#grass dance

90′s Pow Wow

a pow wow playlist featuring songs mostly from 1990-1999, with oldies but goodies to get you nostalgaic.

Drum roll call: Whitefish Jrs, Northern Cree, Southern Cree, Eyabay, Northern Wind, Kicking Woman Singers, Red Bull Singers, Black Lodge, Young Bird, Young Grey Horse, Stoney Park, Lake Vermillion Singers, Ahkwesasne Big Bear Singers, & The Boyz. Also Features Joanne Shenandoah & Sheldon Sundown.

I don’t think they are as gendered as you think they are. I’ve seen several outward appearing females doing what is normally considered a male dance, such as grass dancers. Same with hoop dancing. Most powwows even have a special dance where dancers get together with friends and trade certain parts of regalia and do the opposite dance. Or the couples dance where I used to take the “male” role with my friend, especially if I wasn’t dating anyone at the time. 

One reason my friends and I don’t stop outsiders from dancing the men or female traditional dance when they are the opposite gender, is because it isn’t as strictly gendered as you think. We only stop and correct them is when they legitimately think they are doing the “correct” dance as education is one of the main goals of public powwows.

So while they aren’t inherently as gendered as you may think on the inside, I could definitely see how an outsider may see it as very gendered.