The history of female Native dances varies from area to area, but modern day attitudes can be traced through the dances of the Northern Plain tribes. Northern Plain dances feature greatly in powwows, making them very popular today. Traditionally, “male participants have a more prominent role”, and have more active dances. Women in many cases “were restricted to dancing in a reserved manner around the edge of the dance area” (Heth, 145). The rise of female competition dances show a change in these traditions. Men’s Northern-Style Grass and Fancy dances started in 1900 and just prior to World War II respectively. These dances are vigorous and athletic, and are only for men. Women’s competitive dances also have old roots—the Jingle-Dress probably started at the same time as Northern-Style Grass, and the Fancy-Shawl is an old tradition as well. It has only been in more modern times that these dances have been adapted to match the men’s dances. The more vigorous style now seen in Fancy-Shawl dances is a recent change to the more restricted traditional styles, and the Jingle-Dress only recently started regaining popularity.

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