The MultiCultural Center (MCC) and the American Indian Student Association (AISA) will hold a workshop that teaches the history, etiquette, dances and songs of a Native American community gathering called the pow wow on Thursday, Feb. 10.
Aerospace engineering sophomore Clayton Green is a member of both the Lakota tribe and AISA, and will teach the workshop. He has previously taught for the Californian Indian Hobbyists Association. Green said he has been involved in the pow wow since he could walk.
“It’s a gathering,” Green said. “A lot of times it’s referred to as ‘come to the circle.’ A pow wow is set up in a circle with the drums on the outside, sometimes the drums in the center. You dance in a circle, you dance around a circle.”
However, there will be no drummers at the workshop because he could not find enough volunteers. Instead, pre-recorded music will be used. Green will teach dances from the Northern and Southern regions, as well as his own native dances. He will go over men’s and women’s dances as well as songs, drums and their meanings. Then the attendees will be given the opportunity to participate in a couple’s dance and a round dance.
“A round dance is where everyone gets in a circle and it’s a very simple side-step and it goes to the beat of the drum,” Green said. “It draws in the community.”
Another dance Green will discuss is called the grass dance, which is special because it occurs before the pow wow. Drummers would practice and dancers would go out to the circle before the rest of the participants.
“Their dance was to flatten the grass out,” he said.
Green will wear his full regalia, including moccasins, bells, angora leg pieces, a breastplate and a bustle. He’ll also wear a roach headpiece made of dyed porcupine fur with two feathers. The number of feathers conveys meaning; Green’s headpiece has two feathers which he said symbolizes that he is an able man inside the tribe.
“Just the outfit in itself is an art,” Green said. “It looks gorgeous.”
Stephanie Cowherd, vice president of Cal Poly’s American Indian Sciences and Engineering Society and a member of the San Carlos Apache tribe, said one can tell the differences between tribes by the beadwork on their regalia and the variety of dance moves emphasized. Cowherd said she feels the most connected with her culture when dancing.
“It’s all about keeping in time with the drumbeat,” she said. “They refer to it as the heartbeat, that’s why it’s super spiritual.”
Cowherd said she hopes people will become excited about learning and experiencing the Native American culture and that eventually AISA could hold weekly dance workshops.
“Show them that it’s not that unfamiliar,” she said. “You see people dancing all the time and this is just another form of dancing. I really hope that we are going to get people excited about Native American culture.”
Although Native American Heritage Month is in November, lead advocate and political science junior Elizabeth Graham works with AISA in the hopes that the event will be spread throughout the year, instead of focused all in one month.
“I hope that people come with an open mind and ready to learn,” she said. “Enjoy themselves and let loose and learn about a culture that they might not know that much about.”
The workshop will be held in Room 220 in the University Union from 6 to 8 p.m.