In the Plains reservation period, beginning in the late 1870's, the most notable feature with respect to continuity and change in music and dance forms is the relative stability of tribal locations. Relative isolation on the Northern Plains contrasts with the fluid interaction between Indian tribes and non-Indian communities in the Southern Plains, particularly since the 1920's, when reservations (except for the Osage) were abolished in Oklahoma.

Despite the early belief that Indian cultures were dying out, a number of events occurred to strengthen rather than weaken Indian values, particularly music and dance. First, World War 1 - which took place only 25 years after the Wounded Knee Massacre - induced young American Indian men to volunteer for military service. The effect this had on native culture was to guarantee that many social institutions would maintain a sense of relevancy despite their anticipated degeneration and obsolescence. American Indians in fact had an opportunity to become "warriors" again, thus permitting songs and dances related to war to retain a function within each of the Plains societies. Not enough time elapsed for these cultural institutions to die out. In fact, there was a decided need for further institutions, which were to become the nucleus of modern intertribal events such as the powwow.

Sixteen years after the end of World War 1, the Indian Reorganization Act was passed, which gave positive sanction to Indianness. Interestingly enough, among some Northern Plains tribes this policy gave rise to reinstituting many tribal functions which had earlier been prohibited - specifically, the Sun dance.

Within only seven years of the Indian Reorganization Act, World War II broke out, and again American Indians entered military service. This has naively been interpreted solely as a mark of " patriotism" on the part of American Indians (Daniels 1970). World Wars I and II and , to a lesser extent, Korea and Vietnam , gave American Indians the opportunity to reinforce cultural institutions that might have become dysfunctional. Indian soldiers who participated were regarded as heroes by their people and, in accordance with tribal custom, were publicly acknowledged through songs, dances, and give-aways.

More recently, certain federal programs have tended to bolster Indianness. Federal grants available to Indian cultural and bilingual programs are numerous, and in many cases, federal funds have supported music and dance events in a way they have never been supported before.

Because music and dance are so visible, they have often served as indices of contemporary directions in American Indian cultural interests. We can cite 1955, the date of James H. Howard's seminal article on Oklahoma powwows, as the beginning of increased interest in the exchange of traits between tribes, which anthropologists in particular were quick to accept as "Pan-Indianism." The amalgamation of musical and dance traits in Oklahoma does not readily hold for other parts of the Plains. Oklahoma was in fact ripe for an extensive exchange of tribal customs related to music and dance, despite the fact that tribalism in Oklahoma also continued.

There has always been a distinction between that which is tribal and that which is intertribal even in the so-called cradle of "Pan-Indianism." Intertribal events have tended to serve as a cultural halfway house between American Indian and white societies. For many tribes (especially the Ponca and the Kiowa) "Pan-Indianism," once defined as "an attempt to create a new ethnic group, the American Indian" (Thomas 1965), did not hinder the reconstitution of tribal customs. As Lurie has pointed out (1965), many Indians dislike the anthropologists' term "Pan-Indianism," arguing that powwows and the Native American Church are cases of mutual borrowing and enrichment of the cultures of different tribes.

Many anthropologists have been quick to apply Howard's definition to all tribes. But in emphasizing the postulated homogeneity of "Pan-Indianism," they have failed to recognize tribal distinctiveness.

The above table provides a quick reference to contemporary Plains events, their locations, dates, and, where known, the date of the origin of the specific event. These are listed alphabetically by tribe. The dates and locations are apt to change annually.

The date of origin refers to the year in which the tribe in question consciously began to "count" its annual events:   it does not neccessarily mean that this was the year the event was introduced. In most cases, powwows were going on a long time before the listed date of origin. All of the events listed are presumed to be held annually.

Most of the principal Plains tribes sponsor one or more events, mostly in the summer months. The table does not document urban events, which are held during the winter in schools, gymnasiums, church basements, American Indian centers, and other locations with some frequency, ranging from weekly to monthly. Ad hoc secular and ritual events are not counted.

For the most complete and up-to-date listing of all powwows and events, please visit Manataka American Indian Council's Powwow Listings site.

Earlier, in speaking of analytical distinctions, I avoided the age-old dichotomy between religious and secular music and dance, because at the level of structure there is little difference between songs performed for religious events and for secular ones. The striking difference between them is contextual rather than structural. In some cases, religious songs are sung for secular events, and vice versa. Thus, a sacred song may open a powwow, and a secular song may be sung for the amusement of supernatural spirits at a religious meeting.

The nature of Plains Indian music and dance style is still governed initially by geocultural boundaries. Tribal music is composed every year, or as needed in the case of songs learned in the vision quest and Native American Church ceremonies. Whether music strictly for tribal performance is produced more or less frequently than music for intertribal events is not known. I believe both categories are represented in fairly equal numbers. Songs related to Sun dances, and other events presumed to be owned or originated by a particular tribe, change little, if at all. However, songs related to sweat lodge use, vision quests, curing rituals, and funeral rites do change - often dramatically - within a traditional structural framework.

Dances may diffuse, but they have rearly been created anew since the turn of the twentieth century. Dances performed in both secular and religious contexts are rather stable, although minor stylistic modifications often occur in both contexts, usually under the direction or influence of individuals who have license to innovate, such as medicine men, War dance competitors, and lead singers.

