Next Stop - CIS!!

For all of you guys in the Southeast this next weekend (Jan 20-22, 2012) is the annual Carolina Indian Seminars hosted by Eswau Huppeday Lodge at Mitchell Community College Continuing Education Center in Statesville, NC! (for more info see the CIS post on this blog) It will be a great time to connect with your Chicken Dancin' buddies, brush up on your dance moves and get some pointers for your next dance competition.

Saturday evening, as we're all getting suited-up for the evening dance, we'll be having one of our Chicken Dancers' Bash to celebrate the inclusion of Chicken Dance as a category at NOAC 2012! The Instructors at Saturday's Chicken Dance sessions will fill you in on all of the details. All Chicken Dancers, and their supporters, are welcome to join in on the celebration. Bring your suitcase full of dance clothes and join in on the 'getting ready' chaos!

Earlier on Saturday, at lunch, we're planning to have another rendition of our "Public Service Message", which we performed at Indian Summer this past August to an audience of close to a 1000 folks. Below are the lyrics; print 'em out and give 'em a couple of reads. The more of us who can sing the song, the greater the impact of our 'Message'!

Looking forward to seeing you at CIS!

Tim Caster

Chicken Dancers’ Invite

Lyrics by Tim Caster

Sung to the tune of ‘Sweet Betsy From Pike’

OOOOOOOoooooohhhh!

You’ve got to learn how to N-D-N dance!

  You’ll strut and you’ll sway a most daz-zel-ing  prance.

Yes- You’ll wear fancy feathers and spar-kal-lee beads,

  You’ll step and maneuver   as purdy as you please.

Hoodle dang fall de dye doh, Hoodle dang fall dee day!

Tharz the Singers who sing   and their music does SOAR!

  They beat on their drum while you dance on the floor.

Yes- They’ll start an they’ll  STOP!--     an-trick-ya if they can,

  You’d best learn their songs if you want to withstand.

Hoodle dang fall de dye doh, Hoodle dang fall dee day!

Tharz Nor-thern Tra-dish-ah-nul    an-uh ‘steye-ul’ called Grass,

  Tharz the guys who are ‘Str8!’   who do it with class.

Tharz  thEE  Fancy Dancers who spin an who bow,

  And lots of purdy ladies who love to Pow-WOW!

Hoodle dang fall de dye doh, Hoodle dang fall dee day!

Now the best style of all is the  GREAT  Chicken Dance!

  It’s danced by US REAL MEN  who welcome the chance.

We bob and we bounce be-cuz that’s how it’s done,

  You real-lee  shud join us - it’s the GREATEST OF FUN!!

Hoodle dang fall de dye doh, Hoodle dang fall dee day!

HOODLE DANG FALL DE DYYYE DOOOOOHHH,

HOODLE DANG FALL DE DAY!!!!!

How's My Dancing?

One of the toughest aspects of improving one’s dance moves is to access the current execution of one’s moves. Sure, I can dance in front of the mirror, but then I’m dancing with my head staying in one place so I can see myself dance! That’s not any good. If I’m working with a fellow dancer I can ask their opinion, but it doesn’t mean I’ll have a clear picture of what I’m doing. Or NOT doing. And it’s really tough to make adjustments in a movement if you can’t see the movement which needs adjusting.

In November I attended the Shu-Shu-Gah Lodge’s annual Indian Seminar in Alpine, NJ with my friend Ellis Taylor. I was invited to the weekend event to give 3 sessions on Chicken Dance. For three hours on Saturday afternoon I instructed a number of interested youth and adults on Chicken Dancing; from the basic dance steps to more complicated dance maneuvers. “Keep your back straight. Stick out your butt. Pull up your head. Don’t look down. Broaden your shoulders! Get your back straighter – arch it!! MORE!!!” If you were at Indian Summer this past August you heard me give these instructions numerous times.

After supper I dressed in my Chicken Dance clothes to participate in the evening dance. Ellis had recently had back surgery so he wasn’t dancing; he amused himself with his video camera. At the end of the evening Ellis informed me that he now had several songs of my Chicken Dancing endeavors recorded. “This should be interesting” I thought.  

