Blackfeet Indian Grass Dance

Clothing was a major part of the Blackfeet Indian culture. It represented them, their beliefs, and most of all, nature. For example, a circle sewed on blue represented the sun in the sky. Green symbolized grass, and red circles were mountain ash berries. There were special clothes for certain occasions such as ceremonies and dances. When an Indian from another tribe was captured, the Blackfeet would often steal his clothes and copy them, making it their own design, and using it as their own. Men wore native- tanned buckskin garments, with porcupine quilled shirts. Chiefs often wore elaborated head dresses, with white leggings and beaded moccasins.



Women are very important in the Blackfeet Indian tribe, and this is represented in their style of clothing. They are considered to be the most holy of people. They often wore stringed, beaded dresses with assortments of bells, beads, shells, and even elk tusks, which were very rare. On the ordinary working day, they would generally wear a loose fitting gingham dress, about three feet wide and knee length. The sides of the dress were frayed and often beaded.



The Blackfeet were known for their traditional and unique dancing. In the 1800’s, their dances usually symbolized something from nature, for instance the animals, birds, flowers and stars, but today the dances are mostly fancy steps with no meaning at all. There were two major dances, social and ceremonial. Dancing usually involved singing and drumming. Some of the most famous dances were the Pipe dance, the Blacktail Deer dance, and the Medicine Pipe dance.



Today there are still Blackfeet in Montana. Many have lost their heritage, customs and religion but there are a few who keep the true spirit of the Blackfeet alive. Most of the Blackfeet live on a reservation located in Northwest Montana along the Rocky Mountains. Its headquarters are located in Browning, Montana. The reservation is one and a half million acres and is home to 9,000 enrolled members and another 7,000 members living on or around the reservation.

Blackfeet Indian Prairie Chicken Dance

The chicken dance came from the Blackfeet confederacy...... The chicken dance (and it's songs) is a sacred dance and not merely a dance style. It is a dance that must be learned and taught in the appropriate way, with the dancer being initiated into the chicken dance society. The dance is imitating the prairie chicken in mating, no bustle is worn.


Most things the dancer carries when he dances have a meaning like the otter skin that is a part of a society, there are a lot of things that some people don't understand about this dance.

From George Ceepeekous: Dancer "Back in 1961, a prairie chicken landed right in front of my car one night. My wife and I were coming to the reserve from Raymore. He landed right in front of my car, so I had to stop. Then all of a sudden, he started to showing off, and dancing right there on the road. His little feet were going back and forth. he moved pretty fast on his feet. He would shake, and hop around in a circle. I started to think, Geez, that was something. 'It was like he was showing me how to dance the chicken style. So I sat there, and watched him dance until he was done. He danced for us for about ten to fifteen minutes. The whole time he danced too, then he flew away. This is a true story!



The chicken dance. I call it the Prairie Chicken Dance. This is how my dad made me understand it. You can say it was the Straight Chicken Dance. I heard a lot of places calling it different, but I learned it as the Prairie Chicken Dance. One thing I don't like, is just calling it the chicken dance. Some people who don't understand this dance, might think of it as a farm chicken, or some other chicken. At one powwow, they were making fun of it. They called it the Kentucky Fried Chicken Dance, and I was in the bunch, dancing. They called us the Kentucky Fried Chicken Dancers. That is not right, you know. It offends us.

I know that the Prairie Chicken Dance started the same time as the Grass Dance style. There was one old man, a long time ago, watching these prairie chickens in the spring. They were mating and doing their courting dance. That's where he picked up these dance styles. Grass and Prairie Chicken Dance is almost danced the same way."

Blackfeet Indian Fancy Feathers Dance

One of the most visually spectacular dances to watch of the Blackfeet Indian is the Fancy Feathers Dance. There is more aerial artistry in jumps and turns with the dancer's feet being in mid-air more than on the ground while performing.



The costume is very elaborate and weighs around 65 pounds.



Some history of the Blackfeet Indian can be found by clicking on this highlighted sentence.


Another interesting fact we heard during the presentation was how to acquire an eagle feather. One must write to the US Fish and Wildlife Department making a request. We were told there is usually a 3 year waiting period because you are put on a list and the feathers are rare. If a person finds an eagle that has died, he should turn it into the Fish and Wildlife Department.

Blackfeet Indian Bell Dancer

Another dancer at the Blackfeet Indian Dance Presentation this past weekend at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center was "The Bell Dancer". Her sweet young daughter also performed some of the dance with her and then decided she was tired and moved over to sit on her father's knee and help with the drumming on the hand drum while the men sang the song for the dancer.




Her regalia was exquisite with so much detail I had to go up after the performance and ask for some close up shots of her moccasins, beadwork and bells.



The bells are made out of snuff cans. There are 365 bells which represent a dream the dancer has had. The dancer makes her regalia along with the help of family members. They can take years to finish. She also had a beautiful beaded purse she carried while she danced, but I did not think to ask for a close up picture of it.



More postings to follow with the men who performed dances at the festival as well.

Blackfeet Indian Shawl Dance

This past weekend some out of town family and friends went with us to Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center to see a Blackfeet Indian Dance Presentation and to take part in the 11th Annual Illuminaria Walk along the Missouri River on the River's Edge Trail along Black Eagle Dam.

The evening was beautiful but bright as the sun shown brightly through most of the dance presentation.



I fell in love with the colors of this regalia worn for "The Shawl Dance". It is more modern in design than the usual buckskin most are made out of.



The sun really made it shine and everyone could tell the dancer loved the spirit that flowed through the air with the hand drummers beating the drum and singing their song for her.

Glamour Halloween Witch

Actress/Dancer Peggy Ryan is the beautiful witch in this photograph. I thought it fitting to post her on the Halloween's Eve.

She was an American dancer who starred in a series of movie musicals at Universal Studios, tapping and clowning with Donald O'Connor.

Her parents were vaudevilleians, "The Merry Dancing Ryans", and Peggy joined them onstage before she was two years old. Her singing, acting, and dancing skills were noticed by George Murphy, who helped her get a role in 1937's Top of the Town. Her first pairing with Donald O'Connor was 1942's What's Cookin'?, and they appeared in films together throughout World War II. (Perhaps his most famous performance was as Gene Kelly's friend and colleague in Singin’ in the Rain (1952)).

She was brought back to the small screen to play a recurring role as secretary Jenny Sherman, in Hawaii Five-O from 1969 to 1976.

In later years she trained Las Vegas showgirls in tap dancing. Her last public performance, at her 80th birthday party, was a hilarious song-and-dance routine for her former Universal studio colleagues.

Peggy Ryan continued to teach tap until two days before her death at the age of 80 from the effects of two strokes.

Information from Wikipedia, a list of her film credits can be found there also)