Mens Traditional

This category represents the Grandfathers and Fathers. Men with regalia consisting of porcupine headroaches or feather caps and Eagle bustles use their movement to tell a story of the hunt or of the scouting before the battle.

Womens Traditional

Represents the Grandmothers and Mothers, the givers of life, the caretakers of the family. The movement of the ladies Traditional is very slow, keeping her feet on the ground in constant contact with mother earth. She’ll gracefully circle the arbour, her fringe swaying like the cradle that rocks a baby. There are two styles of dance – a straight and a round dance. She will wear one feather in her hair if she is single and two if she is married.

The Grass Dancers or The Shape Changers

This style is the oldest known dance of the Plains Indians, and are called out first to prepare the ground. They start in a small circle, gradually enlarging it, repeating every movement made on the left and on the right. The Fringe on their regalia is made of wool and the dancers movement causes the fringe to sway like the wind that moves the tall grass on the plains. His regalia includes headroach, ribbon shirt, yoke and breech cloth heavily fringed with yarn, pants fringed with yarn with bells or deer hooves worn at the ankles.

The Jingle Dress

Is an Ojibwa medicine or healing dance. The story behind its origin is that an Elder’s grandchild was very sick, close to death. That night the woman had a dream. In it she danced in a dress adorned with jingles on it. The next day she made that dress and danced and prayed to the creator, and her grandchild was healed.