Yoreme pajko’ora dancing to the accompaniment of a harpist and fiddler. Tres Cruces, Sonora, Mexico, April 2006. When they dance, pajko’ora wear a wooden mask repre- senting a mountain spirit. The mask is worn at the back of the head when the pajko’ora dances as a human being. When he represents an animal, he dances with the mask over his face. Image courtesy Arizona State Museum, the University of Arizona.


State. As Zelda Winnier (Yakama) explains, this dance is similar to a Yakama social dance called the Butterfly Dance, in which the girls use the Butterfly Dance song to imitate the butterflies departing from their cocoon. Both their Fancy Shawl and the Butterfly songs are fast and lively. The girls twirl around the in- door or outdoor arena, each demonstrating her own intricate and high-stepping foot- work. With every beat of the drum, one foot taps the ground. On the last beat of the song, the dancers land on both feet. In the Yakama Fancy Shawl Dance, the girls wear a colorful fringed shawl over their traditional t’piip, or wingdress. In the Fancy Shawl Dance, as in the social circle of the Yakama People, young girls interpret butterflies “fluttering in mead- ows of flowers,” expressing themselves and their culture through movement, imagina- tion and a connection with spirit.


38 AMERICAN INDIAN FALL 2012


POWWOWS: MEN’S NORTHERN TRADITIONAL DANCE


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arge contest powwows, with dance categories for boys, girls, men and women, emerged after World War II


and are performed in small reservation com- munities and urban centers. Men’s Northern Traditional dancing evolved out of Plains warrior society dances. At a powwow, each Northern Traditional Dancer tells a story through a sequence of movements. Some dancers imitate the movements of animals. As Tara Browner (Choctaw) writes, many tribes believe that animals gave the gift of dance to humans. While imitating animals facilitates an essential connection with na- ture, other Northern Traditional Dancers mimic demonstrations of bravery (tracking an enemy or hunting) with their particular combination of steps and upper-body mo- tions. While often crouched, each dancer has


his own way of moving and steps forward with a quietly powerful presence. Each of his movements tells part of his story. Communi- cating through movement, the footwork and gestures are always attuned to the tempo of the song and to the drum’s heartbeat, that is, to “the sound of the vibrating earth.”


YUP’IK QUYANA (THANK-YOU) SONG DANCE


cestors during their mid-winter ceremonies. Each dance has its own yuarun (songs) sung by men to drum beats. The verses and chorus of the songs contain vocables as well as words often descriptive of the actions or events that the dance depicts. Men usually kneel in front while women stand behind them, feet flat, with their knees bent and upper bodies


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ccording to Chuna McIntyre (Yup’ik), Yup’ik dancers from west- ern Alaska dance to please their an-


PHOTO BY JANELLE WEAKLY, COURTESY OF ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM.


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