Sneak up dance song for native American - Essay Example

and Number of the Teacher’s THE NATIVE AMERICAN SNEAK UP SONG AND DANCE Introduction Among the Native Americans, the Sneak-Up is “an ancient story-telling dance having several origins” (Nanticoke Indian Association, 2004). One version of the dance and related song pertains to a warrior acting out a battle experience, of creeping up on the enemy before attacking them. In the end he does a victory dance. Another version of the Sneak-Up dance involves a hunter tracking deer through stealthy movements.

The third version is the enactment of a warrior in battle, who searches for a wounded friend, finds him and brings him to safety. The sneak-up dance or scout dance is performed only by men. The accompanying songs support the theme of the dance and help to teach young boys how to surprise prey or an enemy. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the traditional Sneak-Up dance and songs that are unique to the Native Americans. The Sneak-Up Dance and Song The Europeans colonizing the North American continent forcefully dispersed native American groups from their original homelands to reservations or cities.

This dispersal endangered many traditional rituals, dances and ceremonies of native Indians. Drumming and singing ensembles of native Americans include leader-chorus songs, unison chorus songs, and multipart songs. A singer must have a strong, wide-ranging voice and the ability to sing with others. Native American songs as well as a variety of musical instruments including different types of rattles serve to complete the dances. However, the most important instrument is the drum for the majority of native Americans.

“Every native culture has its own varied and distinctive ways of making music” (Birchfield 416). While native language carries the melody in some songs, other songs use vowel sounds such as ya, hey, hi, and lay. Originally, Sneak-Up Songs were one of the types of songs for honoring veterans. Contemporary Sneak-Up songs and dances though sometimes performed for conventional reasons, are often used as contest songs for Men’s Traditional contests. At the Rosebud Fair 2003, a Sneak-Up dance and song performance was used to close the opening ceremonies of the powwow.

According to Bugelski, Oblinger and Andrews (p.13), the ancient Sneak-Up songs are re-enactments of war tribulations and courageous deeds. They narrate battlefield experiences such as carrying a wounded comrade back from the heavy fighting taking place. This is translated into the native American language as “Eca Lakota hoks’ ila was’ os’ eape, heyuha manipe, heyuha manipe”. All Sneak-Up songs are sung in nine repeat stanzas. Sneak-Up is usually performed only by men. A few older women wearing traditional dress may participate, but are required to bob in place at the edge of the dance circle.

“During the nine repeat stanzas, the drum is beat very rapidly and the dancers dance in place, ruffling or making mock war motions such as shooting, scouting, etc” (Bugelski et al 14). During the lyrics part of the song, the drum music shifts to a straight beat, and the dancers move around the arbor clockwise using the basic Plains step. The drum stops at the end of the song; this is repeated four times. At the end of the fourth time, the drum does not stop, but continues. The lead singer takes the song up again to a straight beat one or more times.

The song ends and a tail is sung, to which rendition dance all those who participated in the main dance, using the basic Plains step. “The Sneak-Up dance follows a definite pattern of drum rolls in the first half of the four renditions and a standard Omahabzax in the second half of each of the four renditions” (McCluskey 20). On the drum roll, the dancers shake their bells and gesture in imitation of either following or searching out the enemy. On the Omaha beats, they sneak up, advancing towards the center and stopping on the last beat of the song, then returning to the perimeter.

The fourth rendition ends differently from the first three; it continues with three or four straight Omaha renditions, so the song is sung six or seven times totally. Further, the Sneak-Up song does not have a traditional song ending, instead it ends on the word manipe. The words that were repeated were Le Yuha Manipe (they are carrying him). This is reiterated by Freeman (2011) who adds that the dancers must stop on the beat that ends the fast steady rhythm, and after the fourth stop of the song, the singers will continue two more times through the song.

Thus, the Sneak-Up begins with the drum rolling, and all the dancers crouching low and close to the ground. With the firing of “gunshots” by the drum, the dancers will take up a wary position and survey the area for potential danger; and when the drum picks up a normal beat, the dancers rise and begin the dance, state Glazner, Solis and Weinman (2010). According to Holmes (2010), after World Wars I and II, the Lakota Sneak-Up song and dance evolved into a type of veteran’s honoring song, presented after traditional veteran’s honoring song at powwows.

Conclusion This paper has highlighted the traditional Sneak-Up song and dance of the native Americans. It is a valuable cultural heritage which has sustained till today. The unique features of the dance, and the specific themes of creeping up on the enemy, tracking deer, or rescuing a wounded comrade from the middle of battle action, are enhanced by the songs and music that accompany the dances. The choreography of the dance movements is also extremely distinctive. Works Cited Bugelski, Peter J.

, Oblinger, Dennis & Andrews, Frank. Lakota powwow songs and Dances. Observations from Rosebud Fair, Whispering Wind, 34.4 (2004): pp.12-16. Freeman, Brian. Song structure. Drumhop.com. (2011). Retrieved on 30th June, 2011 from: http://drumhop.com/structure.php Glazner, Chris, Solis, Roxanne and Weinman, Geoff. Traditional dance. Southern native American powwows. (2010). Retrieved on 30th June, 2011 from: http://library.thinkquest.org/3081/trad.htm Holmes, Jonathan. Lakota sneak-up song and dance.

Pow Wow Network. (2010). Retrieved on 30th June, 2011 from: http://www.powwows.com/?p=354 McCluskey, Murton. Your guide to understanding and enjoying Pow Wows. Office of Public Instruction. Retrieved on 30th June, 2011 from: http://d-commons.d.umn.edu:8180/jspui/bitstream/10792/88/1/Your%20Guide%20to%20Understanding%20and%20Enjoying%20Pow%20 Nanticoke Indian Association. Native American dance styles. Our Culture. The Nanticoke Indian Tribe. (2004). Retrieved on 30th June, 2011 from: http://www.

nanticokeindians.org/culture.cfm