WhoMe

I have watched some of the champion fancy dancers of the past and contrasted them with the champions of today.

One observation I have noticed is the greater amount of spinning and arm movement today vs. the greater amount of footwork of yesteryear.

Also the amount of ribbon and fringe have seemed to reach an optimum to compliment todays spins and arm movements.

If somebody really went old skool and did nothing but a variety of footwork and slow spins, how would they fare among today's dancers?

If you were a judge, what would YOU look for?

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"Today, recognizing and respecting the origins of powwow aids in our Cultural Survival. If enough people break the rules because they are not satisfied...."We will have no culture."

WhoMe

timmy tiger

Actually that did happen at a pow wow a few years ago that I was at. There were a couple of guys dancing for a dance off and an older gentleman came up and was commenting on how one was more spins and the other was more into the footwork and not so many spins and fancy stuff. Well, in the end the one who had the footwork actually won it and the other guy came in second. But it was awesome to watch, they were both so good. I'm really glad that I wasn't a judge there.LOL

dancinfancy

For me personally I go for the footwork. Anyone can go aound in a circle and make it look fancy but to actually take the time to learn how to do the foot work that goes along with it impresses me. To me that shows how dedicated they are to that style of dance.

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Brown wlf

I like old skool a lot, someone doing the footwork really stands out from a group of spinners. It certainly caught the attention of the Judges this year at Schemitzun.
It's fun also to watch the dancers that can combine both styles .

Brown wlf

ROFL!!!!
OOps! I thought I was in the fancy shawl forum!

Sorry about that!

But when I do watch the fancy feather category, which I love, I do watch and marvel at the footwork of the old skool dancers. Tho' a wicked spin has been known to give me the goosebumps.

nativedancer5

for me it's ALWAYS been about the footwork no matter what style you dance. my brother was a fancy dancer and was always working on his footwork. My daughter is a dancer outside of the powwow areana she does clogging, streetfunk and jazz and she always looks for footwork she also dances fancy shawl and she finds footwork the most important (guess her uncle rubbed off on her) ...LOL. She said spinning is the easy part just like her uncle would say.

Becca

2kiowa4u

Anybody that fancy danced can spin but it's about Footwork, Head, and body work. I'm an old school fancy dancer when judges looked for that sort of thing it made competing very interesting and of course exciting. But now it's all flash and spin, but when say-gee Dixon Palmer came out with the splits man I thought that was awesome back in the day!!! Talk about Mr. Smoothness even when he was in his 70's he still gave us greenhorns a run for the money! haaah!!

apacheheart

Most definitely footwork.I like to see how complex they can make their steps,even though the spinning is exciting to watch,especially with the new outfits in the outrageous colors the young bucks dance in,but old skool footwork is the move!!...keep smilin'1

Ciro

footwork is what I look for. If someone is just spinning, no matter how nice their outfit is, I look at the others for moves and footwork. Anyone can just spin, but only the elite can use the fast footwork.

2kiowa4u

You dang spanky on this one Circo! I'm like, I totally agree with this!! Right on!!!

ndn_thyme

fast footwork!

Coyot_In_The_House

I'd lean towards moves.....(footwork)

I'll tell whats tough sometimes is judging combined Southern and Northern....Am I going somewhere here? Would you expect more footwork from a Southern dancer? More spinning from a Northern?

crazywolf

Boozhoo niji,

I had to think about this one, and actually thought about it while I danced.

A lot of what the dancers can do depends on the songs that are sung, more like the speed they are sung. If a song is slow or kinda medium then you can do anything you want. If its fast you have to simplify things. If the song is ultra fast then its really hard to do anything... except spin. I dance whatever the song dictates, if I can put in some really cool foot work I do it, and save the spins for the faster beats.

Derek

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Joe's Dad

WhoMe...

There used to be a young man who would actually set up a video recorder to record his moves during practice. This guy would come in on GE's like he was contesting. Same with intertribals. I had a chance to AD some powwows where he danced. Young man had some excellent footwork.

Last I heard he was the ED for BAIC. Maybe he's moved up to the state level. He MC's powwows around your area now.

I'm sure Yote remembers him.

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delberth

The original style is judged by the footwork!

delberth