Iroquois Social Dance Songs: Volume 1

Iroquois Social Dance Songs: Volume 1



Play song

Name

Performed by

Description

Native Words

Translation

Notes

Standing Quiver Dance (Gada 'trot) Invariably, this simple shuffle dance opens social get-to-gethers. It is said that in ancient times warriors (the name is still applied to men whether engaged in war or other pursuits) on expeditions distant from home would prop their quivers against one another tipi-fashion and dance around them. Similarly, upon their return home this would be repeated as a Thanks-giving for their success on the hunt. It is appropriate therefore, that such a Thanksgiving song introduce an evening's dancing. The easy chug-chug around the Longhouse unlimbers stiff joints and relaxes one for the strenuous efforts to come. As with all the dances the direction is contraclockwise. The step is an uncomplicated flat-footed shuffle. The dance begins when the lead singer and his assistant appear on the dance floor. These two are picked by a "push" or master of ceremonies chosen for the night. It is he who decides the order of dances, picks singers and dancers, and relates all this to the Speaker who announces it to the People. A moment after they have begun singing and dancing a line of male dancers suddenly develops behind them. It is the custom for the best dancers to take the lead and less skillful, more reticent to take the rear. Youngsters inclined to clumsy bunching and jostling, dance to the rear and follow this pattern in the other social dances. Soon all ages of women join, each taking a place between two men. While the dance can be performed in the simple jog there are always those excellent dancers, filled with the joy of rhythm and motion, who improvise little bursts of fancy footwork off to the side of the file of slower dancers. No musical instruments are used in Gada 'trot, but a percussive effect obtains from the clomping in unison of the dancers' feet. All men can join in the responses to the head singer's lead, but usually only a few near the front participate. New songs are introduced from time-to-time, but the old ones remain tested favourites. A few songs have meaningful lyrics, but most are simple burden syllables by which the melody is carried... as in the English carol: "Deck the halls with boughs of Holly, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la." Iroquois
Old Moccasin Dance (Giyowa 'giyon) The usual second dance at a Social and the favourite of the young-in-heart. The recording is of the "Old Songs" (Giyon), in contrast to a multitude of "New Songs" (ginu'sa) which appear briefly and then usually are forgotten. Another very commonly used English name for these songs is "Fish Dance", not to be confused with "Fishing Dance", another social. The head singer uses a water drum and is joined by an assistant and any other males (up to 8-10) using cow horn rattles who may wish to "prop up the songs". The singers sit on two facing wood benches in the centre of the dance floor. Two men asked by the "push" lead the dancers. After they have danced single file for one song they are joined by many more pairs of men, most often close chums. After a song or two, pairs of women come forth and step between the men. Each woman will alternate with one of the men. The dance is very fast toe-heel step with considerable body movement. Half way through each song a brief change in tempo signals the dancers to change places with their partners. Thus for the second half of that song and first half of the next the female partner of the head male dancer leads the column. This switch is done in simple fashion by most: the leading partner steps aside for the other to dance ahead. But, again, the happy spirits of the best dancers will provide jaunty improvisations at this point; these are often comical and add to everyone's enjoyment. Each song is sung twice in actual use but for space on the record only once. Nowadays, dancers all face forwards, with but rare exceptions. Formerly, the pairs faced one another so that the lead partner danced backwards until the change of place. This is still seen when the better dancers go on "Indian Shows". There is another similar song set---Giyowa 'dayanyu 'ta---in which the women pick a partner from their male cousins, or lacking one present, a male friend. The songs are different but of the same genre. Iroquois
Cold Dance (Dance Of The North) (O'towa'gaha) A recent arrival at Ohsweken this dance was brought by Mohawk Chief Joe Logan Jr. (Hastawensera'ta) about 1958-60 from the Quebec Mohawks at Akwesasne and Caughnawaga where it was said to be old. Alternative English translations are: "Dance of the North", and "Eskimo Dance". "Mohawk Dance" sometimes hear in English, commemorates the people from whom it came. The songs are characterized by their unusual length and musical form which make them difficult for novice singers to learn. Participants dance a tricky little two foot shuffle around the usual drum and horn rattle accompanyment on the centrally located benches. The dancers are in mixed double file---the male partner on the inside, the woman on his right. Iroquois
