The Resource April 2014 Volume 1 Issue 004 | Page 7

time played a great role in the
legalization of the sacrament
(peyote) against the supreme
court. My moms side is the
family of the Walks Over Ice. I
also have some Lakota blood
as well descending from “Man
afraid of His Horses”.
THE RESOURCE - When
did you get involved in pow
wows? I started to dance when
I was 9 years old. I danced
Crow Traditional which is significant to the Apsaalooke people and we started to dance
at powwows here and there in
Montana.
THE RESOURCE - How did
you learn about customs?
I learned mostly from my grandpa and my uncles who would
tell us about Crow ways, and
also at school. Mostly everybody knew their clans and such,
it was just normal life.
THE RESOURCE - How did
you become a fancy dancer?
How long have you been dancing? As a Crow traditional dancer me and my friends would
always stay up late to watch
the mens fancy dancers because it was the most exciting
dance at the powwow. It was
fast and fancy and we would go
back to our camp at Crow fair
and have our own fancy dance
contest. My mom wouldn’t let
me dance that style though because it wasn’t “our” style. But
as the powwows became more
contemporary and there were
a couple Crow fancy dancers,
she finally gave in and got me
an outfit together.
THE RESOURCE - What is
the history behind the fancy
dance? What I was told was
that it originated at the Buffalo
Bill Wild West Shows in Oklahoma back in the 20’s. They
wanted dancers that were more
flashy and fancy for the “show”.
They would compete to get

picked and basically to have a
job to feed their families also.
So they would dance hard and
do all kinds of fancy moves
even though it wasn’t traditional. Then they had the first mens
fancy dance championship and
added on to their outfits, making
the double bustle and arm bustles. Gus Mcdonald who was a
Ponca won that first championship. They kept this style going
and it spread throughout Native
country getting more and more
creative as time goes by.
THE