Editor’s Note: This story is part of ICT’s new powwow guide set to release summer 2023. Include your powwow or a powwow near you by filling out this form.
Kalle Benallie
ICT
Powwow season is in full swing. What better way to celebrate the in-person gatherings full of delicious food, laughter, and dancing than to catch up with powwow dancer on their prep, what they did during the pandemic, and more.
Danni Okemaw
Tribe: Anishinabe Nation and Swampy Cree
Dance style(s): Jingle dress and fancy shawl
Danni Okemaw has been dancing since she was three years old from hip-hop and contemporary ballet. Prior to 2015, she would travel with her family for months on dance trials, but she faced leg and foot injuries that doctors said would affect her stamina and technique.
“I took it very hard from 2015 to the pandemic. I felt very isolated. I wasn’t making the best choices for myself or my health,” she said.
But when the pandemic happened in 2020, Okemaw’s perspective shifted to begin training again. She started going to the gym, making training plans and putting together the outfits that she put away.
“It has led me to a more balanced life. A more healthy lifestyle for myself,” she said.
She now teaches other Indigenous girls on finding their dance style in Alberta, Canada.
Okemaw starts preparing to dance again as soon as the last powwow ends in August. Her sister helps with the sewing and beading. They, and along with her niece, pitch in money for their outfits. She starts working out two or three times a week – strength and cardio training. She goes to powwow practices at a gym with live drums.
“On top of that physical training, you’re out there in the community practicing songs. It’s getting ready for a whole year” she said.
She hopes to show other adults who want to get started again or who want to try for the first time that it’s never too late. She’s just starting up again at 29 years old and sees other youth and older youth learning today.
“You don’t have to start when you’re six years old. You can learn the history, you can learn the stories of the songs and the dances at any age,” she said.
She recommends for young dancers to not have any deadlines and to just start right away.
With the prize money Okemaw gets or for the performances she does, she puts half the money or all of it back into regalia costs, to the people who made them and supplies.
She said powwow dancing is much more than what people see. There is meaning and prayer behind it all.
“All these powwow dancers have a spiritual connection, an intentional connection to their dance. When we dance, we’re thinking of our loved ones, our loved ones up above, our new loved ones that are coming,” Okemaw said. “Every single dance, I think of someone. I think of a community.”
Stormie Perdash
Tribe: Shoshone Bannock from Fort Hall, Idaho
Dance style(s): Contemporary Jingle Dress
Stormie Perdash gets ready to dance by meal prepping and eating healthy. She makes her own dresses that take about less than two weeks to complete, and also sews jingle dress orders during the day. At night she works out and practices to powwow songs.
For the day of the powwow, depending on how far she travels, she gets up early around eight or nine. She said one of the most important parts of getting ready is putting on her makeup.
“Makeup is a huge thing in the powwow arena. As a jingle dress dancer, I firmly believe I have to be ready at all times even if I’m not dancing contest that day,” Perdash said.
Then she puts her hair into braids, finds high-gear workout clothes to put under her dress, gets fast food if she’s not at home, arrives at the powwow, chooses where to sit, register and finishes getting ready for grand entry in the afternoon.
After the grand entry, she waits until the evening for the contests. Her mom, little sister or friend are usually with her.
This year, Perdash plans to attend three powwows in April and is not sure about her summer plans. Last year she went to 15 powwows.
“Most of the time prize money goes to bills or help on the way back, if it’s a far powwow. It’s kind of just like another form of income for most powwow dancers,” she said.
Perdash said most people don’t know how much work goes into it behind the scenes like the sewing, beadwork, the things that cannot be sewn like the feathers and practicing to dance well.
“It took me all of last year, be in a place where I know I’m dancing good,” she said.
Lakeisha Marie
Tribe: Plains Cree from Treaty 8 Territory
Dance style(s): Old style fancy, without a shawl. Women’s fancy: contemporary with shawl, old style without a shawl and old style with a shawl.
Lakeisha Marie said it was difficult to not dance, see her family and friends for two years during the pandemic but said “my dancing spirit grew even bigger waiting to be out there again. I actually cried a bit during my first grand entry, when the honor song played and the smell of sweet grass filled up the arbor.”
She travels for two months every summer. During the last week of June she gets all her repairs done like steaming her otters, sewing on new moccasin bottoms and washing her outfit by hand.
“I smudge my entire outfit after. I have a powwow family that adopted me through ceremony. I call them up and fly down to meet with them. Throughout the summer months, we play it by ear,” Marie said. “My whole family loves to dance and it’s something that really brought us close together.”
If she places, the prize money goes towards her next travel expenses. For one year she saved up funds to purchase new regalia.
She said what some people don’t think about when it comes to dancing is the “absolute state of love you are in while doing it.”
“I’ve talked to a couple friends, you know, just asking them about how they feel out there or how they did what they did and most always say ‘I can’t remember,’” Marie said. “I believe it’s because once they hear that drum beat, their dancing spirit comes out and all that’s left is you, creator and the drum.”
Osamuskwasis Roan
Tribe: Nehiyaw (Cree) and Tsuu Tina (Dene)
Dance style(s): Women’s jingle dress
Osamuskwasis Roan said it’s been a little challenging getting back into dancing because of how they abruptly stopped and now their back. To add it’s been hard on her body because the amount of athleticism needed to powwow dance.
“It requires a lot to take care of your body so you’re able to perform well. It’s important for me to take care of my health and well being so I’m able to continue doing what I love in the powwow circle,” she said.
She goes to the gym, practices in the studio or at home and eats healthy for nourishment. Roan makes her own regalia and sews for family or friends.
“I’m the main planner for myself and my family, I plan the accommodations, travel and our whole itinerary. Usually my family and friends go with me and we like to split the costs between us for the lodging, gas and food,” she said.
During the winter, Roan goes to at least one or two a month. In the summer from June to August, she dances in a powwow at least every weekend and sometimes during the week.
She uses the prize money for the next powwow or to add more pieces to her regalia.
She said a lot of people don’t know how fun it is — the good feelings and energy that it brings.
“But also how hard it can be on the body, it takes a lot of strength and endurance to be a powwow dancer, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Roan said.
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