sometimes curtailed their continuing practice, as commercial growth and
federal and state restrictions have limited Native peoples' access to materials-feathers, skins, and
plants-used by traditional Native dancers.
4. Sun Dance
The Sun Dance was the most important ceremony practiced by the Lakota (Sioux) and nearly all Plains
Indians. It was a time of renewal for the tribe, people and earth.
5. Ceremonial Dances
- However, against the backdrop of change, many forms of Native American social and ceremonial
dance survive, and many are now in a period of reawakening, as Native people strengthen their
identities both on recognized Native lands, and from distant environs. Supporting this survival are
popular social dance forms and activities such as powwows, which reinforce common understanding
and values across diverse Native group cultures. Newer exhibition powwow dance forms, such as
the Fancy War Dance and the Hoop Dance have, for example, become traditional dances,
strengthened by the values and meanings that are added by ongoing generations of practitioners.
6. Dancing at Powwows
- Many of the different types of dance are performed at powwows. Today
dances are a lot more contemporary though.
