Over 400 dancers wearing intricate costumes spent much of Sunday competing in the preliminary rounds for the chance to dance in the American Indian Affairs (AIA) show on Monday night. For many dancers, these competitions were the culmination of years of practice and preparation.
Matt B. and Andrew S, both from Muscogee Lodge of the Indian Waters Council, are in their third and fourth years, respectively, of fancy dancing. Andrew competed at the 2006 National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC), but this is Matt's first competition. Both were excited and not really nervous, being used to competing. They got into dancing because of their family's participation. Andrew's older brother, for example, was a nationally ranked grass dancer several years ago.
The Tennis Center on the Indiana University campus hosted the individual competitions. Inside, two large dance rings filled half the floor. Spectators sat around the ring and in the gallery above, enjoying the dancing and singing. The air was filled with sound: hundreds of bells from the dancers' costumes jingled with movement and two singing drum groups, Strongheart Singers and Mackenzie River, provided dance music. These singing groups travel to various pow wows and dances across the country; most were Scouts when they were younger, if they aren't still directly involved.
There were five types of dances being performed, each with a distinct style.
Dancers in each style first have a warm-up song to get moving, then are divided up into groups of no more than 12 dancers for a series of individual judging rounds. Half of the dancers from each round advance to the next. The final ten dancers in each style will dance during the AIA show on Monday night. From this group, the national champion will be selected.
Adam N. of Mawat Woakus Lodge in the Black Swamp Area Council competed in the grass dance again this year, after making it to the quarter-finals at NOAC 2006. He's hoping to go farther this year. He originally started dancing at summer camp and thought, "Once I get in to the OA, I want to do that!" While in the ring, he just focuses on having fun.
This was the first NOAC competition for David S. of Ta Tsu Hwa Lodge in the Indian Nations Council. He was nervous as he waited for the results of the semi-final round that he just completed. "There's a lot of tension. You want to win, but a lot of the other dancers are really good."
While the costumes vary for each style of dancing, all are very intricate and represent years of time and skill. Because dancers lose points or can be disqualified if pieces of their costumes fall off while they're dancing, they need to make sure everything is securely fastened before they go out into the ring.
Alex J, a fancy dancer from Owaneco Lodge and the Connecticut Yankee Council, took a few moments before the fancy dance heats began to reinforce parts of his whip stick. He had help from advisers in his lodge who brought spare parts, thread, glue, tape and assorted other supplies to fix just about any costume problem. For those dancers who did not come equipped with a full repair kit, the American Indian Affairs committee also had a Dancer's Emergency Repair Team, where skilled staff members have emergency supplies to fix parts of a costume that might be coming loose.
Alex's costume took 4 years to put together in its current form, but, as he said, "There's always room for improvement."
That was also the message a team of outfit coaches impressed upon dancers in individual coaching sessions. Dancers met individually with costume experts to look over their outfits with an eye towards improvement. Even dancers with incredibly intricate costumes learned little things they could add to their costume to make them more authentic.
Jedidiah D. and Michael S, both from Colonneh Lodge in the Sam Houston Area Council, lamented the fact that their contemporary traditional costumes took up to 40 minutes to put on. They took care to polish their silver discs and bands and replace any worn or broken feathers after finishing their dancing for the day. Their roaches, made of horse or porcupine hair, are the most delicate parts of their costumes, requiring special care. For protection, they are straightened and wrapped around a small pole.
But all that work, including the three years it took to put his costume together, was worth it to Jedidiah because of "the excitement when you first walk out into the circle...the feeling that you know you'll have a great time out there. You know you'll have fun!" The smile on his face when he was done confirmed his prediction.
Revised 08/02/2009