Shae LeBeau performed alongside her father Hector LeBeau, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe from South Dakota, in The Land on Which We Dance—Jacob’s Pillow’s weeklong celebration of Indigenous dance and culture. These two distinct excerpts feature LeBeau performing a Smoke Dance followed by a Side Step. The Smoke Dance comes from a social dance of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy. In today’s powwow performances and competitions, the women’s Smoke Dance is known for its fast beats and fiery footwork. The Side Step is one of the common songs in the Women’s Jingle Dress dance—a staple of contemporary powwows. LeBeau can be seen wearing a jingle dress, as is traditional for the Side Step. The jingle dress gets its name from the rows of metal cones, called ziibaaska’iganan in the Ojibwe language, which make a distinctive sound when a dancer moves.
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