Round Dance (Twada'sa'ta) A new dance to the Iroquois reserves as a result of visiting the distant Seneca-Cayuga Longhouse in NE Oklahoma. It is approximately the same age as the Cold Dance, but was introduced through the Allegany Seneca. There seems to have been little reluctance to adopt new dances or songs which would fit into the Iroquois pattern; many of the dances on these records attest to this acceptance. Round Dance is such an example, the backing-up step having analogies to other Iroquois dances, although the concentric rings of dancers moving in opposite directions is an innovation. The head drummer and assistants with horn rattles sit on their central benches and sing each song twice. A circle forms around the singers as the first songs begin. There is no sexual segregation yet (the dance is too new to have become fixed in the Iroquois mode) and groups of young men and women mix at random. Dancers perform facing inwards and dance in one direction until signaled by a change in the song to reverse direction. Reversing neatly, without loosing the beat, is a test of a good dancer, and a few as yet meet the new challenge. (this was written in 1969, as of 1978 things have improved!) Soon the circle is crowded and a second forms behind it and moving in an opposite direction. Children tend to form their own circle inside close to the singers. They move in the same direction as the third circle. The effect upon an audience looking at these three rows of feet moving in two directions is somewhat dizzying! The dance is a four-step, accented on the first step. If the line moves to the right the step is: Right forward about 12 inches and off to the right the same distance; Left moved to the right; Right brought back in line with Left and off to the right; Left moved to the side of Right; Repeat. There is tendency among the young men to over-reach the first forward step and also to slam the foot hard on the floor as they dip their bodies so that it produces a considerable beat accenting the drum. Iroquois
Delaware Skin Dance (Gana'whi) This dance came to the Iroquois when the few score Ohsweken Delaware abandoned their traditions. This was a relatively recent loss as Iroquois men in their 70's (in 1969) recall dancing in their youth 'over on Delaware line" (a Reserve road along which the Delaware had clustered) to singing from old Delaware men. The memory is still fresh enough that one singer on the record (George Buck, Ta'negowens...' Water Splitter'...d. Sept 23, 1976) was able to conclude these songs with an outburst in Delaware recalled from those years. Some older people maintain that these recorded songs came from the Allegany Seneca who danced this more than the O'swaga'hono (Ohsweken people) used to, and that it subsequently returned to its place of origin with these new songs. It has lately been experiencing a period of revived interest and is an especial favourite of the young people. Two men straddle a bench in the centre of the floor, facing each other; two men lead the dance. Accompaniment is by any percussion producing a sharp, loud sound. Usually each singer grips a cow horn rattle by the horn end and beats the wooden end against the belly of a turtle rattle; on occasion some one has supplied the rimless rawhide head of the non-Iroquois type tom-tom (an interesting parallel to the traditional Delaware drum of folded deerskin); a sheet of elm bark is also remembered. Lacking any of these sounding boards the bench itself is struck. On this record rattle handles are beaten against a corn-flakes box! The lead dancer signals his readiness with a yell which is answered by the sitting men present and afterwords by the other men dancers. The women who come forth after 2-3 songs position themselves one between each man, but do not yell as befits their modesty and decorum. The singers take up the beat and the dancers begin with a slow simple flat-footed shuffle of two beats per foot (pat-step). After 4-6 such slow songs the singers increase tempo by a very considerable degree. The step is the same, but now much faster, in time to the singers' beat. The best dancers become very animated. The tempo is so fast that three such songs are about all that can be manged by the dancers and the singers return to a respite of the slower beat. From here on the singers choose the patterning of slow-fast songs as their whimsy dictates. Towards the conclusion they often attempt exhausting the dancers by an unremitting flow of the fast songs. This soon takes its toll until only the most fit are still able to continue. This is very likely the most arduous and taxing of all Iroquois dances. Iroquois