crazywolf

Boozhoo niji,

At the pow wow last weekend I was honored to be called on to judge at the contest. One of the catagories I had to judge was Adult Jingle. In all of the catagories I judges I can honestly say its the toughest job I have done at a pow wow. In some catagories I had friends dancing, and I had to remember to be impartial and go by the skill of the dancers. Realizing that it was a little easier, but now on to the question.

When judging jingle, I saw two different steps being used, in a straight song. One lady was doing a traditional step, and another was doing a step that almost looked like a fancy shawl step. In a side step song, it was the same thing, the first dancer did a traditional side step, and the other had a more of an eye catching high stepping step. It showed in the way their dressed moved as well. The jingles of the first dancer rang out sharply to the beat, the second was more random.

When I judged that contest, I went more for the traditional step. I have been up north, close to where the dance originated, I have seen 100 jinglers or more in one song, and every one of those ladies were doing the traditional side step. It was very sharp with the beat, and extremly loud. I am not an expert on jingle dancing, but I know what I like to see, and what I feel in my heart.

I have another question as well... What do you all think of things being substituted for the snuff can lids? I am not talking about pre made jingles, but rather... I have seen some creative subsitiutions: deer toes, cowery (sp?) shells, and 50 cal shell casings. The first would seem to be more traditional, but since our ladies had the snuff can lids when they started this dance in the first place, and that is what they used in the first place, well that is traditional. The latter, with the shell casings, sounded really pretty. Brass makes a better sound than tin but... The jingle dress was something that was supposed to heal, and there they are using something that was only ever designed to kill people.

Are these alternatives ok to use for the "just for show" style of dancing. I am just asking for other peoples opinions on this and get some insight on some of these trends we are starting to see.

Derek

Wojapi4Me

Being Devil's Advocate here:

As a man, why were you asked to judge Jingle?

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WocusWoman

I think the more traditional items on a jingle dress are the shells, the shell casings, or the very small tin or brass cones, you must remember native people were very resourceful folks. If you go back and look at some really old dresses, you will not see the copenhagen lids on them as you do today. I somewhat agree, that a woman's dance should be judged by women, BUT if the committee cannot find enough women to judge, then a man will due-especially if he can remain impartial.

crazywolf

Actually, there were three of us (men) out there judging. And in the Mens Fancy that I danced in, I know there was one woman judge out there watchin us.

Derek

Apache_Fancy_Shawl

I do agree with the fact are people were very resourceful, and some of us still are, with limits tho. any how, as too a man judging jingle, i would bielive that to be more of a womans thing, but if a man can remain impartial and knows some if not all of the legend behind the jingle, and there are not enough women, then they should be allowed, but thats just me

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