Dancing to Survive

Native to the Great Plaines are the Lakota people. During the colonization of the U.S. by the government, the Lakota were greatly affected. One of the most remarkable reactions to confiscation of their lands and demise of their culture were the ways in which the Lakota dealt with this this cultural crisis through dance. The purpose of this research was to discover the ways in which the creation and performance of the Ghost Dance allowed the Lakota people to deal with the extreme lifestyle changes they were forced to face. Methodology entailed an analysis of several different sources ranging from scholarly articles, YouTube clips, and a testament by Dr. Westerman a respected scholar and native Dakota woman. Results of this research revealed new insight to the dances’ cultural and spiritual significance. These findings create an understanding of how dance was not only a coping method of the Native plains people, but can serve the same purpose in dealing with modern problems