The way a grass dancer moves will make you want to get up and dance too.

Have
you seen a grass dancer dance in the grass? Well I have, and from
watching them made me move and groove to the beat. A little history
fact, grass dancing started when native people moved from one place to
another and they would have the boys' and men dance in the area to see
if it was a good place to stay. If it was they would dance till the
grass was flat and everyone could set up the tepees without grass in
the way.

Now when you watch grass dancers you see they must be
very athletic and be able to move there feet to the beat. The younger
children are aslo athletic and fit when it comes to grass dancing. When
it comes to competetion there are diffrent age groups starting with
Tiny Tots and all the way up to mens grass dance. The toddlers are cute
to watch and see them grow. Their age group is from as soon as they can
walk to 5. Then you come to the Jrs, usually ages 6-12, dance and the
are getting better. The teens you saw grow from little bitty Tiny Tots
to young adults, compete for there pride and dignity; Age group, 13-18.
Now those young adults are men and they compete for there pride and
dignity as well as honor. Now all of the age groups do compete for
honor, but you can see that the men are a little more serious about it
when you look into there eyes. Each and every group of these dancers do
it for there heritage, honor, pride, dignity, and even some for a close
famliy member that has past away. I know a Grass Dancer who happens to
be my boyfriend, and dances for one of his close uncles who has past
away recently.

When
you watch grass dancers you see there feet move a lot. They are moving
there feet when the drummers hit the drum. The judges watch there feet.
They are basically judged on the way they move, there regalia, style of
dancing, and when they move when the drum beats. Some of the boys sat
they can dance without practice. I don't believe them though because
when I watch the grass dancers, they all dance together. When the Grand
Entry starts watch the dancers and you'll see them dancing in line.

Have
you seen the grass dancers do the chicken dance? I have!! They actually
look like chickens when they dance. They look like the chickens when
they try to get dust on themselves. I have another friend thats a grass
dancer, well actually two, there really good dancers, aside from my
boyfriend, that do the chicken dance and move like a chicken would. My
mom said that they probably watched a real chicken and then mimiced
them and that became what I call the real chicken dance.

Now that
really concludes my story of the wonderful and very athletic grass
dancers. Now if you see someone do the chicken dance the new way say
your doing it all wrong, you're suppose to move like a real chicken; Or
if you see a music video with people sliding there feet on the floor,
think of the grass dancers that you just learned about right now!