The major powwow dances performed in a secular context on the Northern Plains are the War dance, Round dance, Rabbit dance, Owl dance, and Stomp dance (the latter not to be confused with the Southern Plains Stomp dance influenced by Southeast tribes). On the Southern Plains, the most popular dances are the War dance, Round dance, Forty-nine, Stomp dance, Two-step, Snake and Buffalo dance, and Gourd dance. I will describe these dances in a following section.

Dances and costume styles are set mainly by participants in War dance competition, which has existed on the Southern Plains since about 1900. Competition is relatively new on the Northern Plains;   again, 1955 seems a reasonable historical marker. Since 1955, Oklahoma regulations for War dance - with minor modifications - have been adopted in the Northern Plains. Today, these events are expanding both in types of competitions (e.g., War dance, Fancy, Traditional, women's, youth's, children's) and in frequency. The rules which originally governed Oklahoma War dance competitions (e.g., dancing in time with the song and drum, and ending on the last beat of the drum) hold for the Northern Plains. However, the competitions are marked by long, extended songs on the Northern Plains and by relatively short ones on the Southern Plains.

The stakes are also getting higher in both areas. The increased emphasis on competition, underscored by a general agreement that powwows with high stakes attract the best dancers and are most successful, has had some deleterious effects. Personal and social relations have been challenged because of the highly competitive nature of some powwows. Music and dance culture is threatened by such attacks on solidarity, and the competitions will slowly be eliminated.

Composition and performance of music are still in the purview of men, although women participate much more today, particularly in dance. In the late 1960's, women's dance style in Oklahoma differed strikingly from that in the Northern Plains, but the difference is fading. This has come about largely because of the wide diffusion of intertribal events. Before 1950, the term "powwow" was used only on the Southern Plains;   today, it is commonly used to identify the most popular Plains event - Plains in origin and influence - which is mainly secular in context. The powwow is perhaps the event to which the term "Pan-Indianism" has been applied more than any other. But powwows are not identical in structure and content as one moves form the Northern to the Southern Plains. However, they are similar enough that dancers from one area may participate in the other and understand the local rules and regulations.

Powwows occur frequently during the summer so that interested parties may travel from one to the next on what is called the "powwow circuit." Powwows include singing, dancing, giveaways, specialty dances, and feasts. Participants camp out around a circular arbor for a weekend or a week;   dance during the afternoon and evening;   and leave with enough time to reach the next powwow several miles, or hundreds of miles, away.

Before 1955, the term "War dance" had not reached the Northern Plains, where the same general style and pattern of dance was called by tribal names: " Omaha dance, Hot dance, Chicken dance, Wolf dance, and so on (and still is, when speaking the native language). At this time no particular War dance style dominated the Northern Plains, although there were regional variations. In the Southern Plains, however, there was a sharp distinction between the style of the northern Oklahoma tribes (the Ponca, Pawnee, Oto-Missouri, Osage, and Kansa), which was called "Straight" dancing, and the style of the central Oklahoma tribes (Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho), most of whom performed "Fancy" dancing. The two styles were reflected in drum type and tempo (Straight dancing was slower and dignified;   Fancy dancing, fast and furious), and the dance costume. Fancy dancers wore feathered costumes;   Straight dancers wore tailored costumes with feathers only in their headdresses. The two dance styles were distinct enough that separate competitions were held in both categories. Women's dance costumes varied on a tribal rather than a regional basis, including two basic costume types:   buckskin dresses and cloth dresses. Likewise, contests were held for women on the basis of attire rather than dance style. This, too, has changed in recent times as women compete in traditional (buckskin), fancy shawl (cloth), fancy dance and jingle dress dances where both costume and dance style is the basis for competition.

The singing style for Fancy dancing, most often heard on the Southern Plains, has been dominated by the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, while the Straight dance style has been dominated by the Osage and Ponca. Other tribal singers participate in both styles, and both often appear at intertribal events. Good singers can sing in both styles. The singing distinctions are not always very clear except at tribal events, such as Osage war dances or Ponca Hethuska Society dances. A segment of time is often allotted for tribal dances, and other time for intertribal.

Before 1955, regional styles underwent little diffusion. Later, however, the Northern Plains was strongly influenced by the Oklahoma Fancy dance style but not by its singing styles. By the 1960's the trend reversed, and the southernmost reservations on the Northern Plains began to be influenced by what they called the "North Dakota" style in music, dance, and costumes (Howard 1960). By the 1970's, a synthesis had taken place in which we find "South Dakota" style costumes worn by the Oklahoma Fancy dancers, and the Northern Plains tribes distinguishing between Fancy dancing (which is still essentially North Dakota style rather than Oklahoma) and "Traditional" ("Old Time" in the 1970's), or what is now called "Straight" dancing, to distinguish traditional South Dakota style from North Dakota and Oklahoma styles.

Intertribal styles change annually, while tribal styles seem to remain nearly constant. Despite an increased interest in Pan-Indianism, it is at the height of intertribal exchange, about 1955, that we find vitalization and acceleration of distinctly tribal institutions, such as the Southern Plains Black Legging Society, Heluska Society, and Gourd dance societies cited earlier. In the Northern Plains, we find a reconstituted Sun dance focused on piercing, which had not been publicly performed since the 1880's. The major substance of American Indian music and dance on the Plains remains irrevocably tribal.