Dancing is A key part of Indigenous Culture
‘It’s not just entertainment,’ says dancer at University of Regina’s annual event
For Teddy Bison, dancing powwow is as normal as walking.
“It’s always been a part of my life,” said Bison. “Right after I started walking I started dancing.”
The 30-year-old Nakota man from Ocean Man First Nation has been dancing powwow for 27 years.
As a university student and single father of four, he said it’s a great stress reliever that keeps him grounded.
“It was explained to me by my elders that we dance for life,” said Bison. “We dance for those who cannot dance, for those who are incarcerated, for those who are in hospitals, for those who are too old and those who are too young to walk.”
Now Bison is passing on that knowledge at an event hosted by the Aboriginal Student Centre at the University of Regina once every semester.
Intro to Powwow is an interactive and educational session led by Bison and Charging Bear Performance. The next session is being held on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
Open to the public, the session includes live dance performances and “showcases the spiritual, physical and cultural benefits of powwow,” as well as provides a contextual and historical framework for the practice.
“A lot of people like it as entertainment, but there’s a reason why we do it,” said Bison. “It’s not just entertainment.”
One of those reasons is healing. “There are actually healing dances, for example the ladies’ jingle and the men’s grass,” he said, adding there’s a long story behind the healing aspect of the dances that will be explored in the session.
Rachel Janzé, a program co-ordinator for the Aboriginal Student Centre, helps organize the event.
“Having things like this on our campus create a space that is reflective of our campus community in terms of our Indigenous population,” said Janzé.
She said it’s also a time for people of all walks of life to come together and find things that connect us all.
Although everyone comes from different places, Janzé said we all have connections to drum, dance, song and concepts of spirit.
Those connections are a way to celebrate and build an understanding of Indigenous culture and in turn build relationships, she said.
“We look at all of the other structural inequities and difficulties in our community that we need to overcome — taking time for celebration and for learning together, it’s what fills us up again,” said Janzé.
Bison said learning and sharing in powwow is an opportunity to foster Indigenization, something he said is becoming a big initiative in our society.
And while many people have seen powwow dancing before, he said they don’t quite understand it.
“At Intro to Powwow, I hope I do a good job of explaining why we dance to these certain songs, why we dance to these certain beats, why we dance in general,” said Bison. “This is how we kept going as a people.”
The event, which began as a way to teach people what to expect at the First Nations University of Canada’s spring powwow, has grown over the years. Janzé said between 300 and 500 people attend each event, including elementary and high school classes, ESL groups, members of the Regina Police Service and more.
Groups of six or more are asked to register in advance so organizers can make seating arrangements.
The event takes place Tuesday in Gym 3 at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport at the U of R from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Guests are asked to arrive by 12:30 p.m. in order to get settled so the session can begin promptly at 1 p.m.