Why We Dance

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written by

by

Abrams Books for Young Readers • New York

illustrated

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Today is a special day. Today, we get to dance!

There is so much to do. First, our Jingle Dresses are laid out. TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK they sing as they come out of the closet. Each cone represents a prayer.

Mom’s dress is traditional.

Auntie’s contemporary dress has 365 cones, a prayer for every day of the year. It’s heavy!

Oh no, my cousin’s dress is missing a cone. It will have to be fixed.

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Next, Auntie carefully organizes all our regalia. In the sunlight, buckles shine, beads glimmer, and silky ribbons shimmer. The room is a rainbow!

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“An earring is missing,” says Auntie.

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“Found it!” calls Dad.

Now, our hair is combed and separated.

Mom’s warm fingers slide through my hair— crossing and smoothing, crossing and smoothing— until a soft, gleaming braid appears.

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“Beautiful!” says Mom.

Everyone gets a big shot of hair spray!

Then the makeup comes out.

Auntie gives us all a little sparkle.

Out back, Auntie helps us practice our steps one last time.

Bounce-step, bounce-step to the beat of the drum, all while Mom packs lunch into a cooler.

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“Delicious bannock sandwiches,” says Dad. “Yum! ”

“Remember, we’re fasting,” warns Mom. Finally, everything and everyone gets loaded into the truck. It’s time to go!

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The closer we get to the powwow, the more excited we become. Soon the sound of many dresses will be exploding around us.

Soon we’ll be dancing!

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When we get to the grounds, our friends are here. We take selfies. We climb trees. Auntie says, “Don’t ruin your hair!”

Then we hear, “Get ready. It’s almost time to dance!”

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Now we slip into our dresses. Carefully . . . TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK they sing.

“ Ugh , I’ve got butterflies in my stomach,” I moan.

“I think I’ve forgotten all my steps!” says my cousin.

“I’m nervous, too,” sighs Auntie.

“If you make a mistake,” laughs Dad.

“Remember, just keep dancing!”

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We add soft, wood-smoked deer- and otter-hide hair ties to our braids.

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Auntie gets a fancy beaded choker. Then we put on our earrings, belts, leggings, moccasins,

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and finally, we take up our fans. We’re ready!

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“Be respectful,” says Dad, as he places tobacco in our pouches.

“Yes,” whispers Mom. “Dancing is fun, but remember why you dance.”

“We will,” we say.

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RUM-RUM-TUM . . . the drummers have started.

It’s finally time to dance!

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We dance bounce-step, bounce-step to the beat of the drum. Forward moving, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

At our side, our pouches hold tobacco gifts from those we love.

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Our hearts beat RUM-RUM-TUM, keeping time with the pounding drum. Forward moving, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

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We girls carry the prayers. We dance side-step, side-step to the RUM-RUM-TUM.

Hearts beating, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

We dance for those who can’t.

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We dance criss-cross, criss-cross to the beat of the drum. Forward moving, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

In our hands, we hold feathered fans. Raise them high . . . one-beat, two-beat, three-beat, four.

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Our hearts beat RUM-RUM-TUM, keeping time with the pounding drum. Forward moving, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

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We girls carry the prayers. We dance step-turn, step-turn to the RUM-RUM-TUM.

Hearts beating, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

We dance for those who can’t.

We dance cross-tap, cross-tap to the beat of the drum.

Forward moving, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

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With each step, we offer grateful prayers. Thank you, Creator, for life and love.

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Our hearts beat RUM-RUM-TUM, keeping time with the pounding drum. Forward moving, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

We girls carry the prayers. We dance heel-toe, heel-toe to the RUM-RUM-TUM.

Hearts beating, dresses singing, TINK-TINK-TINK-TINK.

We dance for those who can’t!

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Author’s Note

This book is part of a journey I am on, a journey of discovering the Jingle Dress dance. Miigwech to Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane who journeyed to the Lake of the Woods region to learn directly from the Nokomisaag (grandmothers), the keepers of the Jingle Dress dance, and who is now helping me to appreciate this dance tradition—one step at a time.

There are various stories that tell how the Jingle Dress dance first began. Each story is slightly different, but they all share one surprising, unifying theme: the Jingle Dress, along with its dance, came through a vivid dream during the global influenza pandemic of 1918–19, and the performance of the dance resulted in the healing of a sick child.

