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Photo: Sandy Peters John Butler, who is wearing a bone vest and a bustle of eagle feathers down his back, will do a men's traditional dance. Photo: Sandy Peters Brinder Jacobs, who is wearing a traditional buckskin dress, holds her grandchild as she waits to dance. Photo: Sandy Peters Gabe Bullock is the headman dancer of the powwow. He is preparing two colorful bustles to wear when he performs his speciality, fancy dancing. Photo: Sandy Peters Dancers wear bustles of eagle feathers while performing the men's traditional dance. Photo: Sandy Peters Gabe Bullock and another dancer each wear two colorful bustles as they do some very athletic fancy dancing with fast footwork.   Native American Powwow Dancing Powwow at Rice University Nicole Meier from Switzerland The pow-wow was just fantastic! I could never have imagined how colorful and impressive this evening would be. The dances and the clothes, which were decorated with eagle feathers, mesmerized me. I had heard about the powwow dancing in our culture class at Rice University, so I was curious to see what the Native Americans would look like in their traditional clothes. The opening dance was supposed to start at 6.30 p.m. Since I didn’t want to miss any dances, I arrived there on time; however, the dancing began an hour late. How could I have forgotten? I had learned in our class that Native Americans have a different feeling for time? First, they started to play music with their drums; it was accompanied by their low voices. “Hamma hamma…”. The music was exactly the same as I had heard in the movies. The Native Americans gradually changed their clothes; they wore incredibly amazing costumes, special hairstyles and multicolored faces for the dances. Finally, the competitions were initiated; the participants danced in distinguished groups. They swung their arms and moved their feet in special steps, always to the rhythm of the music. After an hour of enthusiastically enjoying them, I took a break to eat some characteristic Native American fried bread. Finally, at 9.30 p.m., I left that spectacular place, having stayed two hours longer than I had first planned to stay. I will never forget this unique evening; it gave me a little view into the culture of Native Americans.   View more photos Behind the Scene: Dancers and costumes   Interviews with dancers Gabe Bullock Brinder Jacobs Return to: Traditional Dances from Around the World It's International Home Page   TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2008 Sandy and Thomas Peters topics.mag@gmail.com