OA Dance Teams

[hunting wolf]

I am the advisor for the Shawnee Lodge Dance Team and I am trying to find other Dance Teams to communicate with. Ours is mirrored with a Venture Crew to take care of the financial part of it.

 

Many issues have arisen and I would like to exchange ideas. Some of those are -

 

How to attract more youth

How to handle practices/performances in such a large council

Temporary regalia for new boys

Do you have a drum and how is that working

How do you ensure you're being true to native american culture and traditions

etc, etc, etc,

 

Can we create a lsit of all Dance Teams across the country?

 

I'm looking forward to talking.

 

Thanks

[hunting wolf]

Still seeking input.

Anybody have any "words of wisdom"?

 

Thanks

[stlscouter]

Thanks for all your hard work at the Fall Reunion. Congats again for having the first three-son ceremonial team in the lodge. Oh and yeah, congrats on the beads-sorry about your critter though.

[Vicki]

No words of wisdom, HW, but thanks for the hard work at the Fall Reunion. Of course, having just become an Ordeal member, I don't have anything to compare it to - but it came off really well IMO.

 

Vicki (used to be a Bear)

[cher062]

I just became the advisor for my district and we are a brand new district. We were made up from towns from 2 other districts so I have to try to get these boys together. the chapter has only had one meeting so far and only 5 boys signed up. We have no dance team supplies at all except for 2 CD's with indian drums on them that I just purchased for myself at a local pow wow.

 

Right now to attract new boys to the team I am just asking and e-mailing the members of the chapter with some descriptions of what we do and the fun we have. For Practices we make special meetings to do that if needed. In my old district the team knew alot of the dances already and didn't really need practice unless we had alot of new folks. We also get invited to local pow wows where the boys can dance and learn more. for the new boys regaila in the old district we had 6 full outfits they could borrow while they were making their own in my new district I don't have a thing. I'll need to get the $75 our council gives to share between the dance team and ceremonies team and purchase fabric and start sewing thank god I know how to sew and can get shirts at least done at a rate of one a day.

 

No drums but one of the boys that recently signed up drums but doesn't have his owm drum. Have to figure out how to get one made cheaply.

 

Our council has a native american advisor so we can ask her about customs etc to make sure we are true to the native american culture. Also we have a native american Museum with lots of resources and many of us who do ceremonies or dance team have been invited to belong to the native american historical association in our area. this is how we get invited to many area and regional pow wows, native american learning weekends and get the opportunity to talk directly to native americans that are very into making sure we do it right. If a boy starts to mix and match styles we let him know he has to choose one or the other and that mixing really shouldn't be done as it can be insulting to native americans who do see us preform.

 

So being brand new to this position I'm open for suggestions too.

[cher062]

I just became the advisor for my district and we are a brand new district. We were made up from towns from 2 other districts so I have to try to get these boys together. the chapter has only had one meeting so far and only 5 boys signed up. We have no dance team supplies at all except for 2 CD's with indian drums on them that I just purchased for myself at a local pow wow.

 

Right now to attract new boys to the team I am just asking and e-mailing the members of the chapter with some descriptions of what we do and the fun we have. For Practices we make special meetings to do that if needed. In my old district the team knew alot of the dances already and didn't really need practice unless we had alot of new folks. We also get invited to local pow wows where the boys can dance and learn more. for the new boys regaila in the old district we had 6 full outfits they could borrow while they were making their own in my new district I don't have a thing. I'll need to get the $75 our council gives to share between the dance team and ceremonies team and purchase fabric and start sewing thank god I know how to sew and can get shirts at least done at a rate of one a day.

 

No drums but one of the boys that recently signed up drums but doesn't have his owm drum. Have to figure out how to get one made cheaply.

 

Our council has a native american advisor so we can ask her about customs etc to make sure we are true to the native american culture. Also we have a native american Museum with lots of resources and many of us who do ceremonies or dance team have been invited to belong to the native american historical association in our area. this is how we get invited to many area and regional pow wows, native american learning weekends and get the opportunity to talk directly to native americans that are very into making sure we do it right. If a boy starts to mix and match styles we let him know he has to choose one or the other and that mixing really shouldn't be done as it can be insulting to native americans who do see us preform.

 

So being brand new to this position I'm open for suggestions too.