The dream of the Jingle Dress and the healing that resulted inspired a new tradition called Jingle Dress dancing that originated with the Anishinaabe people of the Lake of the Woods region in Ontario, Canada, and Minnesota in the United States. Today, despite the United States and Canadian governments’ initial attempt to destroy Indigenous culture and identity by banning ceremonial dancing, the Jingle Dress dance carries on, more popular than ever, throughout numerous North American Indigenous communities. Because the Jingle Dress and the corresponding dance steps came through a dream, the dress and the dance are considered a healing gift from Creator (the name many Indigenous Peoples use to refer to God). Those who dance today understand the spiritual purpose of their beautiful Jingle Dresses. They dance so their prayers for healing can be released to Creator through each joyous step.

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In 2019, on the one-hundred-year anniversary of the first performance of the Jingle Dress dance, the Lake of the Woods Museum in Kenora, Ontario, held a Jingle Dress exhibit to celebrate the remarkable Jingle Dress and its history. Shortly after the exhibit opened, a new virus began circulating. The highly contagious COVID-19 virus soon stopped people from gathering together, but the virus could not stop people from dancing. In 2020, joyful videos of women, girls, and Two-Spirit individuals dancing for the world’s healing flooded the internet.

As the virus spread across the world, Indigenous dancers across North America donned their Jingle Dresses. Despite being unable to dance together because of health guidelines that required social distancing and even

self-isolation, they danced from yards and living rooms. Just like those first women who danced for a sick child, these communities danced for those who had contracted the virus. With the popularity of the Jingle Dress dance growing, the joyful noise of this special dance will continue as Indigenous Peoples everywhere dance from a place of hope and healing.

Thank you to everyone who danced online during COVID-19 because you inspired this book and my journey. I would also like to acknowledge Brenda Child, who researched the Jingle Dress dance and tradition from its origin during a global pandemic, and the staff at Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post, who kindly allowed me a virtual tour of their exhibit, Ziibaaska’ iganagooday: The Jingle Dress at 100 . Hugs go to Aly McKnight for her joyful illustrations and to Kyla who made my Jingle Dress—thank you both for your creative and cultural expertise! Finally, I would also like to thank Creator who has shown me in a dream that dancing truly is prayer.

Artist’s Note

Dancing is good for the soul. To dance is to heal.

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The powwow circle is so much more than movement and music: A safe place where you can fully embrace your being and be supported by and supportive of the community. A celebration of children, elders, ancestors, and all our living relatives. It’s empowering. Where we reconnect and discover beauty and strength in unusual places.

Through my artwork, I strive to celebrate and share the magic of Indigenous Peoples and the healing power of dance. I want my creations to move and breathe and dance the reader across the page and onto a path of empowerment.

Oose, Deidre, for trusting me with bringing your story to life.

About the Jingle Dress Dance

 The original dance of the Anishinaabe people, often called traditional or old-style dance, is made up of graceful bounce steps. Contemporary dancing is made up of complex steps that can be combined together. Dancers sometimes participate in competitions to perfect their dancing skills.

 Original-style dresses have dual skirt layers—when a dancer sits, the top layer of cones can be lifted out of the way while the dancer’s legs are kept covered by the underskirt. Contemporary dresses have more jingles, colors, and beaded applications than traditional dresses. Some dresses have 365 cones signifying a prayer for each day of the year. The more decorations a dress has, the more the dress weighs. A dancer has to be strong to dance with a heavy Jingle Dress.

 Jingle Dress styles often change according to popular culture. The dresses of the 1920s were inspired by flappers.

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 A dancer’s dress and accessories are called regalia . A bag is usually carried as an accessory. The bag sometimes holds tobacco given to the dancer as a request for prayer. Fans, made from feathers, can also be carried by dancers and are held up during an “honor beat” (four beats on the drum). Some dancers carry scarves instead.

 Jingle cones are made from tin. In the 1900s, the cones were made from household products such as tobacco lids or even soup lids. The sound tin cones make bouncing off each other while dancers move is similar to rain falling, tink-tink-tink-tink .

 Cones come in different colors: silver, copper, gold, and now red, which is a special color intended to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. When the cones are spaced close together, they make more sound. When many women and girls dance together, the cones make a booming, beautiful sound. Dancers feel and hear the sound all around them.

 The Jingle Dress is sometimes called a healing dress , while the Jingle Dress dance was once called a thank-you dance by the Anishinaabe people because as the dancers gave thanks, blessings returned to them.

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 Dancers sometimes fast—abstain from food—before they dance so that their spirit becomes strong.

For those who wish to dance, but don’t know how or where to begin— may Creator gently lead you and bless the prayers of your dance

The illustrations for this book were made with watercolor and graphite. Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4197-5667-2

Book design by Natalie Padberg Bartoo

Published in 2024 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

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