Native American Dance Steps

by Bessie Evans, May G. Evans

This well-researched book provides details of the varied steps that certain groups of Native Americans have used to express their dance ideas — from skips, jumps, and hop steps, to an Indian form of the pas de bourrée. Similarities to Oriental dances, classical ballet, Spanish and Russian variants, and steps in other dance forms are also considered. Examples are given of Indian dance music, words, and descriptive sounds that accompany this music, and the choreography of certain typical Indian dances of the Southwest. Authentic illustrations by a Native American artist depict dancers, while outline figures characterize steps and postures. An inportant addition to the libraries of anthropologists and students of Native American culture, this classic will be invaluable to ethnomusicologists and choreographers.

Genres: Native American

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2003

Reviews

[Liz]

I want to like this book. I want to gather the wisdom of ethnographers and anthropologists who met the people who performed the dances in deathblows of full conquest. That, unfortunately, is not what this book is.

It is marred by the racism of the time --even for the authors who clearly feel they are enlightened. There is a prevalence of the anti-Indigenous "primitive Indian" stereotype. And we know it isn't meant in a forgetful scholar way as they are compared with other racial and ethnic minorities that were perceived to be barbaric at the time (ie Russian Cossacks and Romani peoples). At one point they are compared to "civilized" dancers in a back-handed compliment.

The drawings and the notes are helpful. If the authors could have let go of their eurocentric views of dance, this book could have really been something. I can see the temptation to compare Native dances to ballet, but that is an urge worth resisting because it twists both into uncomfortable distortions of each other.

Alright, I'm going to stop here because it's really just the salt in the sugar after this and there are some things worth looking at here. The dance names included (while not always appropriate or correct) do lead the contemporary reader to videos and musical references that were not accessible for the authors. There is also additional source work indicated that might prove to be richer and less narrow in scope as this work focuses on western tribes. At least, it gets you started in the right direction.