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I agree with the ladies on this board - you should dress your own tribe when dancing traditional. I live out east and sometimes I don't understand, even through I try to be open, when I see people who are not , say ho-chunk for example, wear ho- chunk cloth dresses or use their deisgns. Or Osage ribbon work when not Osage, or dance Sioux style when not Sioux. This is not saying only east coast do that because lots of non- plains tribes dance plains style. I just live out here so it is easy for me to use them as an example. Sometimes I just want to know if people dressed out of their tribe know the real significance of what they are doing. Not just doing stuff because they think it is cool. It can be offensive.
I have a Kiowa friend and she has explained to me the significance of her beautiful dress and dance and has told me stories of girls being shamed out bc too contemporary when dressed traditional. She explained lots of things about her tribe and southern buckskin dress to me because I am Lakota and I know very little about her style. Anyway, even though I will never dress that style because I have my own, I have lots of respect for what she taught me. I say all that to say that lots of people dress her style and don't know what they are doing. Prior to listening to this young lady I thought that some of the southern dancers were pretty good but now that I know the meaning behind the dress and dance- they look like poor imitations.
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