Powwow Dance Tutorial

Tansi! Hello! My name is Angela Gladue, I am from the Treaty 6 Territory of amiskwacîwâskahikan (ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ), meaning “beaver hills house,” which is the nehiyawewin itwewin (Cree word) for Edmonton. I am a member of Frog Lake First Nation and began Powwow Dancing through my school 'Prince Charles Elementary' when I was 6 years old. My first teachers were Bernadette Coté and Bobbi Joe Cardinal who taught me the basic step to Fancy Dance. I was later influenced by women and other dancers in my community who pushed me to dance hard every week at the Native Canadian Friendship Center through my mid-late teen years. Such inspirations include Mona Lisa Mclean, Rhonda Paul Cardinal, Waniya Cardinal, Kristina Auger and Amanda Lamothe. I have been sharing this dance for many years through out North America and was asked to make this Powwow tutorial for the youth who participated in a summer camp for Right To Play. The steps in this video is some of the foundation that I have personally translated through my own dance journey, and is not a so called "the set in stone way" to powwow dance, but is my style of how I interpret this dance. Part of powwow dancing is to get the foundation of the basic step and to "Dance Your Style!" so I also encourage you all to learn from different powwow dancers as they may have other steps and ways to do this dance. I hope you enjoy this video and that it helps you on your dance journey. ekosi! ay hay - Thank you!