Compare And Contrast European American And Native Dances

Comparing and contrasting the dances of European American and Native, it becomes obvious that culture is the biggest factor involved. Being that both dance styles incorporate their own cultures, they start to show the difference in beliefs and structures in each of their societies. Each lifestyle comes from totally different backgrounds and use dance for different purposes. European Americans define dance roles based on gender and a structure of technique, while the Natives use their own type of structure to become closer to nature.
The first thing people will notice about someone is what they’re wearing and from that point an opinion starts to be made. Both cultures being examined here bring out their finest attire. While they share a similarity

of wearing their best, the clothing itself does not share any similarity. The European Americans have a “dress code” per say, for each gender. Their clothing fits their dance style, which is very organized and structured. Looking at the Natives, they wear very extravagant and diverse clothing. It represents themselves and what they are dancing for. The Indians accumulate almost all of their clothing from unprocessed nature goods. But nonetheless, both parties bring out their finest.
While both parties have dance roles for each gender, the European American style really concentrates on what the male and female do. When watching, it seems the female plays a less aggressive style than the male, hanging back and following the lead of the male. On the contrary, in the Sioux dance, the female has a large role. They lead a lot of the dance by themselves, rather than having the male counterpart assist. In both situations, the male still plays the larger role, as they are considered “leaders”.
Looking at fluency of the dances, it seems as if the Indians do not follow a fluent pattern, but that is not true.

At first glance they do a lot of hopping and jumping around but it all has a purpose and pattern. While looking quickly at the European American style, it seems it is very elegant and precise, which it is; but it is so precise that one mix up can ruin the whole dance. Everyone has to be on top of their skills to dance. Back to the Sioux, every moment they have might not look perfect but it has a purpose. They portray unity throughout their whole dance. When the group is dancing together, they all depend on each other to make sure the dance is full of energy to get the most out of it. This brings everything to voice within the

dance.
Every dance has different characteristics, but within these styles, the vocal noises in each differ greatly. Simplifying the European American Style, voice within the dancers is only used to direct where they are or what movement they should be doing. The Indians however, use vocals to become one with the dance. The singing they use almost makes a person become consumed with it. There is so much depth of voice that it carries the dance and meaning more than the beating of the drums. A lot of Native American Dances could go without any instruments other than just the voice of the tribes.
Why each culture dances could be the most interesting part when comparing these two styles.

The European American style bases their dances off social strata and status. Back during the times of the early settlers, it was to show how wealthy or how powerful a person was, in essence. But the Indians had a much different outlook. Their outlook uses dance as a message for all different types of occasions. According to Lakota Powwow Dance Styles, they used dance to tell their stories. They used four main dances and each had a different purpose, they were Traditional, Fancy, Grass, and Jingle Dress. The Traditional Dance uses Regalia, which is known as a natural material that takes years to make. This dance is most commonly known for its story telling characteristics. The Fancy Dancers were known for their stamina, as the dance took much effort to keep up with. The Grass dance evolved from a Ohama Warrior Society. This dance replicated the swaying of grass in nature, but as simple as it might seem, it took much effort to be able to keep up with proper movement. Lastly, the Jingle Dress Dance has much meaning as it was normally used for a sick or hurt individual (Lakota Powwow Dance

Styles).
When looking at the dances as a whole, the Indians use their dance for much more than just a social event, unlike the European Americans. The Indians have depth, meaning, and a purpose for all the dancing they do. It does not require to be perfect, but rather it requires a person to care about the dance and their community. They use dance for everything in their culture, but most importantly to share it with Mother Nature and appreciate the world they live in. Both styles have different characteristics that set them apart from each other, which make them unique. Take a minute to watch both and appreciate the time it took to create each dance and what they mean for each culture.
*My own personal opinion about both styles bases off the idea of how interesting they are. I personally do not come from an form of Indian or Native American decent but find their dance style much more enjoyable to watch and learn about. There is so much more color and energy that goes into each of their dances. It does not follow a certain code that means perfection, but rather how much a person puts into the dance. The European American Dances are elegant but boring as they are so traditional in what I am used to seeing.