Dance is a form of expression known to all cultures and societies. Throughout the course of history, people have expressed a plethora of emotions through the medium of dance. Within the vastness of Native American society dance has a variety of social and religious connotations. It has been used to express the collective joy of the community and to appeal to the spirit world for assistance in times of need. It is both a celebration of life and an essential facet of it. Within indigenous society, there are four primary uses for dance—healing, preparation for the hunt, religious expression, and social interaction.
In the healing ritual, practitioners of the medicinal arts invoke the spirit world through carefully choreographed dances. In the midst of a particularly intense healing ceremony, other members of the community many even participate in the dance to devote the collective energy of the entire tribe to the invocation of the spirit world. George Catlin observed one such effort during his time among the Mandan tribe. The use of dance in the practice of medicine is almost universally accompanied by prayer and the playing of musical instruments.
Among the Sioux, Catlin observed a particular dance ritual with respect to the sacred bear spirit. The Sioux consider the bear to be an integral part of their cultural mythos and appeal to Great Bear Spirit for assistance during their annual hunt. According to Sioux tradition, to hunt and eat the bear is to achieve a communion with the spirit of the animal itself. A form of transubstantiation will occur if the spirit allows the Sioux hunter to kill a living bear and subsequently ingest the meat. In preparation for the hunt, the members of the Sioux community celebrate their spiritual relationship with the bear and entreat the Great Bear Spirit to assist them in their hunt. The “bear dance,” as Catlin called it, lasts for several days and nights and must be completed in order for the hunt to be successful.
Although the dance rituals associated with indigenous religious practices can be as vastly different as the tribes themselves, the common theme is the invocation of the higher spirits that govern the tribe’s belief structure. Masks representing the key deities are often donned by religious leaders in the midst of these ceremonies. As with rituals concerning healing and the hunt, music and songs accompany all religious dances. Depending upon the situation, the dances at religious ceremonies can be slow or quick paced. Like much of native mythology, these dances were kept alive for centuries through the oral tradition. Contained within the stories of great cultural heroes, animal spirits, and tricksters there existed the blueprints for the practice of religion—prayers, songs, behaviors and, of coarse, the dance.
In addition to its ceremonial and spiritual uses, dance can be employed as a means of social congress. In preparing for battle, young warriors have been observed performing a frenzied dance in order to both rally their courage and invoke their warrior spirit. When George Catlin traveled throughout the Plains, he was often greeted by a ceremonial dance performed by members of his host community. Dance is also used to express the birth of a child, the coming of a young person into adulthood, marriage, and even death. Throughout all changes in life, there is the expression of thoughts, hopes, dreams, and ideals through dance.
Carl Waldman, Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2006).
David M Jones and Brian L Molyneaux, Mythology of the American Nations. (London: Hermes House, 2006).
Gilbert Legay, Atlas of Indians. (Hauppage: Barron’s Educational Services, Inc., 1995)
Peter Matthiessen, ed., George Catlin: North American Indians. (New York: Penguin Group, 1989).
Mark St. Pierre and Tilda Long Soldier, Walking in the Sacred Manner: Healers, Dreamers, and Pipe Carriers—Medicine Women of the Plains. (New York: Simon and Schuster,1995).