And interesting is was. I discovered that I was failing to follow my own instruction! While I did look like a “Chicken Dancer”, I did NOT have my head ‘pulled’ up high enough, nor did I have my back so ‘straight’ it arched and stuck my butt out. I was also looking down way more than I should have. I can tell you that the entire time I was dancing I THOUGHT I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, but the videos proved what I was doing was NOT enough – not enough to look like a really keen Chicken Dancer.

So, if you want to have a better idea of how well you are executing your Chicken Dance maneuvers, put on your bells, bustle and roach, grab a couple of hand articles, crank up some really killer Chicken Dance songs and get someone to record you. Make sure they have your entire body in the frame. And then dance the best you know how.

Once you have some vids of you dancing, pull up some of the videos of champion Chicken Dancers found on our blog (MensChickenDance.blogspot.com) and watch them dance. Then watch yourself dance. Then them. Then back to you. The difference between to two dancers is the amount of improvement desired. You’ll be able to clearly see how you are moving and you’ll be able to see how you want to be moving - like they’re moving!

You will be amazed just how much improvement you’ll be able to make from this process. And don’t do this just once – do it periodically. Not only will your dancing improve, you’ll be able to SEE how much your dancing IS improving!

Until the next time, keep up the good work!

Tim Caster

Upcoming Event: CIS 2012

Were you at Indian Summer dancing every 10 minutes, peeling away at feathers, asking a million questions, and watching a ton of videos? Imagine that excitement packed into 3 sessions of training with the same team!

The Carolinas Indian Seminar is a time for learning, dancing, and fun. At this event, Ryan, Greg, Tim and Spencer will be sharing more songs, more dance instruction, and clothing help throughout the weekend.

Here are the details:

Location: Mitchell Community College Continuing Education Center in Statesville, NC

Date: Friday, January 21, 2011 to Sunday, January 23, 2011 (Plan to arrive no earlier than 5:00 p.m.)

Size Limit: Again, the college has set the limit to 400 participants. Register Now!

Deadline: You must pre-register by January 11, 2011. Registrations will be taken on a first-come (PAID), first-serve basis. All registrations must be mailed in to the address shown on the form. No e-mail registration.

Cost: The cost this year is $36 per person. The registration fee includes Friday Cracker-barrel through Sunday breakfast, information booklet and a patch.

Check out this site for more information, or email us.

http://eswau.org/wp/?p=155

Look forward to seeing all of you there!

--Ryan

Dancer = Athlete

Dancers are athletes. Serious dancers are serious athletes. If you don’t believe me dance real hard for two or three hours one afternoon and see if your muscles aren’t sore the next two days. And if you’re using muscles you don’t normally use – like in powwow dancing – you’re going to be really sore!

Dancers, like all athletes, must train & practice, practice & train. In this process not only are the dancers learning the necessary skills, they are establishing “muscle memory”. Muscle Memory is where the various muscle groups in the body have been through the same movement/motion time and time again – so many times that when the motion is required the movement happens automatically. Like catching the ball at First Base and throwing the runner out at Home. It’s all happening so fast there isn’t time to think. The muscles/movements need to be well practiced so that the required actions happen as a reaction to the situation; in split-second timing.

This is very true for actions on the dance floor; there isn’t time to think. The body just has to do what the body has been trained to do – and that is DANCE! I can see when a dancer is thinking “what should I do now?!?”, just as I can see when a trained and practiced dancer is simply moving to the music. Which dancer do you think is going to make it to the Top Ten, dancing on the stage at NOAC?

There is NO substitute for PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!! None. Today is the time for training. Teach your muscles what they need to know so that your movements and choreography will be as smooth and confident as possible. Then, when you’re on the dance floor during the next competition, you‘ll be able to do your very best and enjoy the event.

How do I know this, you might ask? I competed at the 1977 NOAC and won first place. It took some very serious dedication on my part and lots of preparation to accomplish this feat. I got as much help as I could possibly find and I worked hard at being the best I could possibly be. I learned the music – being able to stop on the last beat – every time, I practiced my dance moves and worked on my dance clothes. Keep in mind this is before the tremendous resource of digitally recorded music and video, the Internet, YouTube, etc., etc.

