Kahomani dances foster friendships in and between Sioux communities
Dancers meet new people who 'become family,' say attendees
Sweethearts, friends and family dance a two-step style around drum groups, all coming together to dance in what is called a kahomani.
A kahomani (gah-ho-mah-NEE) is a Nakota/Dakota/Lakota couples dance, or sweethearts dance, where people dance in pairs.
The event in January on Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation, about 160 kilometres southeast of Regina, was also a fourth year memorial for Armand McArthur, one of the men who helped bring the dance back.
Keegan McArthur, from Pheasant Rump, was taught how to be a stickman for kahomani by his grandpa Armand McArthur. As a stickman, he has to keep the dance organized.
McArthur said a kahomani will dedicate one song for couples to dance, usually at the start, and then after that they must dance with others.
He said it starts off with a man or a woman's choice, whatever he decides. For example, he hands the stick to a man, who then chooses a woman to dance with, and the woman will hand off the stick to another man to pick his partner.
"It'll keep going back and forth like that and what this does is creates a friendship and then also what it does is helps with dealing with jealousy," said McArthur.
It's also for those who may be looking for a partner.
"If someone is single and they get a stick and they go pick someone and maybe make a connection as they're dancing around," he said.
McArthur said the stickman also keeps the area clean, and runs the games that happen during the dance like doing animal calls and potato dance.
"I learned it through trial and error and discipline," he said.
"My grandpa Armand, he just threw me right in there and as I made the mistakes, he corrected me and taught me along the way."
McArthur said a difference between a round dance and kahomani dance is in kahomani, the drum beat is slower like a heartbeat and a round dance song has the speed of a triple beat.
"Don't be shy of a kahomani," he said.
"A lot of people may think, 'What do you do? Do you have to bring this? You have to dress a certain way?' I just say show up and have fun."
Re-connecting with language
Clorice Delorme, cultural revitalization co-ordinator from Cowessess First Nation, and her partner Michael Meeches, a singer from Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba, have been coming to kahomani dances for three years. They said they prefer it over a round dance because it incorporates teachings and it's considered ceremonial.
Delorme said the dances are about friendships and building trust.
"For me they're fun and a lot of the people that you see here are the same people that continuously come," said Delorme.
"They become family and we look forward to seeing them."
Meeches said it's also a way to connect with his Dakota language again, as he forgot how to speak it but being around other Dakota singers helps him remember and re-learn it.
Delorme said sometimes her young daughters would point to their dad and show her he is dancing with another woman.
"I'm like, 'that's OK,' so it really does good in teaching," said Delorme.
"These types of ceremonies build identity and pride in our children. We are very proud of who we are and these are safe spaces."
The Indian Act banned potlatch and other cultural ceremonies from 1885 until 1951. McArthur said the kahomani songs survived the ban and residential schools, because there were ways like hand games to sing the songs, tricking the Indian agent.
When the night is over, when everyone is leaving, he said he remembers how far these kahomani songs and dances came.
A way to make peace
Pete Bigstone, a Nakota knowledge keeper and singer from Ocean Man First Nation, teaches young men the kahomani songs.
Bigstone was a part of a singing group called the Moose Mountain Nakota singers, who recorded kahomani songs. Bigstone said he wanted to record the songs to share them and keep them alive.
"We had a hard time, we had a hard life, but we became friends with other other nationalities, other Native people from other tribes, so back in the day it was a friendship dance to show that we are friends of theirs," said Bigstone.
Bigstone said it was a way to make peace, by way of dance. He said it is also a way to renew old relationships, where someone may give the stick to a person they haven't talked to in a while and if they accept, they will dance together and get talking again.
Bigstone said kahomani means "round dancing" and there are different dance styles such as two-step, three-step, four-step, and bahekta, which means to step backwards and then step frontwards.
Bigstone said kahomani is a culture, something that should be kept alive. Unlike a powwow, a person doesn't need regalia, he said, all that is needed is a smile on your face.
Bigstone was also a stickman but now he passes it on to younger men who are interested in learning about the Nakota way of life.
"I've been giving out that ... stick because I want to restart this way of life," said Bigstone.
"It's like a whistle carrier in a powwow; it's like a heyoka coming into the Sundance grounds. Always dance with your heart; your mind will fall in place."
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