The Clio messenger., 1915-11-26
II z |

These features are, o.
course, not lacking in aboriginal dapc
ing. but they are completely over
shadowed by other aspects of culture
with which they are associated. To
put it briefly, our dancing appears in
the same context with restaurants
hotels, debutantes, attempts at social
raparochement of the sexes. In Indian
society, dancing is largely connected
with war and agriculture and the
chase, with professions, magical per-
formances and religious observances,
in short, with the serious affairs of
life.
Indian dances, as far as the steps are
concerned, are often of remarkable sim
plicity. A widespread "squaw dance"
found among the Shoshone, Crow and
other northwestern tribes, consists SIM
ply in the circle of dancers shutting
the feet alternately to the left. each
man in the circle standing between
two women, with his right arm around
his partners shoulder or waist, or in
some cases with arms encircling a
partner on each side With short in
termissions and an occasional intro
duction Of the war dance, for varietys
sake, a squaw dance of this type is
sometimes kept up all night, to the
supreme qualification of the perform
ers.
The tobacco dance Of the Crow In
dians, is, If possible. of even simpler
character. The participants stand up
several in row, holding sacred OBJ
Jects in their hands, and alternately
bend each knee and raise or lower
each hand without at all moving from
their position. The highly popular
grass dance OF the Plains Indians is
OF a more strenuous character Only
men take part, and they move about
briskly, sometimes in pairs, sometimes
separately. vigorously stamping the
ground with their feet. and frequently
mimicking martial exploits.
The orchestral equipment of the In
dians is not very comprehensive. The
flute Tor flageolet) is restricted to use
in courting For dancing, the drum
and the rattle are by far the most
important instruments, although other
types were used over relatively large
area; this applies, for example, to
notched sticks rasped with other
sticks and bird-bone whistles, usually
worn suspended from the neck. The
drum varies considerably in form. On
the northwest coast the natives mere
lly beat a plank or box. The Plains
Indians commonly use skin
stretched over a hoop, held by strings
crossing underneath, but a large
double-headed drum suspended from
four sticks also occurs. Rattles are
likewise of widely varying kind. such
as gourds containing small pebbles and
ring-shaped or globular rawhide bags
for which in the dance OF today
baking powder cans make favorite
substitutes Sometimes a certain in.
strument is considered distinctive of
a particular dance. and various forms
of costume are also considered
badges. Thus dress comes to occupy
in the Indian dance q place of signif-
icance to which there is no corre-
spondence in the dances of civilized
races. Sometimes, to be sure. the ap-
parel merely is designed to give an
appearance OF picturesqueness. while
in other instances lack OF clothing is
sometimes compensated for by face
and body paint or by profusion of
regalia held in the hand.
The Crow grass dance might be
chosen as an example of the social
type of Indian dance, the Pawnee
iruska and the Mandan buffalo won.
ems dances as representatives OF
shamanistic or religious performances,