And I’m not finished with the world of dance. These days I’m studying Argentine tango – talk about challenging! This is social dancing, not the showy ‘ballroom’ stuff. I have 6 hours of class/lessons with as many hours of practice – EVERY week! My muscles are sore most of the time. I listen to the music constantly, because in tango, just like in powwow dancing, you have to be able to stop on the last beat. Added to learning how to move my own body, I have to learn how to contend with ‘leading’ my partner – who is pressed up against me and is supposed to be following my movements. In this dance if you’re not any good, the good ladies won’t dance with you! Plain and simple.

(Here’s a peak at my current goal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ND2ByUxpfU&feature=related )

So, fellow athletes, let’s continue to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!
It’s bound to make us better!

Tim Caster

Who is MOST IMPROVED?!?

For those of you in the Southeast (or within a day’s drive, for that matter) the 2012 Carolina Indian Seminars, “CIS”, will be the weekend of January 20-22, in Statesville, NC. If you’ve been before you know it’s a great time to learn more and dance plenty. If you’ve never been, this is the year to join us! There’s bound to be a full day of Chicken Dance classes, covering clothes and dance moves – with lots of photos,videos, music and useful information. You’ll also get to hang with your fellow Chicken Dancers and checkout the competition – which is good to know before you compete with them at your Section Conclave and the 2012 NOAC.

Since I’m interested in seeing all of you make serious efforts to improve your dance moves and dance clothes I will be bringing to CIS some keen prizes which will be awarded for two areas of improvement: Dance MOVES Most Improved and Dance CLOTHES Most Improved. To clarify, these prizes will NOT be for “Best Dressed” or “Best Dancer” – they will be for the guys who’ve put the most effort into their Chicken Dancing endeavor – the guys who are MOST IMPROVED! The opportunity to win is open to ALL Chicken Dancers at CIS; age does not matter – because we all have lots of room for improvement!

And if you’re making the switch from some other dance style to Chicken Dance – that’s a HUGE improvement! Turn those dated Old Time clothes or tired Northern Traditional clothes into something really worth wearing! (Okay, so I’m a bit prejudiced.)

I’m working on my dance clothes and moves; I encourage you to do the same. Every one of us can bump up our dance moves and our dance clothes a notch or two – it just takes some time and effort. And if you need help or information – ASK for it! We’re all here to help.

There's lots of great info on our Blog and there's always more being posted. Stayed tuned! And please share this note and our Blog with all of your fellow Chicken Dancers.

Tim Caster

Greetings Fellow Chicken Dancers

I trust all of you are well-settled into this school year and have resumed your various Scouting activities. Working with you at Indian Summer was great – very exciting to see so much enthusiasm and talent.

Chatting with the other Chicken Dance instructors, we plan to send out words of encouragement with a bit more frequency. It remains our goal to have you as well prepared for your next OA American Indian Activities dance competitions as possible. We’re here to help.

The next NOAC is 8 months away.

Your Section Conclave is probably in the Spring – maybe 5 months away?

For those of you in the Southeast, CIS is in the middle of January – 2 months away!!

If you want to make your best possible showing at any or all of these events NOW is the time to be working toward these competitions. Not next month, or next week, or tomorrow, but TODAY!

You’ve three areas to focus on:

• Your Dance Moves


• Your Knowledge of the Music


• Your Dance Clothes

If you’ve any plans of being a serious contender in the upcoming Chicken Dance dance competitions you need to be working on all three of these areas EVERY WEEK! You need to be listening to the music – being able to stop on the very last beat, every time, with every Northern Chicken Dance song; you need to be watching the latest YouTube videos of the top Chicken Dancers and practice replicating their moves; you need to be assessing your dance clothes and improving them in every way you possibly can. All three of these focus areas require time and effort and only you can make to the decision to be a serious contender.

I’m going to keep these notes of encouragement short and to the point, in the hopes that you will read them. All of the Chicken Dance instructors are here to be of service to YOU. It is our goal to have you make the best possible showing at your next OA AIA event. Contact us for assistance.

Nine months from NOW ten of you will have danced on the stage at the 2012 NOAC as the top Chicken Dancers in the Order of the Arrow. You will be the very first group of ten to do so. Being in this group of ten is up to YOU and will be based on the action you take toward this goal THIS WEEK! Plain & simple.

Contact us.

Tim Caster

Another Blackfoot account

Here's another Blackfoot account of the origin of the dance, similar to other descriptions with a good video.

Powwow Power Hour